Black church torched in Mississippi, with ‘Vote Trump’ painted on wall
By Cleve R. Wootson Jr. November 3
“Vote Trump” is painted on the side of the fire-damaged Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, Miss. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP)
As firefighters neared the historically black church Tuesday night in Greenville, Miss., they saw flames in the windows and smoke pouring from the roof.When they got closer, they could see two words spray-painted on the side of the burning sanctuary: “Vote Trump.”
Investigators believe the blaze at 110-year-old Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church was set on purpose, Greenville Fire Chief Ruben Brown told The Washington Post. The suspected arson is being investigated as a hate crime by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.
On Wednesday, fire officials in Mississippi insisted that the motives of whoever burned the church are still unclear.
But Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons called the fire a “hateful and cowardly act,” sparked by the incendiary rhetoric of GOP nominee Donald Trump during his presidential campaign.
“We know what the black church means to the black community and the symbolism of the black church,” Simmons told The Post. “This is the place [where] people freely assembled to pray and strategize on how to get civil liberties and rights that were denied to them.”
Trump’s campaign denounced the fire that left the 200-member church badly damaged. …
No one was inside the church when it was set on fire, and no one was injured, Brown said. The mayor said investigators have identified “a person of interest,” but authorities have not named a suspect or made any arrests.
[KKK’s official newspaper supports Donald Trump for president]
Hopewell’s pastor said the congregation plans to rebuild.
“Our hearts are broken, but we are not angry,” the Rev. Carilyn F. Hudson told the Clarion-Ledger. “We are saddened, but we do know that all things work together for good to those that love the Lord.”
“The animus of this election cycle combined with the potent racial history of burning black churches as a political symbol makes this event something we must not ignore,” the GoFundMe page said. “Only two weeks ago, the internet came together to help repair a North Carolina GOP field office that had been burned by thugs. Justice demands we do the same now.”
Simmons, the mayor, said he directed police to provide additional patrols at the city’s churches in the wake of the suspected arson.
Officers will also be out in force on Election Day in Greenville — a city where 78 percent of the population is black, according to census figures.
“We want folks to go to the polls and not feel fearful, to not feel intimidated and to not feel they have to stay home because some person is engulfed in hate,” said Simmons, the first black man elected mayor in the Mississippi Delta city. “This is a direct assault on black folks. It goes to the heart of intimidating folks.”
The fire and “Vote Trump” message came with a week left in the campaign.
Trump has struggled to make inroads with black voters and recently pledged what he called “a new deal for black America.” His plan would give city leaders authority to declare blighted communities disaster areas. It would also use microloans, tax holidays and investment incentives to spur the economies of inner cities.
Trump has also said that Hillary Clinton and other Democrats have taken for granted the overwhelming support they receive from blacks.
[Trump booted a black man from his rally and called him a ‘thug.’ Turns out he is a supporter.]
But, according to The Post, Trump’s campaign is “barely registering with African American voters. He had 3 percent support among African Americans in an ABC News tracking poll released (Oct. 23), compared with Clinton’s 82 percent. Romney had 6 percent support among African Americans in 2012.”
One flash point for Trump: His campaign has been praised by hate groups that have persecuted blacks for decades. One of the most prominent newspapers for the Ku Klux Klan offered a defacto endorsement of Trump, dedicating its entire front page to a pro-Trump article. In February, Trump was endorsed by former KKK grand wizard David Duke. He later declined to unequivocally condemn Duke when prodded by CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Trump has also made disparaging remarks about other minority groups, including Hispanics and Muslims.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D), whose district includes Greenville, said the incident at the church “harkens back to a much darker day in Mississippi.”
“The political message of the vandalism is obviously an attempt to sway public opinion regarding the upcoming election,” he wrote in a statement sent to the Associated Press. “I encourage all citizens not to be deterred by this cowardly act and exercise your right to vote at the ballot box.”
Setting fire to a church is a symbolic act that stretches back to the Reconstruction-era South, when churches served as the centers of black communities.
The most infamous case came in 1963, when four KKK members bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., killing four girls who were changing into their choir robes and wounding 20 others. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. called the act “one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity.”
The bombing brought an international spotlight to the U.S. civil rights movement and “the injustices and terrorism facing blacks in the South, and was a flash point in the struggle for equal rights,” according to Smithsonian Magazine.
The South saw a new spate of church attacks in summer 2015 after a white gunman shot and killed nine black people during a prayer service at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. The suspect, Dylann Roof, said he wanted to start a race war.
