Jasper's racial reconciliation mirrors that which occurred when the media diagnosed an epidemic of supposedly anti-black church fires that turned out to be far less incendiary. As journalist Michael Fumento explains, only three of over 70 church fires investigated by USA Today and the Department of Justice could be tied to racial animosity. The federal Church Arson Task Force likewise uncovered few racial links. Several burned black churches were struck by lightning. Others were torched for insurance money.
Young vandals set still more ablaze.
Many were burned by copy-cat arsonists fueled, ironically, by media condemnation of previous fires. One-third of those arrested were black. Ralph Reed, the Christian Coalition's then-executive director, met with black ministers in June 1996. What began as a wave of reputedly anti-black arson became a cause for bridge building between blacks and whites. Racism and prejudice are omnipresent and eternalized in America's institutions, media, and myriad entities.