Police are investigating as imaginable dislike crimes the tearing down and burning of a Shaded Lives Topic banner and stamp from two ancient Shaded churches for the length of unrest at reliable-Trump protests in Washington, D.C., over the weekend.
Why it matters: Saturday’s vandalism at the Asbury United Methodist Church and the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church are “acts of both racial apprehension and religious violence,” per an announcement from Yolanda Pierce, dean of D.C.’s Howard College College of Divinity.
- Ianther Mills, a senior pastor at Asbury United Methodist Church, based mostly in 1836, mentioned in an announcement acts had been “paying homage to detestable burnings,” noting “we face an apparent rise in white supremacy.”
Context: Traditionally, Shaded churches had been centered by white supremacists in acts of violence in the U.S.
Driving the information: Violent clashes erupted in D.C. Saturday between supporters of President Trump who refuse to accept his election loss to President-elect Biden and counter-protesters.
- The males, some carrying “MAGA” hats, who had been captured on video burning the banner at the Asbury United Methodist Church, had been later identified as members of the some distance-gorgeous neighborhood the Proud Boys, in accordance to the Washington Post.
- Another video reveals protesters tearing down the stamp at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church and stomping on it while shouting: “Whose streets? Our streets.”
What they’re asserting: D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) mentioned in an announcement Sunday that the Space of commercial of Spiritual Affairs and the Metropolitan Police Division are “participating the impacted properties of adore.”
“DC’s faith-based mostly fully organizations are at the very coronary heart of our neighborhood, giving us hope in the face of darkness. They embody our DC values of luxuriate in and inclusivity. An assault on them is an assault on all of us. This weekend, we saw forces of dislike attempting to get grasp of to make employ of destruction and intimidation to dart us aside. We is now not going to let that happen.”
— Bowser
