Media accused of ignoring black church fires after obsessing over single CVS arson; NAACP speaks up

The hashtag #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches, which was trending high on Twitter yesterday, has lost a bit of momentum, although people are still demanding to know where the national media coverage is. Loot and burn down one pharmacy in the middle of an “uprising” and it’s given non-stop airtime; a white supremacist burns down six or more black churches (or so the rumor goes) and there’s nothing but crickets.

Well? @ABC? @NBC? @CBS? @FoxNews? @CNN? #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches? We NEED to know! We NEED to stop it! @tchopStL @skygoddess330

— thepoliticalcat is all KamalaDeviHarris2020 (@thepoliticalcat) June 30, 2015

@cnn @abc @nbc @cbs @msnbc #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches and why aren't you trying to find out?

— indigonna rock 2019 (@Skyliting) June 30, 2015

#WhoIsBurningBlackChurches Go to FB pgs of CNN, POTUS, AGLorettaLynch, FOX,NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, ETC post pix, demand coverage

— ?Laura Elizabeth is with Bernie Sanders? (@laura_garvock) June 30, 2015

@CNN @FoxNews @ABC @nbc @CBSNews @msnbc MSM silence & lack of reporting on #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches is strategic, part of an agenda/plot

— Memento Mori (@Chaosforthefly) June 30, 2015

The "media" only highlights what they want you to see…makes you wonder what else they're hiding… #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches

— DJLuckyLuciousP (@LuckyLuciousP) June 30, 2015

https://twitter.com/AdrienneHiggins/status/615955629254045696

https://twitter.com/OTSWST/status/615910832753483777

The media isn't talking about #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches but I distinctly remember a full day of coverage on a single, burned down CVS.

— mariah carey's royalty check (@urbanyoungin) June 30, 2015

As Twitchy reported yesterday, the story is receiving national media coverage: stories on church fires in the South appear on the websites of ABC News, CBS News and Fox News and were aired on NBC’s “Today Show” as well as on “All In With Chris Hayes” on MSNBC and on CNN. CNN’s Don Lemon also tweeted on the fires but was (as usual) dismissed as a liar who has been “brainwashed” into white culture and can’t be trusted.

It was the Los Angeles Times’ Matt Pearce who put in most of the footwork, though, checking into each of the fires in detail and learning from investigators that one church, for example, was the victim of an electrical short, while another (white) church was almost certainly struck by lightning. Two of the fires do appear to be cases of arson, although a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told the Los Angeles Times that “at this time we have no reason to believe these fires are racially motivated or related.”

The problem is, the fires are being reported, but the conclusions are not what people want to hear.

https://twitter.com/FaceOnTheSphinx/status/615954086270074880

We know #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches. It's not a question.

— Terry McMillan (@MsTerryMcMillan) June 30, 2015

The burning of a black church is not an anomaly any more than the shooting of an unarmed black man by police is. #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches

— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) June 30, 2015

The NAACP and its president are tweeting today about their plans to deal with what many consider a rash of hate crimes, although there isn’t exactly a huge show of confidence in the organization.

NAACP is informing churches, reviewing legislation, pushing media awareness and deciding legal options. #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches

— Rev. Cornell William Brooks (@CornellWBrooks) June 30, 2015

In '96, the NAACP asked @TheJusticeDept to investigate a series of black church fires in the Southeast. #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches

— NAACP (@NAACP) June 30, 2015

After NAACP work and congressional hearings, the Church Arson Prevention Act was passed. #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches

— NAACP (@NAACP) June 30, 2015

Almost 20 years later, we must again ask, #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches?

— NAACP (@NAACP) June 30, 2015

NAACP State Conferences and units are now alerting black churches to take necessary precautions. #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches

— NAACP (@NAACP) June 30, 2015

https://twitter.com/cathyluvshiphop/status/615979571905724416

@NAACP What are necessary precautions? U r a Black 'Leadership' organization, what do u propose??

— Akili Muhammad (@keystro) June 30, 2015

https://twitter.com/DrRyanBass/status/615959418472001541

These racist attacks on Black churches are terrorism. To protect ourselves we need to know #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches pic.twitter.com/F0p2chU7Oz

— Ferguson Action (@fergusonaction) June 30, 2015