Most bogus hate crimes are so obviously phony, you can’t comprehend how anybody in the world believed them for even a second.  Take this one for example.  On November 1, 2016, in Greenville, Mississippi, somebody set the Hopewell Baptist Church afire after spray painting “Vote Trump” on the side of the building.

What kind of idiot writes a campaign slogan on a building he’s trying to burn down?

Black people in the south are sensitive about church burnings because of history but the fact is, nowadays most fires in black churches are set by black people and generally have nothing to do with race.  It’s not the KKK doing it now.  It’s regular run-of-the-mill arsonists with regular run-of-the-mill arsonist motives.

With this particular incident, a reasonable person would immediately wonder how it was supposed to help Trump.  If a Trump supporter wanted more black people to vote for Trump, would this be the way to accomplish that goal?  Or, if a Trump supporter simply hated black people and wanted to burn down a black church, why in the world would he advertise his political affiliation by painting “Vote Trump” on the wall?

Other questions could have been asked.  Here’s one: why paint words on the side of a building you’re attempting to burn down?  Because who will be able to read the words if you’re successful?

But the Greenville police chief, who apparently couldn’t claim a triple-digit IQ if he rounded up to the nearest fifty, thought it might be an attempt to intimidate voters.  How exactly would that work, Chief?  Was the arsonist trying to say, “Vote for Trump or I’ll burn your church down”?  Because, gee whiz, he already burned the church down so the threat is moot, right?

And anyway, how would the arsonist ever know who church members voted for?  We have secret ballots in the United States, duh.  That’s why voter intimidation usually means someone standing in front of the polling place with a big club, scaring voters away—you know, like the Black Panthers did in Philadelphia in 2008—not encouraging people to vote with nifty slogans on burnt churches.

The notion that this might be a hate crime by a Trump supporter was full of holes, but the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Mississippi State Fire Marshal’s office were all called in to help the Greenville police investigate this possible hate crime, and “determine if any civil rights crimes were committed” according to the FBI.  Quick question: why doesn’t the FBI worry about “civil rights crimes” when a white church catches fire?

The media jumped on the race issue like a pack of rabid dogs, dredging up the history of black church burnings from the 1950s and breathlessly talking about how this was not just an attack on the church, but an attack on the black community.

By a racist Trump supporter, of course.  Let’s be real: that’s the part the media found so delicious.

Conveniently—if not suspiciously—the church immediately started a GoFundMe page to raise money for repairs, playing on the sympathy of the public as supposed victims of a racial hate crime.  They set a goal of raising $10,000 and within about 24 hours had raised $170,000.

Hmm.

Call us cynical, but the whole thing sounded more like an insurance scam than anything else.  And it sounded that way long before police arrested a perpetrator on December 21.  His name is Andrew McClinton.  He’s black.  And he’s a member of the Hopewell congregation.

The GoFundMe page was removed after the arrest.


Sources:

11/2/16 - CNN - 'Vote Trump' painted on black church set ablaze in Mississippi

11/2/16 - Huffington Post - Black Mississippi Church Burned And Vandalized With ‘Vote Trump’

11/2/16 - Yahoo News - Mississippi church burned, vandalized with 'Vote Trump'

11/2/16 - MSNBC - GoFundMe page for burned Greenville church exceeds goal

11/3/16 - Snopes - Historically Black Church in Mississippi Burned and Vandalized

12/21/16 - Clarion-Ledger - Member of black Mississippi church arrested for arson

12/21/16 - WREG-CBS - Arrest made in ‘Vote Trump’ burning of Mississippi black church

12/21/16 - Washington Post - Mississippi church member charged in ‘Vote Trump’ arson


Posted from Rockford, Michigan, USA