Investigators in Charlotte, North Carolina, say a predominantly black church was intentionally set on fire early on Wednesday morning, and that investigators are not ruling out the possibility the fire was a hate crime.
About 75 firefighters put out the three-alarm fire at Briar Creek Baptist church at about 1am on Wednesday. The fire destroyed a classroom building and caused smoke damage to the church’s sanctuary and gymnasium, according to the fire department and the Charlotte Observer. Fire department personnel believe that the fire caused roughly $250,000 in damage.
About 100 parishioners attend the church, which shares a campus with at least two immigrant churches, including one for Nepalese-born worshippers.
Church pastor says he forgives whoever set fire to briar creek road baptist church this morning. pic.twitter.com/mHRktD4ZKy
— Tony Burbeck WCNC (@TonyWCNC) June 24, 2015
Bob Lowman, director of the Metrolina Baptist Association, told the Charlotte Observer that he had “no idea” whether the arson was racially motivated. But, he added, “with everything going on, it certainly didn’t surprise me.”
The comes just one week after nine black parishioners were shot and killed during a Bible study at the historic Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina. The alleged gunman, Dylann Roof, appears to be a self-proclaimed racist.
The church was once predominantly white when it was founded in 1951 under a different name, but gradually developed a black membership as the surrounding neighborhood changed, the Observer reported.
Churches have been a traditional target of racially motivated hate in the US, particularly, though not exclusively, in the south. The most high-profile church burning in recent memory took place in Massachusetts, when three white men set fire to a predominantly black church in Springfield the day that President Obama became president-elect.
Though the civil rights era saw many attacks on black churches, a string of attacks on black churches took place in the mid-1990s, when churches in Tennessee, Alabama, Oklahoma and Delaware were targeted. The series of arsons and acts of vandalism, dozens of incidents across the country, were investigated under suspicion of a conspiracy, but federal investigators were unable to link the crimes.
