TRAILER: Through the Flames: Reggie's Church

30 for 30 Podcasts

ESPN

Sports

4.5 • 9.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2024

⏱️ 2 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

NFL Films producer Courtland Bragg investigates the mysterious 1996 burning of Reggie White’s church in Knoxville, Tennessee, and in the process, shines a light on the greater legacy of the NFL Hall of Famer. In the midst of a rash of mid-1990s church burnings across the United States, White’s Inner City Church boasts a growing interracial congregation, and after the building is firebombed and reduced to ashes, White believes the attack is the work of racists. The podcast brings the story to life through the voices of those involved with the church and the investigation – and in the process, draws a powerful parallel between these ugly incidents and the deeper challenges the nation still faces. 30 for 30 Podcasts and Andscape present Through the Flames: Reggie's Church. Available February 20th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Reggie White, who's a defensive end for the Green Bay Packers, says that the fire bombing of his church in Knoxville, Tennessee this week, was the work of racists who may have been trying to hurt him.
0:10.0	It's my job to tell sports stories.
0:12.0	In only a matter of moments, this quiet East Knoxville neighborhood church was no more.
0:17.0	But this is different.
0:19.0	Investigators found kerosene, gunpowder, and 18 Molotov cocktails.
0:22.9	In 1996, someone burned Reggie's church down to the ground.
0:26.6	Church members believed the fire bombing was an attack on their church.
0:30.7	I'm Cortland Bragg, and I'm a producer at NFL Films. So last year when I was directing
0:35.4	Reggie White's 30 for 30 for ESPN and I learned that Reggie's Church was burnt down,
0:40.4	I was blown away. We didn't know that we had K K K K people living across the yard.
0:46.4	Our communities have been terrorized and we have to do something about it.
0:50.3	There's a deeper story to be told about Reggie's Church in the city of Knoxville, something deeper than ashes and accusations.
0:57.0	I needed the perspective of those who lived and breathed the same air as the church.
1:01.0	He actually told me that it was the pastor of the church.
1:06.0	I never heard that and maybe I didn't hear because I would have not entertained that.
1:10.0	Now if this interview is going to be positive, I'm all for doing it.
1:15.0	Did we have to have this on, take this part I want off record?
1:19.0	We had a motive, local finances.
1:21.0	They obviously had an opportunity.
1:23.0	You pretty much had to find somebody with a gas can in their hand in a match.
1:28.0	Nothing was adding up.
1:29.0	And did we have hate groups operating in Knoxville?
	...

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