by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
A week ago today I posted a piece in this space regarding a recent spate of black church burnings in rural Louisiana, crimes that harkened back to an uglier era in American history. Fast action by local and federal law enforcement agencies brought a quick end to this apparent racially-inspired crime spree. Yesterday an arrest was made.
The suspect is the 21-year-old son of a sheriff's deputy in the Louisiana parish where the crimes occurred. The young man appears to have been an adherent to Norse mythology and an admirer of Varg Vikernes, a Norwegian musician and neo-Nazi who served several years in prison for murder, manslaughter, and the arson burning of three Christian churches in Norway. Vikerenes described his music as "black metal."
The reputed American church arsonist had posted comments on Facebook regarding the portrayal of Varg Vikerenes in a recent movie. He also posted a photo of himself standing in front of a wall on which the words "Black Metal" had been spray-painted. The current on-line issue of Time describes that musical genre thusly:
The crimes amounted to terrorism by almost anyone's measure. The young man who stands accused of the crimes is not a Muslim - and he is white. And Donald Trump, the man who signs Bibles in white southern churches, is shamefully silent on the whole matter.
Unlike Trump, the suspected arsonist's father did not have the luxury of ignoring the situation. He fulfilled his duty to the community, and perhaps to his God as well, by assisting in the capture and arrest of his son.
That deputy's signature in a Bible might actually mean something.
Citizen Journalist
A week ago today I posted a piece in this space regarding a recent spate of black church burnings in rural Louisiana, crimes that harkened back to an uglier era in American history. Fast action by local and federal law enforcement agencies brought a quick end to this apparent racially-inspired crime spree. Yesterday an arrest was made.
The suspect is the 21-year-old son of a sheriff's deputy in the Louisiana parish where the crimes occurred. The young man appears to have been an adherent to Norse mythology and an admirer of Varg Vikernes, a Norwegian musician and neo-Nazi who served several years in prison for murder, manslaughter, and the arson burning of three Christian churches in Norway. Vikerenes described his music as "black metal."
The reputed American church arsonist had posted comments on Facebook regarding the portrayal of Varg Vikerenes in a recent movie. He also posted a photo of himself standing in front of a wall on which the words "Black Metal" had been spray-painted. The current on-line issue of Time describes that musical genre thusly:
"Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal with lyrics that often espouse Satanism and Paganism. A small subset of black metal bands feature Neo-Nazi beliefs. The black metal scene was associated with Christian church burnings in Norway in the 1990's."Whether the accused Louisiana arsonist turns out to be an up-and-coming neo-Nazi, a garden-variety racist, or some drug-addled miscreant - or all of the above - is yet to be determined, and law enforcement as of this point have not labeled the criminal actions as hate crimes. This much, however, is certain: those crimes terrorized a community and reminded a nation of an ugly chapter in its past.
The crimes amounted to terrorism by almost anyone's measure. The young man who stands accused of the crimes is not a Muslim - and he is white. And Donald Trump, the man who signs Bibles in white southern churches, is shamefully silent on the whole matter.
Unlike Trump, the suspected arsonist's father did not have the luxury of ignoring the situation. He fulfilled his duty to the community, and perhaps to his God as well, by assisting in the capture and arrest of his son.
That deputy's signature in a Bible might actually mean something.
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