Black church burned in Charlotte, N.C. early Wednesday morning

Vince524

Are you gonna finish that bacon?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 8, 2010
Messages
15,903
Reaction score
4,652
Location
In a house
Website
vincentmorrone.com
Burning a church, specifically a black church is pretty much right out of the hate-crime book of old hat tricks, but there could be other reasons for it.
 

backslashbaby

~~~~*~~~~
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
12,635
Reaction score
1,603
Location
NC
:(

Ku Klos Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Lenoir, NC
Ku Klux Klan

Aryan Nations LA
Hickory, NC
Neo-Nazi

Those are two major groups who operate out of areas close to Charlotte.
http://www.splcenter.org/hate-map#s=NC

It could be anybody, of course, but I am jumping to the conclusion that it's stirred up by recent national events, yeah :(
 

Kylabelle

unaccounted for
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 3, 2013
Messages
26,200
Reaction score
4,015
Damn. I grew up there, in Charlotte. I am just crying. Fuck them.
 

Monkey

Is me.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 12, 2007
Messages
9,119
Reaction score
1,881
Location
Texas, usually
I hope whoever did this sees their cause severely damaged by their actions, while those who were attacked feel an outpouring of love and support like never before.
 

raburrell

Treguna Makoidees Trecorum SadisDee
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 24, 2009
Messages
6,902
Reaction score
3,781
Age
50
Location
MA
Website
www.rebeccaburrell.com
My first visit to Charleston came in March, and while we weren't there long, it was clearly a lovely city with wonderful people, and deeply steeped in history.

All I have to say is a big Fuck You to whoever decided to do this. You lost the battle for history a long time ago, and whether you realize it or not, you can't win.
 

Kylabelle

unaccounted for
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 3, 2013
Messages
26,200
Reaction score
4,015
I was regretting my outburst a bit. The event in Charlotte is by an unknown perpetrator -- arson, yes, but racially motivated? I guess probably so. I reacted from my own childhood memories of struggling painfully with the realities of racial divisions and racism, and how this news event called all that to the surface. The "fuck them" is toward any unrepentant racists who instigate all the cruel acts of racist destruction of life and property, it's like a cultural vomiting of vileness, often upon some of the least harmful people you could imagine.

So, yeah, fuck them.
 

Monkey

Is me.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 12, 2007
Messages
9,119
Reaction score
1,881
Location
Texas, usually
They burned a church. That's enough to earn a "fuck them," racially-motivated or not.

And it probably was.
 

Vince524

Are you gonna finish that bacon?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 8, 2010
Messages
15,903
Reaction score
4,652
Location
In a house
Website
vincentmorrone.com
They burned a church. That's enough to earn a "fuck them," racially-motivated or not.

And it probably was.

Agreed. If it wasn't racially motivated, I think the F you is still plenty warranted. And the fact is, racial motivation is the most likely culprit.
 

heza

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 13, 2010
Messages
4,328
Reaction score
829
Location
Oklahoma
I'm just thankful that whoever did it isn't vile enough, yet, to do it while people were in there. And I hope the firefighters who were injured recover.
 

backslashbaby

~~~~*~~~~
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
12,635
Reaction score
1,603
Location
NC
This article gives a little background about the church, and it mentions that there were other churches in the same complex: "two or three immigrant churches, including one whose members were born in Nepal."
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article25408597.html

The comments there seem to be mostly from locals, too, and it's not been taken over by horrible internet commenters yet, so that's good to see.
 

nighttimer

No Gods No Masters
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Messages
11,629
Reaction score
4,103
Location
CBUS
It's probably only a coincidence.

There are no coincidences.
 

ShaunHorton

AW's resident Velociraptor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 6, 2014
Messages
3,550
Reaction score
511
Location
Washington State
Website
shaunhorton.blogspot.com

nighttimer

No Gods No Masters
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Messages
11,629
Reaction score
4,103
Location
CBUS
The church burnings aren't slacking off.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Twenty years after the Ku Klux Klan burned it down, a South Carolina black church, north of Charleston, has caught fire again and authorities were trying to determine why.

This time, the Tuesday night blaze came as storms moved through the area, casting uncertainty over whether the fire was intentionally set. No one was believed to be inside at the time.

But the fire at the Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal church in Greeleyville broke out at a time when federal authorities are investigating conflagrations at several other predominantly black churches in other states, but so far the fires don't appear to be related.

Greeleyville is a town of about 400 people around 50 miles north of Charleston, where a pastor and eight members of a historic black church were fatally shot June 17 in what authorities are investigating as a hate crime.

Agents from the State Law Enforcement Division were on their way to the church before the fire was out, Division Chief Mark Keel said. But he said they will have to wait until the hot spots are extinguished before using dogs and other investigative tools to figure out what started it. He said investigators will be on the scene first thing Wednesday morning.

"We do know they apparently had some strong storms," Keel said. "Talked to a guy who said they had a lot of lightning down there tonight. I don't know whether that had anything to do with it at all."

The image of orange flames coming from the same church the KKK burned down in 1995 brought up painful memories, said Williamsburg County Councilman Eddie Woods Jr., who got out of bed to drive to the church after hearing about the fire.

"That was a tough thing to see," Woods said. "It is hurting those people again. But we're going to rebuild. If this was someone, they need to know that hate won't stop us again," Woods said.

Let's assume--always a dangerous thing, but let's roll with it--this church fire wasn't caused by a lightning strike, faulty electrical wiring, a carelessly tossed aside cigarette or Thor's hammer.

All that is left is a deliberate act of arson and no matter whether someone's trying to cash in on an insurance policy or send a message, it is contemptible, despicable and someone's ass needs to go to jail.