Who's Burning Black Churches ?

[QueEx]

3 Black Churches Have Burned in 10 Days in a Single Louisiana Parish

Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Opelousas, La., one of three historically black churches that have recently burned in St. Landry Parish.CreditLeslie Westbrook/The Advocate, via Associated Press

Image Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Opelousas, La., one of three historically black churches
that have recently burned in St. Landry Parish.CreditCreditLeslie Westbrook/The Advocate, via
Associated Press

 

[QueEx]

FBI investigating fires at black churches in Louisiana






Opelousas, La. — The FBI has joined the investigation into a string of suspicious fires at historically black churches in Louisiana. Three churches have burned in less than two weeks in St. Landry Parish near Baton Rouge.

The fire at Greater Union Baptist Tuesday burned from the roof to the pews. For Pastor Harry Richard, whose grandfather helped start the church more than 100 years ago, the damage is personal.

"He left a legacy for me and I was trying to fulfill that to the best of my ability," he said.

The suspicious fires began early last week, with the most recent one on Thursday. All three historically black baptist churches are just a few miles apart in St. Landry Parish.

"We do believe that this fire is suspicious. We do believe a crime has occurred," said Louisiana State Fire Marshal H. Butch Browning.

Historically, the burning of black churches was used to intimidate communities and parishioners here are on edge.

"We can't let this setback stop us from doing what God initially called us to do," said Kyle Sylvester, the pastor of St. Mary's Baptist Church, the first that was burned.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the FBI are involved in the investigation. But the fire marshal said it's too early to categorize any of the fires as hate crimes.

"We're gonna solve this. For the people responsible, the right thing to do would be come ask for redemption and come forward and let us help you through this process, don't make us hunt you down, because we will," said Browning.

© 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/louisi...stigating-string-suspicious-fires-2019-04-05/

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[QueEx]

A Charred Gas Can, a Receipt and an Arrest in Fires of 3 Black Churches

Greater Union Baptist Church in Opelousas, La., was one of three historically black churches that were destroyed in St. Landry Parish in recent weeks.CreditWilliam Widmer for The New York Times

Image -- Greater Union Baptist Church in Opelousas, La., was one of three historically black
churches that were destroyed in St. Landry Parish in recent weeks.CreditCreditWilliam
Widmer for The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/11/us/holden-matthews-black-church-fires.html

 

[QueEx]

Louisiana burning: attack on 3 black churches was racist and evil

Posted Apr 13, 2019

An April 2, 2019 blaze at Greater Union Baptist Church in Opelousas was one of three
"suspicious" fires to occur in St. Landry Parish. (Photo courtesy of Louisiana State
Fire Marshal’s Office)


There are two distinct but interrelated meanings of the word “sanctuary.”

It is a holy place, one set aside for worship and praise and the place in a Christian church where one will find the altar.

A sanctuary is also a place where we expect people — and living things more generally — to be safe from people who might want to capture or harm them.​

So, when a person burns down a church, he is simultaneously attacking a place that its members consider sacred and a place that its members feel safe and protected. When the members of a targeted congregation are black, even black people who aren’t members are likely to be put on edge. Historically, the opponents of civil rights and black people’s forward progress have struck back by attacking black churches, more often than not with fire.


When St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church, Greater Union Baptist Church and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, three black churches in St. Landry Parish, burned in a nine-day period starting March 26, the safe bet was always that

a) there was an arsonist on the loose and that​

b) that arsonist was singling out black churches for harm.

Thursday morning, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the arrest of 21-year-old Holden Matthews of Opelousas.​

Authorities say multiple clues helped them zero in on Matthews. They include a piece of a charred gasoline can, surveillance video of a truck owned by the suspect’s parents, records of where his debit card was swiped and mobile phone records that indicated the places he’d been. Eric Rommal, the agent in charge of the New Orleans FBI office, said federal investigators are working to determine if the arsons were “bias motivated.”

What other explanation is there? On April 4, the day the last church burned a state fire official told the Daily Advertiser that each church was remotely located and not close to the other two. “These buildings are kind of off the beaten path, kind of out of town.” St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church is seven miles away from Greater Union Baptist Church and, depending on one’s route, at least 18 miles from Mount Pleasant Baptist Church.

Before an arrest had been made St. Landry Sheriff Bobby Guidroz told the Daily Advertiser that his deputies were trying to be vigilant, but he added, “We have a lot of churches in this parish, lots of churches.” Indeed, most communities do. That’s why we should dismiss out of hand a comment a friend of Matthews’ made to The Associated Press in the suspect’s defense. “If he’s making a statement it’s against religion and establishment only, not against race,” Nygyl Bryyn said. He later added, “I don’t think he did it, but if he did it, it would not be because the churches are black.”

In a parish that’s 57 percent white and predominantly Catholic, there’s no way that a person who wanted to strike out against established religion just randomly hit three small, black Baptist congregations. That makes no sense, but nobody sounds sensible trying to explain racist acts without calling them racist.

A statement the NAACP issued Thursday quickly gets at the heart of the matter: “The arrest of Holden Matthews for the horrific burnings of Black churches in Louisiana is just another example of the hate-fueled times that we live in … This is the same domestic terrorism that has been the hammer and chisel used to chip away at the humanity of Black Americans and the suppression of our political power.” The statement goes on to decry a spike in “white supremacy and hate crimes” during Donald Trump’s presidency.

In a statement Thursday, Gov. Edwards said, “Hatred of any kind should not and will not be tolerated. No one should be judged because of the color of their skin or religious beliefs.” At the press conference announcing the arrest of Matthews, the governor said, “These were evil acts.”


​

The suspect; son of deputy arrested.

https://www.nola.com/opinions/2019/...-on-3-black-churches-was-racist-and-evil.html

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