Eva M. Clayton: “church buildings can be burned to the ground, but the spirit of the church will always stand. The recent rash of church…”

“church buildings can be burned to the ground, but the spirit of the church will always stand. The recent rash of church arsons in African-American communities throughout the United States leaves one wondering if anyplace is safe, if anyplace is secure, if anyplace is sacred. But because those who have done these unthinkable acts have targeted the very places we hold most dear and most precious, there is no doubt in my mind that good will come from this evil. Even after a ravaging fire, something remains. It may only be a blade of grass, but from that blade of grass will come a beautiful landscape. It may only be an idea that remains, a determined spirit, but from that idea, that spirit, will come another church. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. often stated, eloquently and profoundly, "You can kill the dreamer, but you can-not kill the dream." Mr. Speaker, I must admit that I was stunned when the church arsons hit home. Last Thursday, when the Matthews-Murkland Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, NC became another one of the more than thirty African-American churches to be burned over the past 18 months, the shock and amazement of this deed left me dazed and numb. I thought, How could anyone violate what is most cherished, most precious to a civilized society? But then, there was Oklahoma City and the World Trade Center in New York. We live in very puzzling and troubling times.…”