the charleston shooting follows a long history of attacks on black churches

8/20/2019 The Charleston Shooting Follows a Long History of Attacks on Black Churches

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The Charleston shootingfollows a long history ofattacks on black churchesUpdated b y German Lopez on June 18, 2015, 12:01 p.m. ET @germanrlopez

[email protected]

http://www.vox.com/authors/german-lopezhttp://www.vox.com/authors/german-lopezhttp://twitter.com/germanrlopezhttp://twitter.com/germanrlopezhttp://twitter.com/germanrlopezhttp://twitter.com/germanrlopezmailto:[email protected]://www.vox.com/authors/german-lopezhttp://www.vox.com/


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Martin Luther King Jr. attends a funeral for the

victims of the Birmingham church bombing in

1963.

Declan Haun/Chicago History Museum via Getty Images

The grisly attack on the Emanuel African Methodist

Episcopal Church (

http://www.vox.com/2015/6/17/8802547/mass-shooting-

http://www.gettyimages.com/http://www.vox.com/2015/6/17/8802547/mass-shooting-emmanuel-charleston-sc


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emmanuel-charleston-sc) in Charleston, South Carolina, has invoked

painful memories of the long history of attacks on black churches in the South.

Many of the details of the Wednesday night shooting, which left nine dead, remain

unknown. But it's a tragically familiar script: a white man walked into a historic blackchurch and killed black parishioners — seemingly without targeting any particular

person.

Attacks on black churches have been historically deployed by white supremacists to

terrorize black communities and impose racist laws and policies on African

Americans. These types of attacks — not just on churches, but on homes as well —were so common in Birmingham, Alabama, during the 1950s and '60s that the city

received the nickname "Bombingham."

It's unclear if the most recent shooter in Charleston had racist motives — although the

suspect could be seen wearing a jacket depicting flags of racist African

regimes (

https://twitter.com/zellieimani/status/611539932549640192

like apartheid South Africa, and officials are investigating the attack as a potential hate

crime. But when looking at this style of attack, it's hard to not consider the history.

Black churches were sanctuaries for black Americans — and threats to

http://www.vox.com/2015/3/24/8283199/gun-control-comedy-jefferieshttp://www.vox.com/2015/3/24/8283199/gun-control-comedy-jefferieshttp://www.vox.com/2015/6/17/8802547/mass-shooting-emmanuel-charleston-schttps://twitter.com/zellieimani/status/611539932549640192http://www.vox.com/2015/6/5/8734987/game-of-thrones-wildling-populationhttps://yahoo.com/http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/6/3/8722993/bernie-sanders-presidenthttp://www.vox.com/2015/6/5/8734987/game-of-thrones-wildling-populationhttp://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/6/3/8722993/bernie-sanders-president


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white power

Historically, black churches are not just houses of worship — they have also acted as

sanctuaries from racism and organizational hubs for civil rights rallies. Many of the civil

rights leaders of the past few decades have even come from churches, including Rev.

Martin Luther King Jr.

The Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.


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White supremacists throughout American history often saw these churches as

threats, making them prime targets for those who wanted to terrorize and maintain

control of black communities and enforce slavery and segregation.

"If you want to get rid of a number of black people, you go to where they congregate —and that was churches," Gerald Horne, a civil rights historian at the University of

Houston, said.

As the Washington Post's Sarah Kaplan (

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-

mix/wp/2015/06/18/for-charlestons-emanuel-a-m-e-

church-one-of-the-oldest-in-america-shooting-is-another-

painful-chapter-in-long-history/?

postshare=7381434622703943) explained, Charleston's Emanuel AME

Church was started in 1816 by Morris Brown, a founding pastor of the AfricanMethodist Episcopal Church, who was fed up with the racism he encountered in other

churches in the area.

"IF YOU WANT TO GET RID OF A NUMBER OF BLACK

PEOPLE, YOU GO TO WHERE THEY CONGREGATE"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/18/for-charlestons-emanuel-a-m-e-church-one-of-the-oldest-in-america-shooting-is-another-painful-chapter-in-long-history/?postshare=7381434622703943


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The church hosted some of the prominent black activists of the time. Denmark

Vesey ( http://www.biography.com/people/denmark-

vesey-9517932), a founding member of the church, at one point attempted to

lead one of the nation's most famous failed slave uprisings, which would have involvedmore than 9,000 black slaves. But the revolt was foiled when several slaves turned

Vesey in, leading to his capture, a trial, and hanging.

White leaders blamed the attack on the Emanuel AME Church, saying it helped foster

the attacks. They instituted harsh laws against black churches, including a ban on all-

black services. The congregation was then dispersed, and the church was burned.(The congregation would continue to meet in secret.)

In many ways, the Emanuel AME Church's experience represented the history of black

churches in general: it was used to evade the systemic racism of the era, and it was

attacked by white leaders who wanted to keep their racist policies in place. "That is a

microcosm of how and why churches have become targeted," Horne said.

These types of attacks continued through the 19th and 20th centuries, including a

wave of firebombings (

http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/jmd/legacy/2014/

98-1996.pdf) of black churches in the South in the 1990s and a burning of a

black church in Massachusetts the day President Barack Obama was inaugurated, as

http://www.biography.com/people/denmark-vesey-9517932http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/jmd/legacy/2014/06/03/hear-98-1996.pdf


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the Atlantic's Conor Friedersdorf (

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/thugs-

and-terrorists-have-plagued-black-churches-for-

generations/396212/?utm_source=SFFB) reported. But perhapsthe most well-known attack was in Birmingham, where a bombing of the 16th Street

Baptist Church left four girls dead.

Birmingham was at the center of attacks on churches

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/thugs-and-terrorists-have-plagued-black-churches-for-generations/396212/?utm_source=SFFB


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Civil rights groups during the early 1960s actively targeted Birmingham for protests,

knowing that the city — and the state of Alabama as a whole — was a hub for white

supremacy groups and supporters of segregation. The backlash was fierce: Ku Klux

Klan members routinely called in bomb threats — and others exploded homemade

bombs — to disrupt civil rights meetings and church services. The anger eventually led

to one of the most well-known terrorist attacks of the civil rights movement.

The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, where a bomb killed four girls in 1963.


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On September 15, 1963, a bomb detonated at the predominantly black 16th Street

Baptist Church in Birmingham. About 200 people were in the building, according to

History.com ( http://www.history.com/topics/black-

history/birmingham-church-bombing) , many attending Sunday

school. Four black girls died, and at least 20 others were injured.

News wire service UPI ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-

srv/national/longterm/churches/archives1.htm) described the

aftermath in 1963:

Parts of brightly painted children's furniture were strewn about in one Sunday

School room, and blood stained the floors. Chunks of concrete the size of

footballs littered the basement.

The bomb apparently went off in an unoccupied basement room and blew down

the wall, sending stone and debris flying like shrapnel into a room where childrenwere assembling for closing prayers following Sunday School. Bibles and song

books lay shredded and scattered through the church.

In the main sanctuary upstairs, which holds about 500 persons, the pulpit and

Bible were covered with pieces of stained glass.

http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/birmingham-church-bombinghttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/churches/archives1.htm


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It was the fourth bombing in Birmingham in four weeks and the 21st in eight years,

UPI ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-

srv/national/longterm/churches/archives1.htm) reported at the

time. Up to that point, none of the bombings had been resolved in court.

It took decades to deliver justice in Birmingham

President Obama designates Congressional Gold Medal to victims of Birmingham church bombing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/churches/archives1.htm


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As is emblematic with these types of attacks on black communities, it took very long

for victims to get justice. For black communities, this is yet another way they've been

oppressed: not only are their churches targets of attacks, but law enforcement acts

much more slowly to solve the crimes.

The investigation into the Birmingham church bombing, the most high-profile of the

cases, didn't lead to justice for decades. Robert Chambliss was convicted (

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2007/september/bapbomb

to life in prison in 1977, Bobby Cherry and Thomas Blanton were indicted in 2000 and

later convicted to life in prison, and a fourth suspect, Herman Cash, died in 1994

before he could face trial.

For some, the feeling of neglect remains. When Congress in 2013

commemorated (

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/other/congressional-

leaders-honor-victims-1963-birmingham-church-bombing-

f8C11125636) the victims of the Birmingham church bombing, some of the

survivors and relatives told the Associated Press's Jay Reeves (

http://news.yahoo.com/survivor-63-ala-church-bombing-

seeks-funds-192504908.html) they weren't interested. Sarah Rudolph

http://news.yahoo.com/survivor-63-ala-church-bombing-seeks-funds-192504908.htmlhttp://www.vox.com/http://www.nbcnews.com/news/other/congressional-leaders-honor-victims-1963-birmingham-church-bombing-f8C11125636http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2007/september/bapbomb_092609


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said she wanted compensation for the injuries she suffered, including a lost eye, and

for the death of her sister, who was one of the girls killed.

"We haven't received anything, and I lost an eye," Rudolph told the AP. "It's a smoke

screen to shut us up and make us go away so we'll never be heard from again."

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