Political Quotes

“we recently awoke once again to disturbing news that has become all-too-commonplace. We were told that during the night, additional southern black churches had been burned. These recent church burnings came amidst heightened national concern over the epidemic of such episodes throughout the South. As each fire is reported, we cling to the hope that what we will hear is that it was the result of an accident and not the work of some demented arsonist. The evidence, however, points away from the accidental fire. As these hateful incidents continue to occur with alarming regularity, we are reminded of some of the most terrible moments of the civil rights struggle of the 1960's. Then, homes, businesses, churches, and other property was set afire in the dark of the night by those who wanted to preserve the existing social order. Their goal was to intimidate and frighten those working legally for the causes of equality and integration. To those of us who remember those dark days and who applaud the progress which has been made in our society since then in terms of race relations, these current images of fires at churches in the early hours before dawn are profoundly disturbing and disconcerting. This is not supposed to happen in this day and age, not in the South or anywhere in this country. Such incidents remind us that such hatred is alive in the United States of America and it is directed today at the very heart of these small, rural black communities.”