How To Help The 3 Black Churches Targeted By Arsonist In Louisiana

On March 26, 2019, someone set fire to St. Mary Baptist Church in Louisiana's St. Landry Parish. On April 2 and April 4, respectively, Greater Union Baptist and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church also became targets for arson. All three churches were historically black churches, and home to majority black congregations; all three churches stood miles from each other. On Wednesday, April 10, police have arrested a 21-year-old suspect in connection to all three fires, CBS reports.


According to local news outlet KATC, the suspect has been charged with three counts of simple arson of a religious building, and faces up to 15 years in prison on each count. The suspect is white, and also a son of a sheriff's deputy; per CBS, St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz corrected previous reports that the deputy had turned his son in. The father "helped facilitate the arrest, [and] got the suspect away from home" but the work was piece of a concerted effort from law enforcement that included the FBI, Guidroz said.


Several parishioners had been members of their churches for decades, if not longer. Pastor Harry Richard, who presides over Greater Union Baptist Church in Opelousas, LA, told CBS that his grandfather, who helped noticed the church "left a legacy for me and I was attempting to fulfill that to the ideal of my ability."


Per The Advocate, Greater Union Baptist and Mount Pleasant Baptist communities are asking that anyone looking to support them rebuild the churches send donations by means of the check rather than on crowdfunding websites, as they worry about people setting up lookalike accounts in a task to defraud those attempting to send aid. St. Mary Baptist Church has set up a crowdfunding alternative on the church's website; Rev. Kyle Sylvester also instructed them Supporter that those looking to help could also send donations through the mail.


In a press conference on Thursday, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards called the arsons "hateful acts." A 2015 Huff Post report found that there have been over 100 attacks on black churches since 1956.


State Fire Marshall H. Butch Browning added, "I can never give total condolences to these church communities for the losses of their places of worship. Nevertheless, I hope this starts to help their healing.”


"What is happening in Tennessee and Louisiana is domestic terrorism and we must not turn a blind eye to any incident where folks are targeted due to the color of their skin and their faith," NAACP President Derrick Johnson mentioned in a statement obtained by ABC. "The spike in church burnings in the Southern states is a reflection of emboldened racial rhetoric and tension spreading across the nation. Although this is nothing new. For decades, African-American churches have served because the epicenter of survival as well as a symbol of hope for several in the African-American community. As a consequence, these houses of faith have historically been targets of violence."


The Cut reports that St. Mary Baptist Church had been burned almost entirely to the ground. Of the attack, Rev. Sylvester told CBS, "We can't let this setback stop us from doing what God initially called us to do."