Race Questions Rise From Flames

(CBS)  A fire early this morning that gutted the corner store in one of Oakland's poorest neighborhoods had the markings of a hate crime. The owner of the New York Market is a Muslim, Muhammad Hamdan, CBS News correspondent John Blackstone reports.

"I get up this morning to pray and my wife, she said, 'they burn up the place,'" Hamdan said. "I don't believe it!"

But Hamdan got a violent warning just last week when his store and the San Pablo market nearby were

both trashed by a dozen well dressed black men(video)

. The surveillance cameras recorded the scene in the San Pablo Market as the men in suits and bow ties swept wine, liquor and beer bottles off the shelves.

The owner of the San Pablo Market is also a Muslim.

"They said that we were Muslims and we were selling liquor to the community and we ain't supposed to be doing that," said Khalid Saleh, son of the San Pablo's owner.

Both stores are in predominantly African American neighborhoods and the dress of the attackers suggested they could be members of the Nation of Islam.

Hamdan described last week's attack: "They start grabbing the bottles and everything … and on top of each other and dump it on the floor."

Nation of Islam leaders denied any involvement in the attacks.

"Just because men were dressed in suits and ties, it don't mean that all black men who are dressed in a suit and ties are gang members, thugs," said Tony Muhammad, a Nation of Islam representative.

There have been worries in Oakland in the past about the number of liquor stores in neighborhoods that are largely poor and black. Store owners say they are serving all the needs of the people who live here.

But trashing the stores, or burning them down, isn't the answer, says a local pastor.

"The community is not sympathetic with this type of action, but this is a vulnerable community," said Pastor Raymond Lankford of Voices of Hope Community Church.

And now store owners are feeling very vulnerable too.