Mass media suddenly notices rash of arson fires in black churches in Ferguson area.

[pnwmom]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/five-predominately-black-churches-burn-in-st-louis-arson-suspected/

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Someone has been setting fire to predominantly black churches in the St. Louis area.
New Life Missionary Baptist Church is the most recent church to be burned was set on fire on Saturday, reports CBS affiliate KMOV.

Police are looking for suspects and a motive. "It is arson. That's why law enforcement is involved in this entire investigation," said Captain Garon Mosby of the St. Louis Fire Department.

Mosby would not rule out the possibility of a hate crime directed either at churches or at African-Americans.

"My job is to love (them)," said Pastor David Triggs of New Life Missionary Baptist Church. "And I've forgiven this individual. We are going to tear down and rebuild."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/10/20/the-arsonist-hes-not-my-enemy-st-louis-pastor-says-after-6-area-churches-are-torched/

The doors to the small St. Louis church had been bathed in accelerant and set ablaze. Fire crept through cracks and crannies, even a mail slot, and roared through the building. Within moments, its members were without a home.

In the predawn hours Saturday morning, New Life Missionary Baptist Church — recently renamed United Believers in Christ Ministries — became the fifth St. Louis area church to be set ablaze this month. The church, like several others, has a predominantly African American congregation. A sixth church, which is mixed-race, was found on fire Sunday morning.

Authorities said all of them were intentionally set. Investigators are now trying to find the culprit as well as a motive to see whether it might have to do with race or religion.

“We believe that this fire-setting activity is meant to send a message,” Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said in a statement. “We believe this activity may be the result of stress experienced in the subject’s life.”

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/fires-st-louis-area-churches-investigation-34580334

Someone has been setting fire to predominantly black churches in the St. Louis area, and investigators are trying to determine if the arsonist is targeting either religion or race.
Investigators have no suspects or motives. But the possibility of a hate crime — for religious or racial reasons — "is part of the dynamic" of the investigation, St. Louis Fire Capt. Garon Mosby said.

The blazes have happened in an area still reeling from the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown last year by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson and a grand jury's subsequent decision not to charge Wilson. Brown, who was black, was unarmed when he was shot by Wilson, who is white.]

But church leaders said Monday that they are focused on healing, not speculating about blame.

"This is a spiritually sick person," said the Rev. David Triggs, whose New Life Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis was set on fire on Saturday. "This is a sin issue. It's not a race issue."

http://wtvbam.com/news/articles/2015/oct/20/officials-investigate-fires-at-black-st-louis-churches/

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Federal and local authorities are investigating six arson fires at mostly black churches in the St. Louis area, and a $2,000 award has been offered for information leading to the person or persons responsible, the city's mayor said on Tuesday.

"Churches are a place for worship. They're a place of sanctuary," St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said. "Someone who would commit such a crime is atrocious."

No one was injured in the fires that damaged one Catholic and five Protestant churches.

The churches are in close proximity to one another - two in Jennings, a suburb, and four in north St. Louis. The area of the suspected attacks is close to Ferguson, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb that received international attention and was the scene of sometimes violent protests after a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teen in August 2014.

All six fires were set in the doorways of the churches, starting with the Bethel Non-Denominational Church on Oct. 8. The most recent fire was discovered on Sunday morning at the Ebenezer Lutheran Church on Theobald Street, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper reported, citing a fire official.

[Fred Sanders]

1. Took 6 black churches burning in St. Louis to get noticed....but if it were white churches....

Evidence of racism being alive and well in America is contradictory to the mass media messaging....it is difficult for the media programmers to give up a time-tested means to divide Americans, and impossible for RW racist politicians.

[pnwmom]

2. I know . . . . n.t

[malaise]

3. I agree with kimbutgar

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027272735#post5

Social media is forcing the corpmedia to report this story.

--------------
Just imagine if it was a Muslim suspect - it would be 24/7 breaking news

[Fred Sanders]

4. The funny thing is that there are few suspects...no evidence of the race or religion but it is

assumed it is white folks burning the black churches and terrorizing.....Muslims are not even suspected!

To me, and what really ticks me off, is how this shows how much racist media and racist politicans have so many folk brainwashed into fearing and smearing an entire folk, religion and culture....even fellow citizens in a country guaranteeing freedom of religion to all.

Acts of terror...but the "fearsome" Muslims are not even suspected, but white folks are....puzzling lack of logic.

[pnwmom]

10. I'm irked that the pastor is dismissing the possibility that this has anything

to do with racism.

From the ABC news story in the OP:

This is a spiritually sick person," said the Rev. David Triggs, whose New Life Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis was set on fire on Saturday. "This is a sin issue. It's not a race issue."

[KitSileya]

5. 6 black churches burning, but they noticed the CVS fire in Baltimore at the first spark

Gee, I wonder why?

I say with others, this is terrorism. This is clearly domestic terrorism. There's nothing else to call it.

[Fred Sanders]

6. Black churches burning and congregations terrorized? No much notice at DU either, apparently.

[kiri]

8. aggrieved cops?

Cops are ones who can easily get away with such arson. Cops around Ferguson are much aggrieved.

Just an observation from the burnings of churches in Georgia a decade ago.

[justhanginon]

7. Ferguson church fires.

As I posted a few days ago.

27. These fires have been extensively covered on the local newscasts usually the lead story

over all the newscasts of the day. The first four fires in terms of damage to the buildings were not large as reportedly just trash set on fire at the front doors which may account for a lack of national coverage. The last one seems to have been the only one to cause significant damage to the building.

Arson investigators probe fires at front doors of four St. Louis ...
www.stltoday.com › News › Local › Law & Order
St. Louis Post‑Dispatch
4 days ago - Federal and local authorities are investigating a spate of small fires that were set at the front doors of four area churches within the last week.

Added; the sixth fire was put out by parishioners before fire dept arrived and the fire captain said the damage was minimal. I am not saying these are not crimes and should go unpunished but I do not want people to think that these churches were burned to the ground as some imply. I live in the St. Louis area and we get enough bad press without making things sound worse than they really are. A lot of people in the area are coming together to try and address this and many of the other problems facing a lot of urban areas today.

[pnwmom]

11. No, it was worse than you're implying. In at least one church accelerant was applied to the doors

and the doors were set on fire. That fire could have been much worse if it hadn't been stopped in time.

And in another fire, vinyl siding was melted. It sounds to me that the only reason more damage hasn't been done is because the arsonist isn't very skilled yet.

[justhanginon]

12. I am only trying to dispel the notion that the churches were burned down.

What was done is certainly inexcusable but as I said and as reported locally, there was only the one church that had serious damage. I do not want to have the situation magnified to the point that it creates a reaction out of proportion to the incidents.
I agree that the arsonist is unskilled or perhaps only wanting to send a message. Who knows these days!
Hopefully whoever is setting these fires will be caught before any more damage is done.

[pnwmom]

14. Why does that matter? They could have been burned down. With accelerant involved,

anything could have happened.

The arsonist's ineptitude doesn't diminish the seriousness of the attack.

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. Kick

[LiberalArkie]

13. The poor news media is still hung up with the old days of AP and UPI.

Back when a local paper, radio station or tv station would find a story and if the local editor thought it was worthy would send it down the wire to the state editor. The state editor would look it over and see whether or not he would send it to the national editor.

Now back in the days, a burning of a black church or a lynching or a road hauling occurred it generally would not make it even to the local paper. If it did, it sure would not make out on the wire to the state desk.

And now with the twitter, face book and other social media they just can't figure out how to not publish it. The middle east did it by shutting down the internet. I don't think that method will work here.

I wish I could hear how Molly Ivans or Ann Richards would describe what is going on.

[JackInGreen]

15. It's about goddamn time

I was wondering if it would ever penetrate.

[mountain grammy]

16. I finally saw it on the national segment of our local news

and on the national news.. first time was today.

[radhika]

17. It was covered on RT TV's 'Watching the Hawk's the day before these outlets broke it.....

The host Tabetha Wallace made the point that media wasn't covering it. It's a big story. Why, she asked, did we need to learn about this from Twitter?

I'm finding I get more actual news from Al Jazeera, BBC, French TV and RT than I get domestic channels. Of course, they don't cover Trump and Hillary as much....