EmergencyNet NEWS Service
Friday, July 12, 1996
Vol. 2 - 194
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**LEAD STORY**
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STATISTICS PAINT DIFFERENT PICTURE OF SOUTHERN
CHURCH FIRES ...
By Steve Macko, ENN Editor
Most of us have seen the images on the evening news -- flames shooting out of a church located in a southern
state. Night-after-night, week-after-week, the news media reported on what was considered to be a rash of
arson fires against black churches in the southern U.S. Amid those images were fears of raging racism.
However, after conducting a careful study of the cases and of the statistics, an entirely different picture emerges.
There is little hard evidence of any sudden wave of racially motivated church fires.
A recent review of six years of federal, state and local data found that the number of arson cases is up.
However, there was a marked increase at BOTH black AND white churches. Only random links to racism
could be tied to a few of the cases. As reported by this publication previously, officials in the insurance industry
say that this year's toll of church fires is within the range of what they would normally expect. There has been
NO dramatic increase in the number of insurance claims made against church fires.
Racism is the clear motivation in less than 20 of the 73 recorded black church fires since 1995. (Based on
numbers of one week ago.) There is no clear evidence that suggests a conspiracy or of a general climate of
racial hatred.
Loretta Worters, a spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute, which is an organization that collects
data affecting insurance companies, said, "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."
A statistical review of the data involving church fires in eleven Southern U.S. states
revealed the following:
-- In twelve cases where there have been arrests, the suspects include: Three separate cases where firefighters
are accused of setting the blazes and then helped to put out; Drunken teenagers; Devil worshippers and
burglars.
-- In 12 to 18 of the fires, there is evidence that points to a racial motivation by an arsonist(s). These include
arrests made for two fires in South Carolina and two in the State of Tennessee. It is believed that another four
fires in Tennessee indicate clear racial overtones. There is also evidence that points out that black churches were
singled out in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.
-- The number of fires involving white churches has also increased. Since 1995, more white churches than black
churches have burned in the states of: Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Virginia. In the State of
Texas, 20 white churches have burned compared to 11 black churches. In the past 18 months, statistics show
that there have been fires at 75 white churches and at 73 black churches. In the past six years, there have been
248 recorded arson fires at white churches compared to 161 at black churches.
-- It is believed that in at least 15 of the fires at black churches racism was an unlikely motivation. In nine of the
cases, black suspects were named. Six churches burned in an arson spree that included both white and black
churches.
-- In an 18-month period, there has been a slight increase in arson fires involving black churches. But many
involved a few nights' work by serial arsonists. In most states, these kinds of fires are considered rare by
authorities and because of their small number they statistically multiply quickly. i.e. In 1995, the State of
Louisiana had seven black church arson fires, but four of those fires occurred in one night near Baton Rouge.
In another example, the State of Mississippi averages about two black church arson fires a year, but after one
night where two black churches were set on fire -- Mississippi doubled its number and had four.
The main, number one reason, in the opinion of ERRI criminalists and other experts, for what appears to be an
increase in these types of fires has been the publicity generated on the subject by the news media. In the weeks
since President Clinton had to submit to political pressure and spotlight the fires, there have been 18 to 20 fires
at black and white churches. Richard Gilman of the Insurance Committee for Arson Control, an insurance
industry trade group, said, "There's a lot of feeling out there that there are copycat fires." This hypothesis was
previously reported in a ENN report on this subject. (Click here to see the ENN June 19, 1996 article on
this subject) Gilman and other fire experts say that the fires reveal only one thing: "Churches have long been a
favorite target for arsonists."
Data from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) shows that, over the years, church arsons have
dropped steadily from 1,420 recorded in 1980 to 520 in 1994, the last year that data was made available. A
great many of the churches were located in isloated rural areas. Empty for most of the week, the churches were
prime targets for arsonists, burglars, vandals and people with other motivations.
Thirty percent of all church fires are ruled to be arson, that is twice the rate of all structure fires in the U.S.
Loretta Worters said, "The number of arson fires that have broken out this year are within the norm."
But still, there is a furor over black church fires. It is true that hatred is the motivation in some of the fires. Since
1990, 23 people have been convicted in at least seven cases of burning or desecrating 13 churches and one
synagogue. Those cases have been held in both federal and state courts.
As previously noted, there is evidence to indicate that race was a motive for some fires in the states of Alabama,
Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. But little evidence of racial motivation exists in a majority of the recent
fires. Arson investigators and, in some cases, even church officials have discounted the motive of hate in at least
12 cases where whites were arrested and in a number of other cases that are still under investigation.
It is believed that in many of the cases the fires were the work of burglars, youths or accidents. Alabama Fire
Marshal John Robison said, "Most times until you identify the perpetrator you can't know the motive. Yes, there
are some of them that are racially motivated, but a vast majority of them are not."
There are several lists of burned churches. There are federal lists and state lists and lists compiled by cities.
There are media lists and lists made by civil rights groups. Virtually none of the lists resemble each other.
The U.S. Justice Department says that since 1990 there have been 245 church fires, both black and white. The
Center for Democratic Renewal issued a report in June that said there has been 90 arson attacks on black
churches since 1990.
When asked what the correct number is, federal law enforcement officers are not entirely sure. That's because
the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are
only called into a suspected case when local or state authorities ask them to do so. ATF spokesman Larry
Washington said, "In the past, we have not been invited on each and every church fire. Now with the heightened
awareness, we're getting contacted when anything burns. The rising numbers mostly reflect the growing
awareness."
And where does that growing awareness come from? From the same place where most Americans get their
news.
As for the ATF being called in now when anything burns and the kinds of fires that are being added to
the lists are these examples:
-- 2 February 1996: A trash can was set on fire outside of a house owned by the predominately black Light of
the World Baptist Church in Wilson, North Carolina.
-- 25 March 1996: A fire at the Central Baptist Church in Browns, Alabama. The church caught fire and burned
during a lightning storm.
-- Two fires in Tennessee include an arson ruled by the state fire marshal at the home of a snake handler and the
discovery of burned matches at a white church. It was determined that the matches were left by burglars
fumbling in the dark.
These fires, for whatever reason, appear to be left off the list:
-- 11 December 1995: In a three-week period where there were three other attacks on other black churches in
the area of Boligee, Alabama, the Jerusalem Baptist Church was destroyed by a fire. The insurer of the church
ruled a case of arson. Federal arson investigators blamed the blaze on a faulty furnace and closed the case.
-- 7 April 1996: A fire at the St. Paul's Baptist Church in Lauderdale, Mississippi, was caused by a discarded
cigarette left in a yard refuse by the black church's deacon. The deacon denies the explanation.
It really is not certain how many black churches have been the victim of arson in the State of Florida. When the
state insurance commissioner's office was asked how a church was determined to be black or white, the office
admitted it was based on guesswork based on the name of the church.
So what really are the reasons for the arsons at black and white churches? According to Jack Levin, the
director of Northeastern University's program for the Study of Violence and Social Conflict, "When it comes to
hate crimes, it is always tough to decide the source of motivation. Racism helps define them, but sometimes it
doesn't explain the entire incident."
Levin said that his study of hundreds of hate crimes found that boredom in teenagers that was fueled by anger
and alcohol accounted for 65 percent of the incidents that he has termed, "recreational racism." Levin said,
"Lots of young people feel powerless and there's a sense of dominance in burning down a church. Not all of
excessive need for power gets expressed in racism. That's why you have burnings of white churches."
Bottom line -- the church fires are not anything new. Just as many, if not more, white churches are the victim of
arson as black churches. The recent wave of media attention has contributed to the number of "copycat" fires. It
It is our editorial belief that when the "red hot" media attention dies down, so should the number of fires.
(c) EmergencyNet News Service, 1996, All Rights Reserved.