Courtesy Louisiana Office Of State Fire Marshal via Reuters
This week's headlines have been dominated by the fire at Notre Dame and the efforts to rebuild it—but, closer to home, three black Louisiana churches that were burned in suspicious circumstances have raised over $1 million to repair the damage. Prosecutors filed hate crime charges against white man Holden Matthews (pictured) who is accused of burning down the three churches. He's pleaded not guilty. All three fires were started with gasoline and occurred around the small city of Opelousas. A fundraiser started by the Seventh District Baptist Association set a target of $1.8 million to be raised and split evenly to the three churches. As of Wednesday morning, $1,030,647 had been donated by over 18,000 people.
