Post-election church arson at predominantly black parish probed as possible hate crime

[DogPoundPup]

Source: mass live.com

SPRINGFIELD - The bishop of a predominantly black Tinkham Road church, destroyed by a suspicious fire Wednesday morning, said, "It gives every appearance of being a deliberate act or hate crime."

Federal investigators were at the scene of the ruined church which was still under construction at 215 Tinkham Road, Springfield Fire Department spokesman Dennis G. Leger said.

It was to be the new home of the Macedonia Church of God in Christ. The fire loss is estimated at $2 million, Leger said.


"This is big. This is huge," a neighbor, Michael R. Caron, of Fox Wood Drive said. "This is like Springfield, Miss., here."

Bishop Bryant Robinson, speaking from the fire scene, said parishioners are "in shock and disbelief that somebody would do that. Particularly when the church is not doing any harm to anybody and trying to help people."

Read more: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/11/suspicious_blaze_destroys_tink.html?category=Springfield

[BattyDem]

1. And so it begins.

:-(

[kestrel91316]

2. The Nazis will be unable to refrain from outing themselves.

In a way, that's good. We can let the minor drug offenders out of jail and lock the people who REALLY pose a threat to society.

[Catholic Libertarian]

3. This is terrible

:(

[uppityperson]

7. Continuing with the approval of the Mccain/palin campaign. I truly hope Mccain comes out and speaks

for actively joining forces with Obama, actively supporting him rather than the bs spewed by his campaign

[Chulanowa]

9. So it does

We're in for a bumpy ride. But as the 'shop says... "Everyone chill the fuck out, I got this"

I can't wait for January 20th. I just can't.

[im1013]

4. This is EXACTLY what they wanted

Maybe if the MSM could show even more footage of black churches
and africans celebrating, that would help. White supremacists love that kind of thing you know.

:sarcasm:

[xochi]

5. The Rovian-styled hate/fear/racist-based politics of the McCain/Palin campaign

had all the neo-nazi white-supremacists thinking it was now okay to crawl out of the woodwork and spew their poisonous hatred more openly, just as it brought out the ugly fear-based rhetoric we saw coming from public figures like Michelle Bachmann, Libby Dole, and Rush Limbaugh, to name just a few. I swear, it's as if these people want us to return to the days of Jim Crow. It's time we crushed these vermin under our collective boots, or sandals, as the case may be.

[Mudoria]

6. Damn racist yankees..

[intheflow]

8. No lie, this is 5 miles from the house I grew up in.

It's maybe 10 miles from where my son lives. It's less than a mile from my ex-mother-in's house. I tell people all the time that Western Mass is filled with rednecks and racists and they shrug it off like there couldn't possibly be people this bad in Massachusetts, the supposed liberal Mecca of the US. But I know it all-too-well the high level of prejudice and ignorance and white privilege. It's why I've always said it was a good place to be from.

My heart goes out to to the Macedonia Baptist congregation. I'm so sorry you were targets for such hatred. I ashamed and apologize for my hometown. :cry:

[Ian David]

10. We have the McNazis here in Eastern Mass, too..

Anti-Obama sign I found today on public property, & some I saw posted at Sullivan's in Hanover, MA
Topic started by IanDB1 on Oct-16-08 09:47 AM (112 replies)
Last modified by Jamastiene on Oct-19-08 07:58 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=7476905

[intheflow]

11. Yes, I know there are enclaves of racism all over Mass.

Worcester was the New England HQ for the KKK in the 1920's. They were officially run out on a rail, but I think in truth they just went underground. :( To prove the point, there's this graphic that shows Massachusetts had a fairly large (geographically) red voting population in this election, a large chunk right around Worcester. The more things change...