Four church fires were in the news last week. All of the churches were places of worship yet only one fire caused an out pouring of $1 billion dollars in donations over night. The fires of St. Mary Baptist, Greater Union Baptist, and Mt Pleasant Baptist occurred within a span of 10 days starting March 27. The Cathedral of Notre Dame’s fire occurred on April 15th as a result of faulty wiring. The earlier fires were caused by the act of an arsonist. While not listed as such, one could easily see this a hate crime. The church leaders tried in vain to start a “Go Fund Me” page to raise the necessary funds to rebuild the churches. However, after $1 billion dollars was raised shortly after the Cathedral fire, writer Yahsar Ali tweeted to his followers the question of why so many would give to this Catholic Cathedral while ignoring the burning of the African American churches. Social media responded in kind with donations of $2 million that the three congregations will share. Wonderful by a far cry from the funds raised for the Cathedral.
Why do you think there was an out pouring of donations for a historical Catholic Church building and not for the three African American Churches? Is it the love of architectural grandeur that people donate to? Perhaps it is the large organ that appears to be severely damaged. Do people care more about the brick and mortar than they do about what happens in the church? I am not going to start writing about the sex scandal engulfing the Catholic Church and compare the fire to the act of cleansing. That is for someone else to blog about. This is not about the Catholic Church. This is about why Americans are not more upset about the Jim Crowe like conduct once again occurring in the South. Perusing Face Book, one has access to countless pictures of the Cathedral’s fire. People mourning the loss of history, religious relics, and architectural glory. The news showed live footage and interviewed crying people over looking the landmark. Yet, the three African American churches in one Louisiana Parish were not even considered to be front page news. Why is that? Perhaps it is because the three African American church burnings did not effect people in the same way as the Cathedral fire did. The burning was not their problem and did not effect them where as the Cathedral was some place people like looked like them visited and shared pictures.
It is just like the treatment of crack and opioid abusers. Yes, I am going there. One is a crime and one is an illness. Caucasians started dying in the opioid “epidemic” and suddenly we need drug education and to overhaul the medical system. Free supplies of Narcan are handed out in church, at Fire Stations, and Medical Facilities. Suddenly certain drug users are considered to be victims while others continue to be treated like criminals. West Virginia has some of the highest cases of opioid abuse but not the highest drug arrests further attesting to the fact that white drug use is not a villainous as black drug use. The Nation still fights a war against drugs. African American neighborhoods are still plagued by police tactics such as stop and frisk, pre-dawn raids, blue light cameras, and frequent shootings. Possession of pot, crack, and heroin is the main reason for a drug arrest and the inner city continues to be law enforcement’s focus. The criminal justice system continues to house more African Americans than any other race. Zip codes continue to determine the cost of insurance rates and mortgage rates. Black churches continue to be burned down with out a large out cry. Yet, my blog trolls tell me that all this slavery stuff is history and that PTSD of slavery is a myth. I do not see much that has changed since public lynchings were social outings. Racism went underground for a while only to come up in different forms that generations of people are complacent with. People say that if you notice or focus on color, you are racist. But this is not about focusing on color but it is about paying attention to injustice. Do unto others as you would have done unto you. Imagine if you were on the other side of the photo negative. What kind of fairness would you demand?