logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Alleged Arsonist of St. Louis Area Churches Is 35-Year-Old Black Man

Rick Cohen
November 3, 2015
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

arson

October 30, 2015; ABC News

A 35-year-old black man has been arrested in connection with at least two of the arson incidents at black churches in the St. Louis/Ferguson area of Missouri. His motive isn’t clear to the police or anyone else according to the various news reports on the arrest, but the reactions from some quarters has been to condemn the ministers, organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center, and journals like this one that suggested the pattern of arsons had the earmarks of racially motivated violence.

To an extent, both the fact of the arrest and the possibility that, if the suspect is proven guilty, white racism wasn’t behind the arsons are welcome news to the St. Louis area, which has been a national focus of racial tensions. The Rev. Rodrick Burton of New Northside Missionary Baptist Church in Jennings, whose church was one of the arson targets, said, “I believe the St. Louis community will have a sigh of relief. Given our history of racial division, it will be a great relief that it is not motivated by prejudice.”

Nonetheless, in some circles, there has been more than a little chortling in the discovery that the arsons were perpetrated by a black man with a history of other criminal offenses, including domestic assault, burglary, drug-related crimes, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. The all-too-frequent meme in some circles is that this nation, with a black president, a black attorney general, black and Latino members of the U.S. Supreme Court, and black mayors of many major cities, has progressed from racial to post-racial, that whites have much more to fear from black violence than blacks from white violence, that the Black Lives Matter movement is egging on racist tensions, that the purported victims of racial violence like Mike Brown or Trayvon Martin or Eric Garner were “thugs” of some type or another, and that some incidents of racial tension or violence are imaginary, exaggerated, or even, as in this instance, self-inflicted.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Despite incidents like this alleged black arsonist in the Ferguson area, it is not hard to see plenty of actions in our society that involve and are motivated by overt, covert, and more endemic structural racism. The American public should be heartened that federal authorities such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives quickly intervened to work with St. Louis police authorities to investigate the arsons for potential racial motivations.

Rev. Burton expressed some disappointment, however, in the local community’s response, that is, in the majority-white faith community’s response to the arsons. He was quoted in the Guardian as having expected more outreach and support, suggesting, “It could’ve [done more] for race relations in this area…if people in the majority culture reached out and said, ‘We’re concerned about this happening in the African American community.’”

Observers have to appreciate the symbolic importance of black churches in the black community and the powerful impact violence against black churches and black parishioners has had throughout history. Quite recently, there were the killings in Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Church by avowed white racist Dylann Roof in June while the nine victims were engaged in Bible study. When a white church leader in the region, Rev. Mike Kinman of the Episcopalian Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis, said, “Holy God…if we ever needed a wake-up call to believe that racism is alive in St. Louis—if this is not it, I don’t know what it could be,” he wasn’t speaking as a forensic investigator but as a church leader looking at the history of the St. Louis area and the need for the community to come together.

As opposed to those who want to imagine that that racism isn’t a problem, people who want to address and resolve the problem of racism in American society should take the St. Louis arrest, if the man was truly the instigator of the seven reported arsons, as an opportunity to deepen their understanding of how racism works and how Americans of all races and ethnicities can respond affirmatively to the challenges facing the black community.—Rick Cohen

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rick Cohen

Rick joined NPQ in 2006, after almost eight years as the executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Before that he played various roles as a community worker and advisor to others doing community work. He also worked in government. Cohen pursued investigative and analytical articles, advocated for increased philanthropic giving and access for disenfranchised constituencies, and promoted increased philanthropic and nonprofit accountability.

More about: black community racial disparities systemic racismReligious/Faith-Based

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

NPQ_Winter_2022Subscribe Today
You might also like
To Change Narratives about Black Men, We Must Start with Black Boys
Trevor Smith
Closing the Racial Wealth Divide: A Plan to Boost Black Homeownership
Dedrick Asante-Muhammad and Joshua Devine
Latinx Conference Grapples with the Economy, Race, and the Politics of Change
Steve Dubb
Backlash, Burnout, and POC Leaders
Mistinguette Smith
Women of Color in Higher Education: Intersectional Stories of Microaggressions
Kathryn Young and Myron Anderson
Economic Development Fund Seeks to Boost Black Economic Infrastructure
Steve Dubb

Popular Webinars

Remaking the Economy

Black Food Sovereignty, Community Stories

Register Now

Combating Disinformation and Misinformation in 21st-Century Social Movements

Register Now

Remaking the Economy

Closing the Racial Wealth Gap

Register Now
You might also like
To Change Narratives about Black Men, We Must Start with...
Trevor Smith
Closing the Racial Wealth Divide: A Plan to Boost Black...
Dedrick Asante-Muhammad and Joshua Devine
Latinx Conference Grapples with the Economy, Race, and the...
Steve Dubb

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.