Legislation strengthening federal penalties for church arson sped through Congress to President Clinton's desk.
Responding to the rash of attacks on black churches, the House accepted the Senate's version of the legislation by voice vote Thursday. The Senate approved the bill 98-0 the previous day. It has administration backing."Thank you for the legislation and the spirit and speed" of action, Assistant Attorney General Deval Patrick told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Patrick, who heads the Justice Department's civil rights division, told the panel: "Racial hostility is driving many of these fires. Not all, but many."
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., a co-sponsor of an earlier version of the anti-arson bill, said passing legislation alone is not enough.
"We have to take a long, careful look into the heart of this nation," he said. "It is time for a national dialogue on racial hatred."
The bill would expand the federal law to include attacks on church property motivated by racial or ethnic animosity. Federal law is now limited to attacks committed for reasons of religious animosity.
It also would double maximum prison terms to 20 years for anyone convicted of church attacks and increase the statute of limitations for prosecution from five to seven years. It also envisions more funds for federal law enforcement agencies, designed to help them train local and state authorities in investigating suspected arson at churches.
The measure would authorize $10 million in federal loan guarantees for banks financing reconstruction of arson-gutted, underinsured churches.
The bill was co-sponsored by two senators who often disagree on policy - conservative Republican Lauch Faircloth of North Carolina and liberal Democrat Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts.
The House had passed its own bill to combat church arson on June 18 by a 422-0 vote.
The authors of the original bill, Conyers and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., praised the measure passed Thursday as an improvement, citing in particular the loan guarantees under HUD to assist in rebuilding and the extension of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act.
At the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, the pastor of a church destroyed a year ago in South Carolina hauntingly recounted the June 22, 1995, torching of his century-old Macedonia Baptist Church in a rural area of Manning, S.C.
"This building is where we teach our children to do the right thing," said the Rev. Jonathan Mouzan. "This is where we teach our children that they are worth something. This is the place where we teach our young men to work hard and be productive. This is all we have."
In one night, all but the old bell tower was destroyed by arson.
"Because somebody hates us because of who we are, this was taken from us," he said. "We were left with nothing."