Racism Doesn’t Appear To Be Cause Of Arson ‘This Has Been Going On For A Long Time And Affects All Races’
Amid all the frightening images of churches aflame, amid all the fears of raging racism, a surprising truth emerges: There is little hard evidence of a sudden wave of racially motivated arsons against black churches in the South.
A review of six years of federal, state and local data by The Associated Press found arsons are up - at both black and white churches - but with only random links to racism. Insurance industry officials say this year’s toll is within the range of what they would normally expect.
There is no evidence that most of the 73 black church fires recorded since 1995 can be blamed on a conspiracy or a general climate of racial hatred. In fewer than 20 cases, racism is the clear motivation.
“You don’t want to discount the racially motivated fires, but this is a crime that has been going on for a long time and affects all religions and races,” said Loretta Worters, a spokeswoman for the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group that tracks data affecting insurance companies.
Among the findings in a review of church fires in 11 Southern states where the trend was first noted:
Largely because of a few nights’ work by serial arsonists, there has been an 18-month jump in black church arsons.
Such fires are fairly rare in most states, and thus they multiply quickly. For example, Louisiana had seven black church arsons all year; four of them occurred in a one-night spree in the Baton Rouge area.
Mississippi averages about two black church arsons a year; when two churches burned on the same night in rural Kossuth, this year’s tally stood at four. There have been six fires in Alabama - twice the average number for a year - after three fires in three weeks in a single county.
The number of white church fires also has increased. Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Virginia have seen more fires at white churches than black churches.
The spread was greatest in Texas, where a USA Today survey published last week found 20 white church fires and 11 black church fires. The total count for the last 18 months: 75 fires at white churches and 73 at black churches. The tally for the past six years offers a wider margin: 248 arsons at white churches compared to 161 at black churches.
There is evidence pointing to racially motivated arsons in 12 to 18 of the fires, including arrests for two fires in South Carolina and two in Tennessee. Another four Tennessee fires had clear racial overtones. Evidence suggests cases where black churches were singled out in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Racism is unlikely in 15 black fires. Black suspects were named in nine of those cases; another six churches were burned as part of arson sprees that included both white and black property.