Officials said Tuesday night that firefighters were trying to extinguish a blaze at a prominent black church in South Carolina.
The Post and Courier newspaper reported that crews Tuesday night were battling the fire at Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church in Greeleyville. The church was burned to the ground by the Ku Klux Klan in 1995.
State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel told the paper that the fire could have been started by lightning from a storm that recently rolled through the area, but he could not say for sure until an investigation after the fire is out.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives tweeted that it was joining in the investigation.
The destruction of the church’s previous structure was one of approximately 30 fires that swept black churches in the mid-1990s.
In 1996, before the dedication of the replacement church, President Bill Clinton called for racial unity in the United States.
Federal authorities have been investigating recent fires at predominantly black churches, though the blazes do not appear to be related. Nevertheless, the NAACP issued a warning Tuesday, telling churches to take “necessary precautions.”
“Almost 20 years later, we must again ask, #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches?”, the NAACP said on Twitter, using a hashtag that has been used with increasing frequency.
Meanwhile, in Charleston, S.C., officials paid tribute to longtime pastor Daniel L. Simmons Sr. in the last of the services for the nine victims of a shooting at a black Charleston church.
