In his 30 years of leading Sylmar Christian Fellowship Church, Rev. Pierre Howard said he never saw a threat like what he saw on Thursday, July 6. Three wooden crosses outside the Los Angeles church were set ablaze. According to The Associated Press, the fire is being investigated as a potential hate crime.
“It’s a shame that people still want to do things like this in this day and age,” said the Rev. Howard per NBC Los Angeles.
The reports say firefighters responded to a report of a fire shortly before 5 a.m. in the Sylmar area. The three crosses in the garden in front of the church were scorched from flames but by the time the firefighters arrived, the fire had ceased. Authorities say there was a garden hose nearby, but it’s still unclear if someone put out the flames.
There are many ways we are reminded that Jim Crow’s America was not that long ago, despite the overwhelming number of black and white photos that suggest otherwise. Unfortunately, it’s not just the racism that persists, but also the violent threats, particularly those reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan. Hanging empty nooses, cross burning and other forms of intimidation were common scare tactics to drive Black people out of neighborhoods.
Now, over the past year and a half, people have found nooses hanging in their cars, crosses burning near their yards and flyers promoting white nationalism, which have been the root of many reported hate or bias crimes. However, Howard doesn’t want to think that racist hate was behind the incident.
Read more from AP News:
“It’s a shame that people still want to do things like this in this day and age,” Howard told reporters outside the church in the northern San Fernando Valley, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of downtown.
“It’s a multiracial congregation that we have, so there should be no issue. We have no issue, and I think it’s just someone that in a bad moment in time made a bad decision — I hope that’s what it is,” he said.
“We have a diverse community,” he said. “We have Hispanic, we have Black, we have white, we have come as you are. We don’t really care. We see everyone. If you’re in the building, you’re in the building.”
As per the standard for any attacks against houses of worship, the House of Worship task force, LAPD and FBI will investigate the case as a hate crime, per NBC Los Angeles.