[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 87 (Thursday, June 13, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S6182]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          BURNING OF CHURCHES

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, we have seen in recent weeks a series of 
attacks on black churches in the south. At least 33 churches have been 
set ablaze in a campaign of terror.
  Mr. President, every one of us has to make his or her voice heard in 
opposition to this wave of terror. These churches have been sources of 
stability, of kindness, of moral and spiritual guidance for their 
congregations.
  These fires are a chilling reminder of a period that we all thought 
had passed. A period marked by some of the most shameful, hateful acts 
ever perpetrated by Americans against Americans. A period in which 
bombings, fires, beatings, and shootings were tools to prevent African-
Americans from realizing equal status in our society. A ``dark era in 
our Nation's history,'' the President recently called it.
  I want to praise President Clinton for his leadership in mobilizing 
Federal investigators while at the same time offering solace to the 
people whose churches have been burned. It is the business of the 
president to offer moral leadership, to console the victims of racists 
attacks, to call the cowards out for what they have done.
  I also praise Ross Perot for his leadership in calling on his Reform 
Party members to guard the churches.
  I also wish to praise Senator Moseley-Braun for offering a 
resolution, of which I am a cosponsor, condemning the church fires and 
urging the administration to mobilize all appropriate resources to put 
the people who set these fires behind bars.
  Finally, Mr. President, I want to state that this is a problem not 
just for African-Americans, but for all Americans. We should speak with 
one voice and pass the Moseley-Braun resolution unanimously, so that 
our message is clear.
  Mrs. BOXER. I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Mrs. Boxer pertaining to the introduction of S. Res. 
262 are located in today's Record under ``Submissions of Concurrent and 
Senate Resolutions.'')

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