On June 17th 2015, nine people were killed in one of America’s oldest and most influential black churches. The attack is believed to be racially motivated. Ever since the tragic event that occurred in Charleston, South Carolina, we’ve been observing a disturbing trend sweeping the nation. For the past two weeks, several predominantly black churches in the Southern half of the country caught fire. So far, at least three of them have been attributed to arson.
Unconnected yet too coincidental
There have been occurrences of church fires in six of the nation’s states: Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Ohio, North Carolina and South Carolina. The latest fire happened on July 1st at the Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church in Greeleyville, South Carolina. This is the second time that this particular church is burned down. The first time was in 1995 in an act of arson from the white supremacist terrorist group, Ku Klux Klan (KKK). An anonymous federal official believes the fire was not intentional. However, the regional Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco division and other local investigators state that the investigation is ongoing. The investigations in the other five states are still ongoing. Though the fires do not appear to be related, the federal government is investigating the cases to see if they were hate crimes.
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A historical significance
Church arson has a long history in the US and is closely related to times of racial tension in the country. These kinds of attacks have happened since before the American Civil War, which began in 1861. There was a rise in these attacks during the middle and late 1900s, around the time when the Civil Rights Movement was happening. In 1963, there was an infamous church bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. This attack killed four young girls. The National Fire Protection Association reports that between 2007 and 2011, there were an average of 280 intentionally set fires at houses of worship in America each year.
Cause for Concern
Many believe that is cannot be accidental. “This is a systematic attack against the black church,” said the Rev. Anthony Evans, president of the National Black Church Initiative, a coalition of 34,000 African-American churches. Evans said he’s had several conference calls with black church leaders across the USA about the fires. “We are on alert status.”
