U.S. Finds No Wide Plot in Black Church Arsons

Federal law enforcement officials said Tuesday that they have found no evidence of a widespread conspiracy linking dozens of arsons and cases of vandalism in black churches across the South, although some incidents appear related and others have been traced to members of white supremacist groups.

Speaking at a House Judiciary Committee hearing, officials from the Justice and Treasury departments said investigation of the suspicious church fires is a high priority. According to Justice Department figures, there have been 28 arson attacks on African American churches, mainly in the South, in the past 17 months. Civil rights groups say as many as 45 black churches have been attacked since 1990.

“The numbers are chilling,” said Deval Patrick, assistant attorney general for civil rights. “We are facing an epidemic of terror.”

Patrick said 200 agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are slowly making progress in unraveling the cases. Nearly a quarter of the church arsons reported to the Justice Department in 1995 and 1996 have been resolved, Patrick said.

While some of the fires have proven not to be crimes, in at least several cases investigators tied racist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Faction and skinheads to the church burnings. Federal officials insisted Tuesday that they have been responding vigorously to the church fires but many black community leaders have been critical of the pace and intensity of the effort, saying the Clinton administration needed to make it more high-profile.

“Is it any wonder that we are outraged that law enforcement agencies insist on denying the racist nature of these attacks on the soul of the black community--our churches?” said the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, at Tuesday’s hearing.

Lowery blamed the fires on an atmosphere of growing intolerance.