Police in Berkeley, Calif., are looking for a woman seen attempting to set an African-American church on fire. It’s the second arson attack of its kind in a little more than a year.
The pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, who believes the arson attempt was racially motivated, shared a video of the incident with KPIX.
In the seven-minute video clip recorded on a Saturday in mid-August, the woman poured lighter fluid outside the church. Then, she threw bricks at the building’s windows in the early morning, making two separate attempts to set the historically Black church ablaze.
“By the grace of God the lighter wouldn’t take, it wouldn’t come on full force and nothing was being lit up,” lead pastor Kevin Craddock told the news outlet.
Pastor Craddock said he didn’t notice the damage until the next day after the Sunday morning service.
“It was very painful to watch,” the pastor admitted. “Very concerning in 2021 to see someone attempt to burn down an African American church.”
“I feel it deeply,” Berkeley City Councilmember Ben Bartlett told KPIX. “It’s an attack on all of us,” noting the historical relevance of bricks thrown through church windows in this same neighborhood that helped lead to the Fair Housing Act.
It’s the second arson attack in Berkeley in the last two years. A fire damaged Way Christian Center last July.
“There’s no way you don’t know what you’re doing,” Craddock said. “You know this is an African American church and you know what lighting a fire to an African American church has been through the history.”
Pastor Craddock said he and his congregation feel no ill will toward the woman.
“We were angry, we were thrown off but our hearts have to be able to forgive,” he declared.
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