Football star Reggie White's church set on fire: racism possible motive White reveals

Jet, Jan 29, 1996

The church where Green Bay Packers football star Reggie White worships and serves as an associate pastor, recently was set on fire in what appears to be a racially motivated incident.

The Inner City Community Church, a two-story brick church in Knoxville, TN, was completely destroyed by a Molotov cocktail, a type of firebomb,

While an adjoining wing with a nursery and radio station were severely damaged. A church worker reportedly noticed racial slurs on a door and federal investigators found racial epithets at the scene. But, at JET press time, federal investigators hadn't yet ruled the arson racially motivated.

White, an ordained minister, is an associate pastor at the 400-member church and has reason to believe the firebombing was indeed stemmed from racism. The star defensive end says he received a bomb threat the weekend before the bombing and saw the racial slurs found at the site.

"The team and hotel security told me that they had receive a message saying that something was going to happen," White told the New York Times. "They said the caller told them he was tired of these interracial churches and marriages and schools and that he was going to do something about it. So, since it happened three days after the car, somebody had this planned an along," explained White.

White also said skinhead material was once found at their church's site.