Fanning the Flames of Another Black Church Arson Hoax

Townhall.com ^ | July 1, 2015 | Michelle Malkin

[Kaslin]

America is still reeling from the horrific Charleston, S.C., massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church that claimed the lives of nine innocent people.

The last thing the community and our country need are hysterical journalists compounding the pain with inflammatory reporting on an unsubstantiated "epidemic" of black church arsons.

On Monday, a Baltimore Sun lead editorial decried "a series of mysterious fires at African-American churches across the South" in the wake of the Charleston murders. The newspaper cited a "pattern" of attacks, including what it claimed was an "uptick in attacks on 37 black churches in the South" in the 1990s that "prompted President Bill Clinton to set up a church-arson investigative task force."

The Sun neglected to mention that Clinton had falsely claimed at the time that he had "vivid and painful memories of black churches being burned in my own state when I was a child"-- an assertion immediately debunked by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The Sun also neglected to mention that the manufactured media coverage that launched the 1990s black church arson juggernaut, fueled by former USA Today reporter Gary Fields' 61 fear-mongering stories, fell apart under scrutiny. Fields' own employer was forced to admit that "analysis of the 64 fires since 1995 shows only four can be conclusively shown to be racially motivated."

Reminder: Several of the hyped hate crimes against black churches had been committed by black suspects; a significant number of the black churches were, in fact, white churches; and the complex motives behind the crimes included mental illness, vandalism and concealment of theft.

Once again, falsified history is repeating itself.

The NAACP, which capitalized on the Clinton-era race hustle, is now pushing the new arson epidemic narrative. The organization remains shamelessly undaunted after fueling the fake NAACP "bombing" in Colorado Springs earlier this year. The group's CEO, Cornell Brooks, tweeted the incendiary "#WhoIsBurningBlackChurches" hashtag on Tuesday and disclosed that he is "informing churches, reviewing legislation, pushing media awareness and deciding legal options."

The left-wing instigators at the Southern Poverty Law Center, whose stated mission is to "destroy" its political opponents and whose target map and list of social conservative groups were used by left-wing domestic terrorist Floyd Lee Corkins to shoot up the Washington, D.C., office of the Family Research Council in 2012, baselessly reported: "In what may not be a coincidence, a string of nighttime fires have damaged or destroyed at least six predominately black churches in four southern states in the past week."

Teach for America alumnus agitator DeRay McKesson quickly added his Twitter kerosene to the fire, reflexively claiming that the "KKK" was responsible for a half-dozen black church burnings.

Buried beneath the sensationalized social media avalanche of panic: the more judicious and careful observations of Los Angeles Times reporter Matt Pearce that the feds have made no official determinations that any hate crimes have taken place and that "it's unclear whether any of the fires are linked."

It was observed that "one of the half-dozen church crimes was most likely "accidental" and had "no element of criminal intent."

Another "was likely touched off by an electrical short" after a tree limb fell on the property, yanking the electrical service line with it.

And yet another alleged "black church arson" actually involved a white church "struck by lightning."

No matter.

NBC News trumpeted: "Spate of Fires at Black Churches Raise Concerns of Rise in Hate Crimes."

The Washington Post ominously tallied "five predominantly black Southern churches burn within a week; arson suspected in at least three."

The New York Daily News blared: "String of apparent arson fires plague black churches in Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee."

Mic.com quoted a hate crimes "expert" blaming -- you guessed it -- "the growth of violent right-wing extremist ideology in the U.S." for the nonexistent black church arson epidemic.

Where there's smoke, there's fire. In this case, it's coming from the five-alarm self-immolation of agenda-driven journalism's credibility.

[cripplecreek]

U.S. Fire Administration
TOPICAL FIRE RESEARCH SERIES

Volume 2, Issue 7 August 2001 (Rev. March 2002)
Church Fires

FINDINGS An average of 1,300 church fires are reported each year, causing $38 million in property loss.

The leading cause of church fires is arson (25%). S 30% of church fires are the result of mechanical failures. Faulty wiring and improperly functioning heating systems are often at fault, perhaps because they are in older structures and have not been brought up to local fire codes. Of churches that reported fires, 65% had no smoke alarms and 96% had no sprinkler system.

[Marko413]

I’ve noticed in many of these, they don’t have any interviews with church members. Makes me wonder then how many of those really were white churches or multi-ethnic churches.

[Ancient Man]

Obama’s world view:

Foreign terrorists = Freedom fighters
American patriots = Homegrown terrorists.

[Kaslin]

That’s typical of that arrogant pos

[bestintxas]

compare the ‘It must be racism’ of the charleston murders with the report on a similar terror attack on a church. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,31191,00.html

to the attackers, it is not a race issue, but a religious one.

wonder what the press would have said if a muslim had entered the charleston church and murdered instead of a white man?

[Old Sarge]

H/T to our FRiend Kaslin for the post.

Behold the Agenda in quick-march: the MSM and the grievance industry are ramping up the "racists-are-burning-black-churches" meme - burned, of course, by angry white males who, of course, are angry over their taking their flags away...

For thus has the Lord said unto me:
“Go, set a watchman, Let him declare what he sees.”
Isaiah 21:6

The Watchman Ping List - FReepmail Old Sarge for details!

[Kaslin]

Thanks

[Wpin]

And most of you guys are not going to get it, in the meantime, black churches are arming...are you?

[Mich Patriot]

So, right wing conservatives are going to start burning churches? Got it.

[KC_Conspirator]

CNN is on at this moment helping perpetuate this theme, without even knowing a single fact.

[Kaslin]

That doesn't surprise me. Please note who owns the Commie News Network

[MrB]

That’s because the latter group represent a bigger threat to LEFTIST POWER,

and that’s the only threat they’re actually concerned about.

[MrB]

The leftist Satanic mobs WILL NOT allow your church to exist, are you ready for that?

[Mears]

CNN was going on and on about this last night.

.

[tuffydoodle]

Onward Christian Soldiers.

[BwanaNdege]

That doesn't surprise me. Please note who owns the Commie News Network

Ted Turner: Selling CNN was the ‘worst day of my life’

NY Daily News,Oct 19, 2012

Time Warner purchased Turner Broadcasting for $7.5 billion in 1996.

[RipSawyer]

“The leading cause of church fires is arson (25%). S 30% of church fires are the result of mechanical failures.”

At first glance that appears to be contradictory. If 30% result from mechanical failures how can arson at 25% be the leading cause?

[uncitizen]

And do the congregation members believe what happened was a result of racism or a political stunt of some sort? Surely they should be able to come up with two or three odd those crazy eyed loud mouth types that will cry racism .

[Alex Murphy]

On Monday, a Baltimore Sun lead editorial decried "a series of mysterious fires at African-American churches across the South" in the wake of the Charleston murders. The newspaper cited a "pattern" of attacks, including what it claimed was an "uptick in attacks on 37 black churches in the South" in the 1990s that "prompted President Bill Clinton to set up a church-arson investigative task force."

The Sun neglected to mention that Clinton had falsely claimed at the time that he had "vivid and painful memories of black churches being burned in my own state when I was a child"-- an assertion immediately debunked by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The Sun also neglected to mention that the manufactured media coverage that launched the 1990s black church arson juggernaut, fueled by former USA Today reporter Gary Fields' 61 fear-mongering stories, fell apart under scrutiny. Fields' own employer was forced to admit that "analysis of the 64 fires since 1995 shows only four can be conclusively shown to be racially motivated."

Reminder: Several of the hyped hate crimes against black churches had been committed by black suspects; a significant number of the black churches were, in fact, white churches; and the complex motives behind the crimes included mental illness, vandalism and concealment of theft. Once again, falsified history is repeating itself.

PFL