The Black-Church Fires in Southern States Are Not Connected, Authorities Say

Federal law-enforcement agencies have concluded that recent fires in black churches in the southeastern U.S. are unrelated.

“To date the investigations have not revealed any potential links between the fires,” Justice Department spokeswoman Melanie Newman told Reuters.

The wave of fires began on June 21 with a fire at College Hill Seventh Day Adventist in Knoxville, Tenn., and continued across at least four states in the southeastern and central U.S. Three fires have been officially declared arson and at least two were deemed to have been the result of natural causes.

The most recent fire, at Mount Zion AME church in Greeleyville, S.C., on June 30, is among the latter. Investigators said they found no accelerants, one of the most common signs of arson, at the scene. A lightning-strike forensics report by CNN meteorologists shows four strikes close to the church, around 7 p.m.

“Investigators found no indicator of criminal intent,” State Law Enforcement Department spokesperson Kathryn Richardson said in a statement. “The investigation is complete.”

Mount Zion has burned down before, set aflame by the KKK in 1995 as part of a string of 30 suspicious fires at black churches across the south. This kind of fraught history is the foundation of continuing suspicions regarding the church fires, activist-writer David Love told CNN.

“It may not be arson now,” he said, “but people look at the cases where it actually did happen and feel, ‘It could happen again.'”

[Reuters]

Martin Luther King Jr. and the Freedom Riders: Rare and Classic Photos

Julia Aaron and David Dennis, along with 25 other freedom riders and several members of the National Guard, travel from Montgomery, Ala., to Jackson, Miss.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Just shy of the Mississippi-Alabama border, members of the Alabama National Guard surround a bus carrying freedom riders.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

A freedom rider and member of the National Guard on a bus in the Deep South.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

The view from a bus window on a freedom ride.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Freedom riders peer from bus windows during a stop.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

A congregation in Alabama prays for the safety of freedom riders.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Freedom riders sing at the Rev. Ralph Abernathy's First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., as a white mob gathers outside.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

A weary Martin Luther King Jr. sits at the Rev. Ralph Abernathy's First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., as a white mob surrounds the building.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Freedom riders try to rest at the Rev. Ralph Abernathy's First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., as a white mob gathers outside.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

After U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy intervened, forcing Alabama Governor John Patterson to declare martial law and send in the National Guard, the white mob outside First Baptist Church finally broke up. Before dawn on May 22, 1961, the Guard moved the congregation out.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Freedom riders rescued from First Baptist Church relax at a safe house in Montgomery, Ala.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Freedom riders rescued from First Baptist Church (including future U.S. Rep. John Lewis, with bandaged head) relax at a safe house in Montgomery, Ala.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Freedom riders, along with Martin Luther King Jr., relax at a safe house in Montgomery, Ala.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

At a safe house in Montgomery, Ala., freedom riders relax after being rescued from First Baptist Church.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

At a safe house in Montgomery, Ala., freedom riders pray after being rescued from First Baptist Church.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Freedom riders wait to board a bus to Jackson, Miss.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (C, L) with Freedom Riders boarding bus for Jackson, MS..

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Freedom riders and members of the National Guard on a bus in the Deep South.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Freedom riders on a bus in the Deep South.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Freedom riders on a bus in the Deep South.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

White segregationists hurl stones at a bus carrying freedom riders in Mississippi.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

A young freedom rider on a bus in the Deep South.

Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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