Silence allows arsonists to do their dirty deeds
Thirty-two black churches have been burned to the ground and the reaction is just beginning to heat up.
Why has it taken so long? The entire nation should be outraged, marching in protest and raising money to rebuild those mostly rural churches that have struggled so hard for a meager existence.
Why should we let a bunch of hooligans break into their world with such violence? Why should we let thugs destroy the tranquillity those little churches were struggling valiantly to create?
My guess is those black congregations kept to themselves, caused no harm, paid their bills and worshiped their Lord with gladness. Now this hate-crime spree has brought them to their knees. From wire reports, it is obvious parishioners are bewildered but not bitter, bowed but not broken.
Fortunately, President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno have now weighed in on the problem and they may have the wherewithal to bring the culprits to justice.
The National Council of Churches is working to raise $1 million to help rebuild the church buildings. And religious broadcaster Pat Robertson has put up $25,000 for an investigation. Billy Graham issued a statement saying he was ``grieved and saddened'' by the fires. And Quakers and Mennonites are working with the black congregations to help them rebuild.
In the South the wheels of justice are just beginning to turn and this has been going on for the past 18 months. Already people have been arrested and you can bet more will be put in the slammer as the summer progresses.
We all know these fires are a thermometer that measures just how much the racial climate in the United States has heated up in recent years. In the 1960s the racists were standing on the street corners shouting at children who were walking into all-white schools in search of a better education. We knew who they were and the FBI knew who they were.
Now the racists have turned cowardly. They come in the middle of the night with gasoline and torches. And they slither away like the snakes they are.
Yes, in the 1960s we also had Ku Klux Klan members terrorizing people in the night and we had racist murderers shooting people in the back. But now they never surface; they know their acts are against the law and if caught their liberty would be seriously curtailed.
And that is a big part of the problem. If there is a conspiracy in all of this, it is a conspiracy of silence, which could plague the nation forever.
In the 1960s there were reporters and investigators infiltrating hate groups, writing about the gatherings, the cross burnings and the lynchings. But we let down our guard in the 1970s and 1980s and left the racists room to do their dirty deeds.
Now we pay the price. It is a bigger price than just the cost of replacing 30 small churches. It is a price the nation pays in honor, justice, tolerance and respect. You name the big virtues and we seem to have lost them. We are a morally impoverished nation if we let this continue.
I made a dozen phone calls hoping to find someone, some congregation, perhaps, that was taking steps to help those black churches. It turns out the local Black Ministerial Alliance sent a letter to President Clinton in March. I would guess other black churches and preachers have also communicated with government officials.
That is fairly mild action, but better than nothing. We always have to remember, when good people do nothing, bad people flourish. Eventually evil grows to a critical mass and becomes standard behavior.
If you think this doesn't affect you or your church because you live in the North, think again. If we can't stop the racists in the South, the racists in the North will eventually surface. Then watch black churches above the Mason-Dixon line burn.
Clark D. Morphew
6-22-96
