And if this January is like those in the past five years or so, while most of us are pausing to remember the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the racists will be setting fire to churches as their own personal protest of the holiday. Indeed, in 1999 there were 9 such burnings within a week of the King holiday and in 1998 there were 14, according to the list of the National Coalition for Burned Churches. What a horrible irony that on the birthday of a man of God, houses of God are burned. 

The National Coalition is a coalition of burned church victims whose places of worship have been burned or firebombed. Its mission is to act as an advocate for these churches and to provide technical assistance to them as they try to re-build not only their church buildings, but the lives of the congregation. At its recent conference in Texas, where large numbers of church arsons are now taking place, the National Coalition brought church leaders together with government officials, volunteers who have helped in the re-building efforts and those who are working to stop the burnings of churches. 

The National Coalition's President, Rev. Terrance Mackey, Sr. is the pastor of Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church in Greeleyville, SC, which was burned in 1995. Torched by members of the Ku Klux Klan, Mt. Zion was severely damaged. Rev. Mackey remembers vividly that night, saying, "Something was taken from us that day that can never be replaced. Our safe haven was violated." He added that his members immediately understood the underlying message of the fire and it led them to question whether they were safe in their church and ultimately were they safe anywhere. 

A year later Rev. Mackey sat in a federal courtroom during the arraignment of two of the four men charged with conspiring to burn Mt. Zion. One of them took out his Klan membership card, held it up and announced his pride in it. As his attorney wrestled the man's arm down, the judge sat silently. "His family members looked over at us as if we had victimized them," Rev. Mackey remembers. When the judge asked one of the men why they were burning Black churches, his response was, "We are burning Black churches because there is going to be a race war in this country in the year 2000 and if we have to burn down white churches to, so be it."

Thus, we must re-examine the burning of not only African-American churches, but multi-racial and even white churches which have been targeted by white supremacists, militia groups and so-called Christian identity groups. And then we must understand the connection between the church burnings and other terrorist and hate crime activities of these groups. Moreover, our vigilance must also carry over to other African-American institutions, which have also been targeted by white supremacists.

Last year, for instance, several Black colleges were threatened and small fires were actually set in at least one institution.  Indeed, more than a dozen historically Black colleges have received racist hate mail since December. All the letters, postmarked from Fayetteville, NC, warn that "the total destruction of your race is our mission in life," and threaten a racial holy war that would escalate this year.

In spite of all of this, we still do not have a federal hate crimes bill. Once again, it died in Congress last year and must be re-introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in this new session. Sadly for our nation, racism and hate seem to be following us into the new century and the new millennium. Sadly for us, too, we keep treating it as if we just ignore it, it will just go away.

That treatment plan doesn't work for illnesses of the body and it won't work for this illness of the soul. Meanwhile, I pray that on this Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday no churches will burn and none of our African American institutions will be targeted. And I pray for a hate crimes bill and not a racial holy war in this year in which we mark the   2,000th birthday of the Prince of Peace and champion of love.

(Note: for more information on burned churches, contact the National Coalition for Burned Churches, P.O. Box 40784, Charleston, SC, 29423 or e-mail ncfbccp@aol.com. You can reach your Senator at United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510 or your Congressperson at United States House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515.)