Macedonia Baptist Church v. Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, et al.
"The Church Arson Trial"
Was it free speech or hate-filled call for racial violence?
In the summer of 1995, several churches nationwide
were destroyed by mysterious fires, and two black churches in South Carolina's Clarendon County were among those burned down. Between June 20 and June 21, 1995, the Mount Zion AME Church and the Macedonia Baptist Church were devastated by arson. Later, it was proven that four members of the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (from chapters in both North Carolina and South Carolina) were responsible for the fires and were sentenced. Now, the Macedonia Baptist Church is seeking damages against the four arsonists and the North and South Carolina Klan organizations to which they belonged.
The trial will focus on whether the Ku Klux Klan as an organization can be held responsible for the actions of their four members who were convicted of planning and setting the Macedonia fire. The plaintiff claims that the Klan encouraged the fire and violence against blacks through its hate-filled message to its members. Klan officials say that their message is protected by their First Amendment Right to freedom of association, religion and speech. They also claim that they never advocated violence of any kind against blacks in their speeches or told their members to burn down black churches.
The Arsonists
Arthur Haley, Hubert Rowell, Christopher Cox, and Timothy Welch were responsible for fires that
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The Macedonia Baptist Church was destroyed by members of the Ku Klux Klan on June 21, 1995. The Klan says they did not encourage the fire.
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destroyed the Mount Zion AME and Macedonia Baptist Churches. Rowell and Haley pleaded guilty to federal charges of planning the church burnings; Haley was sentenced to 21-and-a-half years in prison while Rowell received 15 years. Cox and Welch actually carried out the arsons. The four men met to discuss burning a church and agreed that Cox and Welch would set the Mount Zion Church on fire. Less than 24 hours later, Haley provided the oil and gas used to destroy the Macedonia Church while Rowell mixed the two components in a plastic jug.
Cox and Welch pleaded guilty to federal charges of civil rights violations, and originally received 19.5 and 18-year sentences, respectively. Both men agreed to cooperate with federal Klan probes and subsequently had their sentences reduced. Cox's sentence was reduced to 14 years after he told authorities about a car arson and check fraud scheme, and Welch's sentence was reduced to 14 years after he gave information about gun trafficking and burglary.
Preachers of Violence?
The Klan is relatively new to Clarendon County, South Carolina. In the early 1990s, the Columbia branch of the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan decided to organize chapters in Manning and Clarendon counties, which are predominantly black areas.
In addition to the four arsonists, the suit targets Horace King, the Grand Dragon of the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux in South Carolina. According to the suit, King encouraged violence against blacks, particularly against black churches. Allegedly, he repeatedly told his members that black churches were a detriment to white people and that the white people must arms themselves for a race war. This, the plaintiffs believe, prove that the Klan advocated and encouraged violence against blacks and black churches and that the fires were racially-motivated. The plaintiff believes that the church burnings of 1995 were part of a Klan campaign to cause racial strife in Clarendon County and intimidate black residents. Between 1992 and 1995, the plaintiff says, the Klan members (perhaps Rowell, Haley and others) destroyed two migrant labor camps and a car and recycling building belonging to Leroy Thompson were set on fire. (Before the fires, Thompson had publicly torn down signs for Klan rallies.)
One key witness at the civil trial may be Virgil Griffin, the Imperial Wizard and founder of the North Carolina's chapter of the Christian Knights. Griffin believed that blacks themselves were setting fires to their churches to get public sympathy for the Civil Rights Movement. In his deposition, Griffin claimed that he does not condone violence against any group. However, in 1979, Griffin went on trial for allegedly killing six white people at an anti-Klan rally. (He was acquitted of the charges.)
Despite the accusations against them, Griffin and King defend their organizations and say they had no part in the fires. They have condemned the church fires as "un-Christian" and contrary to the Klan's beliefs. Griffin and King say the Christian Knights oppose any violent means to further their organizations' goals. The four men who pleaded guilty to planning and orchestrating the church fires, the defense says, acted on their own.
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