9.25.2006
Deval: Talk radio led to church arsons
“Deval Patrick … said that conservative talk radio was an important factor in creating an atmosphere conducive to abhorrent behavior such as arson and bombing.” Waves of Rancor: Tuning in the Radical Right by Robert Hilliard
"I feel like we're reaping what we've sown. If you listen to talk radio, if you listen to some of the rhetoric in Congress . . . you can begin to see ways in which civic leadership in this country is not encouraging people to see their stake in each other's struggle." Deval Patrick on the possible cause of arsons of black churches, Washington Post (June 12, 1996)
According to the National Church Arson Task Force that Patrick co-chaired at the US Department of Justice: "Of the 670 incidents that we have investigated, 225 have involved African American churches, 163 of which are located in the southern United States. ... Of the 308 persons arrested, 254 are white, 46 are African American, and eight are Hispanic. One hundred and nineteen people arrested were juveniles. Of the 106 suspects arrested for arsons at African American churches, 68 are white, 37 are African American and one is Hispanic. Of the 197 suspects arrested for arsons at non-African American houses of worship, 181 are white, nine are African American, and seven are Hispanic. Five of the white suspects were arrested for arsons at both African American and non-African American churches. ... As of September 8, 1998, there were 427 investigations in which arrests had not yet been made."
Bottom line: racial hatred of blacks by whites cannot be a primary cause of the church arsons because most of the attacked churches had white congregations, whites were far more likely to attack white churches than black churches, and blacks also attacked black churches in significant numbers.
Deval Patrick used his role as chief civil rights enforcer for the Clinton Justice Department to attack talk radio listeners, many of whom were political opponents of the Clinton administration, by speculating that the medium played a role, however indirect, in the attacks. He exploited the conservative, racist, middle-aged, angry, white male stereotype the Left has about talk radio listeners, but he offered no proof that conservative talk radio influenced these arsonists at all. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on June 18, 1996 that Patrick indirectly blamed talk radio for the attacks by lamenting "the level of discourse" in America but had to concede that "I can't draw a straight line from talk radio to the fires."
The one common denominator in all of the church attacks is not that mostly black churches were attacked or that talk radio influenced the attackers. These houses of worship were all Christian churches, not mosques or synagoges. Identifying anti-Christian hatred as a possible motive certainly would have been a much more overwhelmingly obvious and accurate choice than speculating about whether talk radio was contributing a racist "epidemic of terror."
Consider the case of Jay Scott Ballinger. He is from Yorktown, Indiana, the town where my father grew up and where (or adjacent to where) I lived for my first 15 years. The Yorktowns of America spawn some kids who rebel against the rather mundane Protestant Christian mainstream. For me, that rebelliousness played itself out in drinking whiskey, listening to heavy metal, thinking independently, and dressing weird -- all of which I still do. Ballinger's misspent youth led to worshipping Satanism and burning 30 to 50 churches in 11 states. He is serving a life sentence for his role in burning 26 churches -- white and black -- in the late 90s.
Ballinger wasn't a talk radio listener.
Deval Patrick likes to brag about his leadership in investigating the church arsons of the 1990s, and he should be proud for helping bring so many people justice for these crimes. But he should also correct the record regarding his suspicions about the role talk radio played in these dark days of our history. A true leader can admit when he has made a mistake. ¶ 10:32 AM
"I feel like we're reaping what we've sown. If you listen to talk radio, if you listen to some of the rhetoric in Congress . . . you can begin to see ways in which civic leadership in this country is not encouraging people to see their stake in each other's struggle." Deval Patrick on the possible cause of arsons of black churches, Washington Post (June 12, 1996)
According to the National Church Arson Task Force that Patrick co-chaired at the US Department of Justice: "Of the 670 incidents that we have investigated, 225 have involved African American churches, 163 of which are located in the southern United States. ... Of the 308 persons arrested, 254 are white, 46 are African American, and eight are Hispanic. One hundred and nineteen people arrested were juveniles. Of the 106 suspects arrested for arsons at African American churches, 68 are white, 37 are African American and one is Hispanic. Of the 197 suspects arrested for arsons at non-African American houses of worship, 181 are white, nine are African American, and seven are Hispanic. Five of the white suspects were arrested for arsons at both African American and non-African American churches. ... As of September 8, 1998, there were 427 investigations in which arrests had not yet been made."
Bottom line: racial hatred of blacks by whites cannot be a primary cause of the church arsons because most of the attacked churches had white congregations, whites were far more likely to attack white churches than black churches, and blacks also attacked black churches in significant numbers.
Deval Patrick used his role as chief civil rights enforcer for the Clinton Justice Department to attack talk radio listeners, many of whom were political opponents of the Clinton administration, by speculating that the medium played a role, however indirect, in the attacks. He exploited the conservative, racist, middle-aged, angry, white male stereotype the Left has about talk radio listeners, but he offered no proof that conservative talk radio influenced these arsonists at all. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on June 18, 1996 that Patrick indirectly blamed talk radio for the attacks by lamenting "the level of discourse" in America but had to concede that "I can't draw a straight line from talk radio to the fires."
The one common denominator in all of the church attacks is not that mostly black churches were attacked or that talk radio influenced the attackers. These houses of worship were all Christian churches, not mosques or synagoges. Identifying anti-Christian hatred as a possible motive certainly would have been a much more overwhelmingly obvious and accurate choice than speculating about whether talk radio was contributing a racist "epidemic of terror."
Consider the case of Jay Scott Ballinger. He is from Yorktown, Indiana, the town where my father grew up and where (or adjacent to where) I lived for my first 15 years. The Yorktowns of America spawn some kids who rebel against the rather mundane Protestant Christian mainstream. For me, that rebelliousness played itself out in drinking whiskey, listening to heavy metal, thinking independently, and dressing weird -- all of which I still do. Ballinger's misspent youth led to worshipping Satanism and burning 30 to 50 churches in 11 states. He is serving a life sentence for his role in burning 26 churches -- white and black -- in the late 90s.
Ballinger wasn't a talk radio listener.
Deval Patrick likes to brag about his leadership in investigating the church arsons of the 1990s, and he should be proud for helping bring so many people justice for these crimes. But he should also correct the record regarding his suspicions about the role talk radio played in these dark days of our history. A true leader can admit when he has made a mistake. ¶ 10:32 AM
