[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 84 (Monday, June 10, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H6098]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CHURCH BURNINGS STRIKE MY DISTRICT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Jones). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Hall] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, last night two churches in 
Greenville, TX, the fourth district that I represent, were damaged by 
fires which are suspected to be acts of arson. These are the latest in 
a long and tragic series of church burnings that have struck 
predominantly black, southern churches in the past 18 months. Whether 
these burnings eventually are found to be part of a conspiracy, 
isolated incidents, or ``copy-cat'' crimes, these are crimes that must 
be given top investigative priority.
  Members of the blue dog coalition, of which I am a member, have 
joined with members of the Congressional Black Caucus in asking 
Attorney General Janet Reno to give this issue the full and focused 
attention of the Department of Justice. In recent weeks, we have 
received assurance that the Department is committed to thorough 
investigation of these burnings, and yesterday Attorney General Reno 
gave her personal assurances to a delegation of ministers. As we speak 
here tonight, agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco 
and Firearms are in Greenville investigating these recent burnings.
  I would like to commend the efforts of the distinguished gentleman 
from Louisiana, Mr. Cleo Fields, and the distinguished gentleman from 
Alabama, Glen Browder, for their leadership on this issue, and I join 
others in the blue dog coalition, the Congressional Black Caucus, other 
Members of Congress, and the majority of Americans in condemning these 
acts of violence. Whether these are crimes of hate or random incidents 
of vandalism and arson, this is a disturbing pattern of violence in 
America that must receive our serious attention.
  The issue is not merely the physical damage resulting from these 
fires. I am confident that the congregations of Greenville's New Light 
House of Prayer and the Church of the Living God will unit to repair 
their churches and will be joined in that effort by the Greenville 
community at large. The issue is that these fires represent an act of 
violence that must not be tolerated in a free and civil society. When 
we read about church burnings or awaken one morning to discover that a 
suspicious fire has damaged a church in our own community, we are 
reminded that religious freedom is the solid rock upon which our great 
Nation was founded and which must be preserved and protected.

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