Federal Rights Officials Seek Ways to Ease Racial Tension

The recent burnings of black churches in the South reflect an alarming rise in racial tensions in American society, federal civil rights officials said Wednesday.

The officials of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which held community forums on the church fires in six Southern states, challenged several Southern governors to meet with them on the issue.

“Racial tensions are a major problem in the states in which the burnings took place,” Mary Frances Berry, the commission’s chairwoman, told a news conference.

The commission conducted the forums over three months in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee after reports that arson at black churches in the South had risen sharply.

Leaders of the NAACP, the nation’s oldest civil rights group, said this summer that arson attacks on black churches expose growing racial division in the United States and a need for cooperation to solve the nation’s racial problems.

Civil rights commission officials said they are sending letters to the governors and legislators in the six states requesting meetings to discuss race relations and to develop “strategic plans” involving state agencies.

So far, Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster has accepted for an Oct. 20 meeting, the officials said.

Berry charged that public officials in most of the affected states have been “less than forthcoming,” a stance she attributed to the polarizing effect of discussing racial issues.

Berry acknowledged findings by law enforcement officials that churches with mostly white congregations also have been burned and that only about 20% of the black church arsons now solved appeared to be racially motivated. But she said the fact that a disproportionate number of black churches was involved gives cause for concern.

In contrast, Berry noted, the Justice Department and local law enforcement officials have found no evidence that the white church arsons were racially motivated. More than 100 churches with predominantly black congregations, have been burned since 1995.