Mississippi church burned, vandalized with 'Vote Trump'

[brassmonkey]

JACKSON, Miss. (Reuters) - A black church in Mississippi was burned and spray-painted with "Vote Trump" and authorities said on Wednesday they were probing the incident as a hate crime committed one week before the U.S. presidential election.

"We're investigating this as a hate crime," Greenville Police Chief Delando Wilson told a news conference. "We feel that the quote on the church is intimidating.

"It tries to push your beliefs on someone else, and this is a predominantly black church and no one has a right to try to influence the way someone votes in this election."

Black churches in the U.S. South have long been a base of support for the Democratic Party.

During the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, southern black churches were often targets for arson and bombings by white supremacists.

"The FBI Jackson Division is aware of the situation in Greenville, and we are working with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to determine if any civil rights crimes were committed," the agency said in a statement.

No one was injured in the Tuesday evening blaze at Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, and the cause of the fire has not been determined, Greenville Fire Chief Ruben Brown Sr. said in a telephone interview. He said the church had been heavily damaged by the fire.

The town of some 33,000 people is about 100 miles (160 kms) northwest of Jackson.

"The act that happened left our hearts broken," Pastor Carolyn Hudson told the news conference, noting that the church has a 111-year history.

Bobby Moak, chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party, said it was "reprehensible to see this sort of thing."

"Hopefully the true cause of the fire will be discovered but nothing in politics is coincidental," Moak said in a telephone interview.

The Mississippi Republican Party declined to comment.

In October, the Orange County Republican Party's office in Hillsborough, North Carolina, was set on fire and a graffiti message left nearby said "leave town or else."

No arrests have been made in that incident, which Indiana Governor Mike Pence, the Republican vice presidential candidate, called "political terrorism."

article...

[charlie g]

In other breaking news on the NNN, suspects still at large in a baffling case that many citizens are still having nightmares.

say it aint so

top criminal investigators are looking for white suspects as all of the store's chicken remained on premises and only money was stolen.

[nico-t]

Clinton shills @ work. Desperate times for the establishment calls for desperate measures.


BTW thanks for another race thread.

[candyflip]

Originally Posted by nico-t

Clinton shills @ work. Desperate times for the establishment calls for desperate measures.


BTW thanks for another race thread.

It's pretty obvious at this point.

[Barry-xlovecam]

The Trump campaign has denounced and disclaimed this KKK /White Supremacist news organ's endorsement of Trump and their interpretation of the Trump campaign slogan "Make America Great"



But KKK lives matter too?

[escorpio]

Originally Posted by candyflip

It's pretty obvious at this point.

and pretty fucking pathetic

[Bladewire]

Deplorable!

[2MuchMark]

[MFCT]

Wait wait wat, this cannot happen. Because they finally figured out that the source of all racist crimes was the confederate flag. And newsflash: the confederate flag has been banned.

Yet stuff like this still happens? What, were we lied to??

[Coup]

Wow fuck Trump. I bet he told his Klansman buddies to burn this church down. Fucking racist.

[Bladewire]

False flag?