Racism Is Also Spot Fires Searing People’s Daily Lives.

I recently attended a gathering of community leaders at Gonzaga University, shortly after the last in a series of racial harassment incidents on that campus.

Participants were asked to discuss the question, “Is there racism in Spokane?” A person seated next to me said, “That is almost like asking whether people in Spokane run red lights.”

This particular crowd - a combination of academic, religious and community leaders, many of whom were persons of color - had no difficulty in agreeing that there is indeed racism in Spokane, and this is what it looks like. We proceeded to brainstorm on what we as a community might do about that.

Spokane, of course, has no corner on racism, which someone defined as “prejudice plus power.”

Although the numbers seem to increase almost daily, by early June of this year, 57 black and interracial churches had been bombed, burned or vandalized in the South since January 1990. Now these activities have moved into the Northwest.

Until this week, the 30 persons arrested and/or convicted for these crimes in the South were all white males between 15 and 45. Several of them admitted they belong to such racist groups as the Aryan Faction, Skinheads for White Justice and the Ku Klux Klan. Last week, two blacks were arrested for burning a school next to a church.

In testimony before Congress, Joan Brown Campbell, general secretary of the National Council of Churches (representing 33 Protestant and Orthodox member communions) said: “Our investigations have uncovered striking similarities in these incidents, parallels that constitute a pattern of abuses including the use of Molotov cocktails and other incendiary devices, the spray painting of racist graffiti, the targeting of churches with a history of strong advocacy for African American rights and racist notes and letters left in the mailboxes of pastors.”

“Many churches were attacked on or around Jan. 15, Martin Luther King Junior Day - five of those in 1996 and five in 1995.”

Are these racist incidents? Is the pope Catholic? Of course, the vast majority are racially motivated.

Still, many law enforcement authorities deny any connection among the firebombings. In fact, investigations have focused in large measure on the pastors and members of the burned churches, suggesting that perhaps church members are responsible, although most of these churches either have no insurance or are underinsured.

In some cases, victims have been told by local officials that theirs are isolated cases, the results of accidents or electrical fires.

President Clinton stated that he does not believe the fires are part of a conspiracy. That is not a reassuring thought. I believe the prospect that racial hatred is so widespread that these burnings are all the work of individuals is even more frightening than the possibility that hate groups are encouraging such activities.

Regardless, whether community leaders in the South are willing to admit it, racism is alive and well, and lies at the root of such incidents.

Even Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition admits that these incidents are racially motivated. That organization is seeking to raise $1 million to repair the uninsured churches that have been damaged.

Church World Service, an arm of the National Council of Churches, is seeking to raise $1 million for the same purpose.

Allelujah! For once, the majority of churches on the right, left and in the middle are in agreement. Joan Brown Campbell takes it a step further when she says, “This is not a Democratic or Republican issue but rather an American problem that should arouse moral outrage and condemnation of all people, irrespective of their race, ethnic origin, religious affiliation or political orientation.”

The same can be said locally in terms of what has gone on at Gonzaga University.

But racism is more pervasive a reality than racially motivated ethno-violence. The “power” part of the prejudice-plus-power reality means that in spite of some progress, all things being equal, persons of color are still more likely than Caucasians to be stopped by police.

They are more likely than whites to be arrested, serve time and, if it is a capital offense, be executed. Again, all things being equal, they are less likely to secure the housing they want. In spite of affirmative action, they are less likely to be recruited, hired, and advanced in business.

Yes, racism is alive and well. Yes, we need to be outraged by what occurred at Gonzaga and by what is happening to black and racially mixed churches. But the broader problem of racism will not begin to disappear until we, as a community, are also outraged by the injustice that persons of color continue to experience in terms of housing, jobs, and the criminal justice system.

xxxx