Black Church-Mississippi

Crime scene tape outlines the perimeter of the Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, Miss., on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016, after the church was burned and spray-painted with "Vote Trump," three weeks ago. The First Baptist Church of Greenville has offered congregants of the burned church a new place to worship. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

(Rogelio V. Solis)

Mississippi authorities have arrested a man in the burning of an African-American church that was also spray-painted with the words, "Vote Trump."

Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain says Andrew McClinton of Leland, Mississippi, who is African-American, is charged with first degree arson of a place of worship.

McClinton was arrested Wednesday. Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, Mississippi, was burned and vandalized Nov. 1, a week before the presidential election.

It was not immediately clear whether McClinton is represented by an attorney.

Greenville is a Mississippi River port city of about 32,100 people, and about 78 percent of its residents are African-American.

After the fire, Hopewell congregants began worshipping in a chapel at predominantly white First Baptist Church of Greenville.