episcopal church that s an ame church in greeleyville is an hour north of charleston where nine people were killed at an ame black church last month. the resilience of that congregation is inspiring those here at mt. zion ame. emanuel ame has shown us how to deal with tragedy and that is to draw strength from the lord and come together with a spirit of love to meet your adversary. this is the second time this church has burned. in 1995 members of the ku klux klan torched the church in a series of fires that swept through the south. 1200 inmates escape from a prison in yemen, dozens with links to al qaeda. more bodies after a plane
lightning may have been the cause. that seems to be the best analysis right now. however, the concern here is obviously, not just one of now six african-american churches to go up in flames, a couple suspected of arson in the last couple of weeks, but this very church you re standing in front of was once burned down by the kkk. reporter: yeah, 20 years ago, 1995, it was june of that year in which two members of the ku klux klan burned down the original mt. zion ame, the old building, they pleaded guilty and were sentenced to time in prison. it was 1996 when then president bill clinton came back and rededicated this building behind us. and this church then, the congregation then rebuilt. 62 members, i m told, by the pastor at this time. they will have to rebuild again. and from all indications, they will. victor blackwell for us in south carolina, thanks so much.
incorrect remarks on latinos. so our comments are strictly to in that business capacity. our mission is to obviously advance the inclusion of hispanics in corporate america. that s commensurate to our economic contributions. sid wilson with the hispanic association on corporate responsibility. thank you for your time, sir. appreciate it. thank you. absolutely. now we turn to developments out of south carolina. investigators now trying to determine what caused a fire at a black church. take a look here. it was the scene at mt. zion ame in greeleyville just outside of charleston. a federal official tells the a.p. preliminary indications show the fire was not the work of an arsonist but investigators say they need to follow every lead. haven t ruled anything in or anything out at this point. we re going to let the case dictate and we re going to investigate it as the facts will ultimately determine what occurred.
in the hours before this fire really got going. so lightning is being investigated as a possible cause here. but so is arson. that s being investigated as well. the fbi will look to see if there is a hate component as well. i have the mayor jessie parker. mr. mayor, this is something that this congregation has gone through before. 20 years ago two members of the kkk burned down the original mt. zion ame. as you look at this church what do you feel what do you think as this congregation has to rebuild again? you feel sorrow. it s devastating. you know, to put the church and the skmuntcommunity back through the same thing even though it was 20 years ago, it seemed like it was just yesterday. i was down here 20 years ago when the church was dedicated through president bill clinton at that time. and just to see it back in
in tears for some type of comfort. let me get out of the way and show you the scene here. this is mt. zion ame. just the brick shell and the cross is left. the fire that started about 8:30 last night, completely gutted this building. what we ve seen throughout the morning, investigators at the state level, atf at the federal level, even the fbi will be part of this investigation, pulling pieces out to determine exactly where and how this fire started and we know from the pastor, regardless of whether this was started by lightning or lighter fluid was involved, they will rebuild and there will be service on sunday. they are not going to get ahead of the investigators, we re told. the pastor is not making any comments at this point. he wants the federal investigators, the state investigators to be able to do their job before he speaks about what happened here at mt. zion ame. victor, obviously senior fbi officials tell cnn they believe