Church arson tied to racismBlack congregation targeted, police say
Three charged with conspiracyBy Jonathan Saltzman and Brian Ballou
Globe Staff / January 17, 2009
SPRINGFIELD - Three Springfield men, bitter about
the election of the nation's first black president
and furious in their belief that minorities would
gain more rights, torched the partially built
church of a black congregation just hours after
Barack Obama's landmark victory, authorities said
yesterday.
The men - Benjamin Haskell, Michael F. Jacques
Jr., and Thomas Gleason Jr., all of whom are white
- poured gasoline inside and outside the mostly
completed Macedonia Church of God in Christ in
the early morning of Nov. 5., set it afire, and
later boasted about destroying it, said
authorities.
Four days after the fire, which sent a shudder of
fear and anger through Springfield's black
community, Haskell and Jacques drove to the burnt
rubble with an unidentified associate and laughed,
according to the affidavit of an FBI agent.
-snip-Haskell, 22; Jacques, 24; and Gleason, 21, were
arrested this week after an investigation by
federal, state, and local authorities and charged
with conspiracy to violate the civil rights of
the parishioners, a federal crime.
-snip-