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CHURCH RRES IN THE SOUTHEAST \ [) Y 4. J 89/1:104/98 Church Fires in the Southeasti Seri... HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MAY 21, 1996 Serial No. 98 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 35-829 CC WASHINGTON 1996 : ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice SuperintendentofDocuments,CongressionalSalesOffice,Washington,DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-053934-X CHURCH HRES IN THE SOUTHEAST \ \) Y 4. J 89/1:104/98 Church Fires in the Southeast, Seri... HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MAY 21, 1996 Serial No. 98 ? m? ^ -» : Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 35-829 CC WASHINGTON 1996 : ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice SuperintendentofDocuments,CongressionalSalesOffice,Washington,DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-053934-X COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman CARLOS J. MOORHEAD, California JOHN CONYERS, Jr., Michigan F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, Jr., PATRICIA SCHROEDER, Colorado Wisconsin BARNEY FRANK, Massachusetts BILL McCOLLUM, Florida CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York GEORGE W. GEKAS, Pennsylvania HOWARD L. BERMAN, California HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina RICK BOUCHER, Virginia LAMAR SMITH, Texas JOHN BRYANT, Texas STEVEN SCHIFF, New Mexico JACK REED, Rhode Island ELTON GALLEGLY, California JERROLD NADLER, New York CHARLES T. CANADY, Florida ROBERT C. SCOTT, Virginia BOB INGLIS, South Carolina MELVIN L. WATT, North Carolina BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia XAVIER BECERRA, California STEPHEN E. BUYER, Indiana ZOE LOFGREN, California MARTIN R. HOKE, Ohio SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas SONNY BONO, California MAXINE WATERS, Cahfornia FRED HEINEMAN, North Carolina ED BRYANT, Tennessee STEVE CHABOT, Ohio MICHAEL PATRICK FLANAGAN, Illinois BOB BARR, Georgia Alan F. Coffey, Jr., General Counsel/StaffDirector Julian Epstein, Minority StaffDirector (II) CONTENTS HEARING DATE Page May 21, 1996 1 OPENING STATEMENT Hyde, Hon. Henry J., a Representative in Congress from the State ofIllinois, and chairman. Committee on theJudiciary 1 WITNESSES Brekke, Tron W., Chief, Corruption/Civil Rights Division, Criminal Investiga- tive Division, Federal Bureau ofInvestigation 47 Jackson, Rev. Earl W. Sr., national liaison for urban development, Christian Coalition 141 Jarrett, Rev. Algie, pastor, Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, Hardeman County, TN 136 Johnson, James E., Assistant Secretary for Enforcement, Department of the Treasury 66 Land, Richard D., president, Southern Baptist Convention Christian Life Commission 149 Lowery, Rev. Dr. Joseph E., president. Southern Christian Leadership Con- ference 137 Mackey, Rev. Terrance G., Sr., pastor, Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church, Greeleyville, SC 126 Magaw, John W., Director, Bureau ofAlcohol, Tobacco and Firearms 26 Patrick, Deval L., Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, Depart- ment ofJustice 19 Payne, Hon. Donald M., a Representative in Congress from the State of NewJersey 4 Rivers, Nelson III, southeast regional director, the National Association for the Advancement ofColored People 155 Stewart, Robert M., chief. South Carolina Law Enforcement Division 69 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING Brekke, Tron W., Chief, Corruption/Civil Rights Division, Criminal Investiga- tive Division, Federal Bureau ofInvestigation: Information concerning the Freeman standoffin Montana 92 Prepared statement 49 Bryant, Hon. Ed, a Representative in Congress from the State ofTennessee: Prepared statement 187 Hilliard, Hon. Earl F., a Representative in Congress from the State of Ala- bama: Prepared statement 16 Humes, Rev. Virgil, pastor, New Hope Missionary Baptist Church: Prepared statement 162 Jackson, Rev. Earl W. Sr., national liaison for urban development. Christian Coalition: Prepared statement 144 Jackson Lee, Sheila, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas: Prepared statement 17 Johnson, James E., Assistant Secretary for Enforcement, Department of the Treasury: Prepared statement 67 Land, Richard D., president. Southern Baptist Convention Christian Life Commission: Prepared statement 152 Lowery, Rev. Dr. Joseph E., president. Southern Christian Leadership Con- ference: Prepared statement 140 (III) IV Page Mackey, Rev. Terrance G., Sr., pastor, Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church, Greeleyville, SC: Prepared statement 128 Magaw, John W., Director, Bureau ofAlcohol, Tobacco and Firearms: ATF responses to committee questions 105 ATF responses to Representative Jackson Lee's questions 108 Charts concerning church fires 28, 30, 32, 35 Non-African-American minority church fire investigations by ATF since October 1, 1991 89 Prepared statement 37 Mfume, Hon. Kweisi, president and CEO, the National Association for the Advancement ofColored People 119 Patrick, Deval L., Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, Depart- ment ofJustice: Information concerning requested resources 113 Prepared statement 22 Payne, Hon. Donald M., a Representative in Congress from the State of New Jersey: African-American congregation church fires 6 Prepared statement 14 Stewart, Robert M., chief. South Carolina Law Enforcement Division: Pre- pared statement 72 Talbert, Bishop Melvin G., president, and Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, general secretary. National Council of the Churches of Chirst in the U.S.A 165 APPENDIX Material submitted for the hearing 189 CHURCH FIRES IN THE SOUTHEAST TUESDAY, MAY 21, 1996 House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:40 a.m., in room 2141, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Henry J. Hyde (chairman ofthe committee) presiding. Present: Representatives Henry J. Hyde, Bill McCollum, George W. Gekas, Howard Coble, Steven Schiff, Bob Goodlatte, Fred Heineman, Ed Bryant of Tennessee, Steve Chabot, Bob Barr, John Conyers, Jr., Barney Frank, Robert C. Scott, Xavier Becerra, Zoe Lofgren, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Maxine Waters. Also present: Alan F. Coffey, Jr., general counsel/staff director; Diana Schacht, deputy general counsel; Kathryn A. Hazeem, chief counsel; Nicole Robilolto, assistant counsel; Kenny Prater, clerk; Julian Epstein, minority staff director; Perry Apelbaum, minority general counsel; Melanie Sloan, minority counsel; and Tom Diaz, minority counsel. OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN HYDE Mr. Hyde. The committee will come to order. This morning the House Judiciary Committee turns its attention to a very disturbing development in our Nation, that of the large number of church fires that have occurred in recent months. The trend is particularly troubling because of the number of African- American churches that have fallen victim to these burnings. This year alone there have been 21 church fires involving African-Amer- ican churches. In 1995, six such incidents were reported and investigated by Federal law enforcement officials. The Federal Bureau of Investiga- tion, the Civil Rights Division, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are actively involved in these investigations. Law enforcement task forces are made up of Federal, State, and local au- thorities and they've been established in a number of these cases, and over 200 Federal investigators are actively involved at this time. Most of these incidents have occurred in Southern States: Ten- nessee, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mis- sissippi, Virginia, and Louisiana. But suspicious incidents involving African-American churches are also being investigated in New Jer- sey and Arizona. It's unclear how many ofthese fires actually were arson, and it also is unclear how many were racially motivated. To date, there is no evidence of a national conspiracy. There is, how- (1) ever, considerable evidence that some of these church fires were connected and that some were racially-motivated incidents. The purpose of this hearing is to hear from Federal and State law enforcement officials about the progress being made in these various investigations. In particular, we are interested in how suc- cessful the Federal, State, local cooperative efforts, and task forces have been. So far, there have been four arrests involving 1995-96 incidents involving four different churches in three different States. We need to know ifthese agencies feel that current law is adequate and whether it provides them with all the tools necessary to solve such despicable crimes. We will also hear this morning from church leaders and ministers from some of the affected congregations. We want to hear their stories first-hand. Recently, I was contacted by a number of pro-family organiza- tions, including the Family Research Council, the Christian Coali- tion and Traditional Values Coalition, and the Catholic League. All urged that hearings be held on this subject, and they stated in part, "The danger exists that additional attacks will be launched by individuals motivated by either racial or religious bigotry, or both. Hearings before your committee could make headway in helping to deter such attacks, elucidate their origins and the existence of any concerted campaign of arson and vandalism, and lead to the arrest and conviction of individuals involved in numerous cases that re- main unsolved to this date." The Judiciary Committee takes its oversight and legislative re- sponsibilities very seriously. If the evidence ultimately warrants a legislative response to further strengthen Federal law enforcement efforts with respect to these types of incidents, we are prepared to take that action. We will not tolerate acts ofviolence or desecration based upon religious or racial bigotry anywhere in this country. The gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Conyers, is recognized for an opening statement. Mr. Conyers. Thank you and good morning, Mr. Chairman, members ofthe committee. We meet here on the cutting edge of the development of race re- lations in the history of our country. Several things make this hearing important are: First, there is near unanimity in the committee chaired by Chairman Hyde that these acts are unconscion- able, they are anti-American, and they deserve the swiftest and most severe punishment. Now, for those of you who are even brief students of American political history, that is an unusual cir- cumstance, particularly in the Congress where race and the question of where and how African-Americans fit into the scheme of things has been debated in ways that really aren't too happy to re- call. But we do that this morning because unless we understand the backdrop of these hearings, they can be taken out of context. The fact of the matter is that bombing churches is not new at all in the history of this country and in the struggle to improve race rela- tions. The fact of the matter is, church firebombings are a part of a large—r pattern. Bridgette Ward in Philadelphia wasn't in a church she was in her home. When you add up the number of incidents of racially-motivated violence going on in America as this committee meets, they number maybe into the tens of thousands, I'm afraid. The insolence, the effrontery, the temerity of people who hate, to burn churches, is so egregious that it shocks almost every con- science in America. Do you know what it means to burn down a church, to destroy the pulpit, to set the Bible on fire, to burn a place of worship to the ground, with or without people in it? That is so offensive that it staggers the imagination of nearly all of us in this country. And so. Chairman Hyde was swift to move on this subject, as were all my colleagues. And so we gather here to hear the report. A lot of people have asked me, "What do you think about this?" I can't respond until I hear the testimony at this hearing. That's why we called the hearings. It's no good to get my opinion; it's not important what I think; it's what are the facts? What are we doing? We've got the top Fed- eral and State law enforcement people, as well as affected leaders and their members all here in one room. This is an important and proud day in American history. In anot—her time, such a hearing would not have been even contemplated it would have been out of the question. But here in this Congress, with all the divisive- ness, we are united on the need to get to the bottom of this phe- nomenon. Now, to get to the bottom of this—calls for more than catching the perpetrators. The—re's a problem sociologically, psychologically, person-to- person in this country that creates a climate for this to happen. It's like picking a drug-selling punk off of an urban corner and thinking you're doing something about drugs; he'll be replaced the next night. It won't change a thing. The Committee on the Ju- diciary is called to go beyond its oversight, beyond its legislative ca- pacities, and to look into the heart and soul of our country to try to figure out what it is we c—an do, what it is we should be doing, and what should we change not only in the laws, but in other things as well. Maybe we should lower the rhetoric of political opportunism that allows everybody to play the race game to their heart's content until somebody drops a match. Then we say "that's awful; you've crossed the line." But to foment—the hatred, to continue the division, to exacerbate the problems oh, that we allow. We're in the political season, but we've got to come out of it. I applaud the leaders who are here today and beg them to go beyond their submitted statements and talk to us about the most intractable issue in the history ofthis country, racism. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Hyde. Thank you, Mr. Conyers. Our first witness this morning consists of our distinguished col- league, Congressman Donald Payne, from the 10th District of New Jersey, representing the Congressional Black Caucus. Mr. Payne, your statement will be made part of the record, and, if possible, if you could confine your oral testimony to 5 minutes, given our lengthy witness list. I wo—uld respectfully reques—t that members of the committee minimize if not refrain from questioning Con- gressman Payne, although I would never foreclose someone if you have a burning desire to do so. Mr. Pajme. STATEMENT OF HON. DONALD M. PAYNE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY Mr. Payne. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and let me say that I appreciate you caUing this very important hearing here today. Mr. Chairman, while I appreciate the opportunity to testify before your committee this morning, I must say that this hearing is long overdue. I know when it was brought to your attention, about the severity of this manner, you hastily moved. But this hearing should have been held a long time ago. I am frankly disturbed by the priorities set by this Congress, which has held countless hearings on subjects like reverse discrimination and affirmative action, and on the rights of militias who stockpile weapons and flaunt the law. A year ago this committee held 10 days of hearings with over 100 witnesses on the Waco incident, which occurred back in 1993. In the other body, high-profile hearings were held on whether the rights of white supremacist Randy Weaver had been violated during the raid at Ruby Ridge, ID, in 1992. It seems that throughout the 104th Congress, members of ex- tremist groups who have—nothing but di—sdain for this Nation and our form of government a democracy have been treated with considerable deference. Yet, it is only after the FBI has investigated over 50 incidents of desecration of predominately African- American churches, as well as Jewish synagogues, and after I and others publicly questioned the total lack of responsiveness on the part of the Congress, that a hearing was finally scheduled. Never- theless, I am glad that we have finally come to a congressional hearing ofthis very, very serious problem in our Nation. Mr. Chairman, I know that Deval Patrick, Assistant Attorney General at the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, is going to testify and he will deal with the specific incidents of arson and desecration of African-American churches in the South- east, so I will not elaborate on the details. I think that he is more equipped to do that and, therefore, I will not take the time. However, I do want to point out that a dangerous trend is occur- ring, as the number of fires at churches has increased markedly over the last 2 years. We're not even halfway through the year, yet, already, suspicious fires have occurred at 24 churches. Of these, 17 have congregations which are predominately African-American. This is a dramatic increase from the last year when there were reports of fires at 13 churches, 11 of which were predominately Afri- can-American. While this hearing will focus on hate incidents in the southeast region of our Nation, I think that it should be point- ed out that ugliness of racial and religious bigotry is not confined to one region of this country. The Department of Justice has re- ceived reports of incidents in States like Maryland, where the tar- get was a Quaker meeting house. In my own home State of New Jersey, the Voice Center Baptist Church at Tinton Falls, not far from my district, a predominately African-American church, was completely destroyed by fire. African-American churches in Rich- mond, VA, and in Seattle, WA, have been ravished by suspicious fires. Mr. Chairman, during the early days of the civil rights move- ment in which I was involved, churches were gathering places, not