Political Quotes

“A wave of church arsons is sweeping across the South, taking with it many rural, mostly black churches, as well as the confidence and security that many of these communities once felt. Mr. Speaker, if this were 1956, I would blame it on the States's- Rights activists, but this isn't 1956, this is 1996, and I thought Bull Conner was dead. Just like a bad dream which comes in the middle of the night, so also, come these arsons, enveloped in darkness and all too reminiscent of the Bad Old Days when the night-riders of the Ku Klux Klan practiced their evil under the cover of darkness and with the assistance of the torch. The number of incidents, as of May 21, 1996, given in testimony before the Judiciary Committee, was 57 across the United States. Now, the number of church arsons has risen to 58. The number has risen to 58 because this last Sunday, another fire tragically burned the Rising Star Baptist Church, in Greensboro, AL, to the ground, and leaving an entire congregation without a house of worship. Tragically, under the cover of darkness, a beautiful quiet community in west Alabama's agricultural heartland has again experienced another church arson. This makes the ninth arson of a black church in Alabama.”