From the roof to the pews

This has happened before.

The FBI has joined the investigation into a string of suspicious fires at historically black churches in Louisiana. Three churches have burned in less than two weeks in St. Landry Parish near Baton Rouge.

The fire at Greater Union Baptist Tuesday burned from the roof to the pews. For Pastor Harry Richard, whose grandfather helped start the church more than 100 years ago, the damage is personal.

“He left a legacy for me and I was trying to fulfill that to the best of my ability,” he said.

The suspicious fires began early last week, with the most recent one on Thursday. All three historically black baptist churches are just a few miles apart in St. Landry Parish.

“We do believe that this fire is suspicious. We do believe a crime has occurred,” said Louisiana State Fire Marshal H. Butch Browning.

Historically, the burning of black churches was used to intimidate communities and parishioners here are on edge.

That is, the burning of black churches by organized white supremacists was an easy way to terrorize black people, especially civil rights workers and voter registration activists.

Trump has woken up some demons.

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