Clinton Seeks Church Security Funds

Seeking to increase the federal role in combating arson at black churches, President Clinton on Tuesday called for channeling $6 million in government funds to beef up security around rural churches.

The money, which must be approved by Congress, would go to law enforcement agencies in the 12 Southern states that have been hit hardest by the roughly 40 church burnings in the last year and a half. It would be designated to hire additional officers, pay for overtime patrols, increase lighting around outlying churches and other security measures, Clinton said.

“This is a struggle against racism and religious bigotry, and we will escalate that struggle as necessary with enough people-power and willpower to make sure that struggle is won,” Clinton said outside the White House before leaving on a campaign trip to Chicago.

As he spoke, church and community leaders were meeting with state law enforcement officials in Washington to coordinate their response to the rash of arsons.

Congress passed a bill Tuesday that doubles federal penalties for anyone convicted of burning a church, and Clinton said that he is eager to sign the measure. He urged congressional leaders to quickly allocate the $6 million for the Justice Department to pay for improved security.

Rural black churches have proved particularly vulnerable to arson attacks because many are outside the coverage of normal police patrols. The additional money is designed in part to pay for more patrols and other security measures.

The fires are “an affront to our most basic beliefs in religious liberty,” Clinton said.

The states that would be eligible to receive the funds are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Virginia.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which responds primarily to natural disasters, is also being called on to organize arson watch teams and conduct safety inspections of churches.

Clinton said that the only lasting solution will be to “change the atmosphere in the country.”

“If you’ve seen the profiles coming out on a lot of the people who have been charged with these church burnings,” Clinton said, there does not seem to be a discernible conspiracy “but instead a lot of people who share common problems--people who have disappointments in their own lives, frustrations in their own lives, and somehow think . . . ‘I’m just going to be mad and burn a black church,’ ” he said.