greenville, miss.<u+2014>police are focusing on an unidentified person of interest as they investigate the torching of a black church that was spray-painted with the message <u+201c>vote trump.<u+201d> with election day around the corner, the incident<u+2014>which authorities have ruled arson<u+2014>became political fodder on social media. some who shared or posted messages about the fire linked it to republican presidential candidate donald trump<u+2019>s campaign or his supporters. <u+201c>between now and tuesday, we have to vote against hatred,<u+201d> a group called the people for bernie sanders 2016 wrote on facebook. but other online posters wondered whether the fire and graffiti were meant to make mr. trump look bad. <u+201c>we are grateful that no one was hurt and we urge witnesses with any information to come forward and help bring justice to those who are responsible,<u+201d> the trump campaign said. in the impoverished neighborhood around the damaged hopewell missionary baptist church, some people said they doubted the fire was set by a white person or trump supporter. <u+201c>you<u+2019>ve got black people who have lived in greenville all their life who won<u+2019>t come in here, so i know no white guy is going to come out here,<u+201d> said robert brown, 45 years old, who is black and lives across railroad tracks from the church. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t believe it<u+2019>s racially motivated,<u+201d> added mr. brown, who owns a landscaping service and said he saw the fire tuesday evening. greenville sits in the mississippi delta near the mississippi river. about 78% of its population of about 32,000 people is black and 20% white, according to u.s. census data. in 2012, washington county, where greenville is located, voted 71% to 29% for president barack obama over gop presidential nominee mitt romney. whether the fire was set by a trump supporter or someone pretending to be one, it doesn<u+2019>t reflect on the candidates, said retired teacher barbara moton, 67, who cast her early vote for democratic nominee hillary clinton because she didn<u+2019>t like mr. trump<u+2019>s remarks about women, or that he mocked a disabled reporter. <u+201c>people do this all the time to sway us. you put a thing out there to cloud our minds,<u+201d> said ms. moton, who is black. gayla bell, 46, a cook who grew up in the neighborhood, said friends of hers in texas and chicago asked her about the fire and said, <u+201c>what<u+2019>s going on? now they are burning churches in mississippi? i was like, <u+2018>we don<u+2019>t know what happened. you<u+2019>ve got to wait and see.<u+2019><u+201d> sandra davis, 37, a white woman, said many of her neighbors in washington county were trump supporters. to her, it seems <u+201c>the trumpers are still for trump and the hillary people are still for hillary,<u+201d> she said, though she isn<u+2019>t sure who she will vote for. churches held an interfaith prayer vigil in support of the burned church wednesday night. police chief delando wilson said some city residents are on edge. while his department lacks resources to protect the many churches, <u+201c>we<u+2019>re making sure officers are being more conscious that there<u+2019>s a possibility something else like that could happen in our city,<u+201d> he said. on thursday morning, police were <u+201c>focused on the person of interest we interviewed yesterday and will probably be questioning him again today,<u+201d> he said in an interview. he declined to describe the man<u+2019>s race or give other details about the investigation. the neighborhood around the church is filled with abandoned houses and cars. the area is known locally as <u+201c>the hole<u+201d> because it is closed in by railroad tracks and difficult to reach by car. the route to hopewell from downtown greenville, which is dotted with empty storefronts, goes past numerous other small black churches. kenneth powell, 50, a carpenter, lives in a brick home next to the church and called authorities when he heard the fire alarm and then saw flames. he said he didn<u+2019>t notice the trump message until fire department officials told him about it. he said he didn<u+2019>t see anyone near the church and doubted a white person or a trump supporter came through the area to commit arson. <u+201c>people try to make things look bigger than they are, worse than they are,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>how are you going to pick this church out of all the churches around here? why would they come back up in here to do that?<u+201d> dennis williams, 55, sweeping his porch behind the church on the same block, said white people rarely come to the area and are immediately noticed. he said strongly doubted the fire was set by a trump supporter or a white person. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t know who did it,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>but it was wrong as hell.<u+201d> on thursday morning, the air around the church still smelled of burned wood and plastic. black flame marks stained the brick walls and gutters, and plywood covered the windows and front entrance. blackened debris sat piled on the lawn of the church, still surrounded by yellow police tape. write to cameron mcwhirter at cameron.mcwhirter@wsj.com and scott calvert at scott.calvert@wsj.com
residents debate whether arson at mississippi church was politically motivated - wsj
cameron mcwhirter scott calvert