Black church torched in US, walls painted with ‘Vote-Trump’ graffiti
A historic black
church in Mississippi was burned and spray-painted with “Vote Trump” and authorities
said on Wednesday it was arson and being probed as a hate crime committed one
week before the US presidential election. Greenville Fire Chief
Ruben Brown Sr. told a news conference on Wednesday afternoon that
investigators had determined the fire at Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church was
“intentionally set.” “Samples and evidence
have been collected from inside the church and are being analyzed to determine
the accelerant or ignition source,” Brown said.
Earlier in the day he
said no one was injured in the Tuesday evening blaze, but the church was
extensively damaged. “We’re investigating
this as a hate crime,” Greenville Police Chief Delando Wilson told a news
conference early on Wednesday. “We feel that the quote on the church is
intimidating. “It tries to push your
beliefs on someone else, and this is a predominantly black church and no one
has a right to try to influence the way someone votes in this election.”
Black churches in the
US South have long been a base of support for the Democratic Party. During the US civil
rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, southern black churches were often
targets for arson and bombings by white supremacists. “The FBI Jackson
Division is aware of the situation in Greenville, and we are working with our
local, state and federal law enforcement partners to determine if any civil
rights crimes were committed,” the agency said in a statement.
“This act is a direct
assault of people’s right to freely worship,” Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons
said in a statement. The town of some
33,000 people is about 100 miles (160 kms) northwest of Jackson. “The act that happened
left our hearts broken,” Pastor Carolyn Hudson told the news conference, noting
that the church has a 111-year history. The Mississippi
Republican Party declined to comment.
In October, the Orange
County Republican Party’s office in Hillsborough, North Carolina, was set on
fire and a graffiti message left nearby said “leave town or else.” No arrests have been
made in that incident, which Indiana Governor Mike Pence, the Republican vice
presidential candidate, called “political terrorism.”