[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 25 (Monday, June 24, 1996)]
[Pages 1072-1073]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Prior to a Meeting With Southern Governors and an Exchange With 
Reporters

June 19, 1996

Church Burnings in the South

    The President. I would like to welcome the Governors, the other 
State elected officials who are here, the commissioners of public safety 
who are here, the Members of Congress who have come together to discuss 
the problem of church burnings, which has troubled so much of our 
country. I expect that for our part we will cover three areas today. We 
want to talk about the efforts to prosecute those who are responsible 
for these crimes, and we want to give a report

[[Page 1073]]

on that. We want to talk a little about the rebuilding efforts. And I 
compliment the National Council of Churches and the other religious 
organizations and citizens that are involved there. And I think we all 
know we need to try to do more to prevent these burnings from occurring 
in the first place.
    So, we're going to talk about some initiatives that we might be able 
to take together to work with communities to do more prevention work. 
And we may have more to say about that in the days ahead.
    The most important thing to me is that as Americans we consistently 
and passionately come together to say this crosses racial lines, this 
crosses party lines, and this crosses religious lines. The first freedom 
in the Constitution, the first amendment, enshrines the freedom of 
religion in America. And whether they're black churches or white 
churches or synagogues or the mosque that was burned in South Carolina, 
we cannot tolerate any of it.
    I thank all these people for coming together, particularly the 
Governors, to work with us to see what we can do together to stem this 
tide and turn it around. The American people do not support this, they 
are passionately opposed to it, and we need to do what we can to end it.
    Q. Do you think it's a conspiracy, Mr. President, in the country 
against black churches per se?
    The President. No, I do not believe that based on the evidence I 
have seen it is a conspiracy. On the other hand, I do believe a lot of 
these instances are racially motivated, and they tend to play off of one 
another. I think that, you know, just because they're not connected 
doesn't mean there's not a feeling there that we need to all reject 
together. And I must say I've been very moved by the range of religious 
and political organizations that have come out to speak out against 
this, offered to contribute to rebuild these churches. I think that this 
is a place where nearly 100 percent of Americans are in accord. And I 
think we just need to make our voices heard, and we need to do the right 
things. And if we can do that, I think we'll get the results that we 
want.
    Q. Given the number of church burnings that have taken place since 
you spoke out about it, are you concerned that the publicity being given 
to the issue has perhaps had the opposite effect of what you've 
intended?
    The President. Well, I don't think it will over the long run because 
the people will see that we're being effective in prosecuting these 
cases. And more and more people will rally in their own communities and 
even across community lines. We see some people--we see people even 
across State lines volunteering to send church groups into other States 
to help rebuild churches and things of that kind. And I think if we 
develop a prevention strategy it won't.
    It was quite a sizable problem before there was a lot of national 
attention to it. In the last 18 months--I've monitored the numbers over 
the last several years--the last 18 months it's gotten quite a lot 
worse. So, I think we just--we have to focus on it, and we have to speak 
out as a country about it. And I think as we speak out together and as 
people see there is no politics in this--we have Republicans and 
Democrats here, we have people--we have African-Americans, Hispanics, 
and WASP's and Jews in this room together and in this country. We're all 
going to work together on it. We can do that.

Bruce Lindsey

    Q. Mr. President, Bruce Lindsey has been named an unindicted co-
conspirator by Whitewater investigators. Do you still have complete 
faith in him?
    The President. Absolutely.
    Q. Will this change his status at the White House in any way?
    Q. Does this hit close to home to you, sir, with Mr. Lindsey being 
named in this way?
    The President. No. He was thoroughly investigated and not charged 
with ample opportunities. I've got lots of confidence in him. I'm 
confident he didn't do anything wrong.

Note: The President spoke at 1:52 p.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White 
House.