Contact: Kayla Keller, kayla@fitzgibbonmedia.com, 281.682.6212

Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of ColorofChange.org, issued the following statement:

“In the context of increased white supremacist attacks and the ongoing history of racial violence targeting Black churches, the Department of Justice and Attorney General Loretta Lynch must take definitive action to thoroughly investigate the recent church burnings and death threats targeting Black pastors as hate crimes and domestic terrorism. Since the attack on Charleston’s Emanuel AME church, seven Black churches have been set on fire and at least three Black women pastors have received death threats. A letter received by Pastor Mary Rhodes used Bible verse to warn her to stop preaching ‘or you and children will die.’

These tragedies will only end with accountability, and accountability is only possible through comprehensive investigations and effective prosecutions. The 1996 task force on church-arson lead to more than 832 investigations into church burnings and increased the number of prosecutions.

The Charleston massacre and recent church burnings aim to strike fear in the hearts and minds of Black communities and their allies, just as similar attacks dating back to slavery have as well. But we will not be silenced. Now is a time to amplify our calls for elected leaders to do everything in their power to protect Black communities from one of the country’s greatest domestic terrorists: white extremists.

In recent months, we have seen an increase in national consciousness around the discrimination and daily violence targeting Black folks. This heightened awareness threatens those who are committed to maintaining the status quo of inequality. The question now, is whether or not our federal leaders will do the same.”

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With more than 1 million members, ColorOfChange is the nation’s largest online civil rights organization