CHARLESTON — Though the city’s fabric has changed in the decade since the Emanuel AME Church shooting, many threads of progress remain incomplete. As city and religious leaders look ahead, they hope the 10th commemoration can restore momentum for racial reconciliation.
The South’s oldest African Methodist Episcopal church had already survived racial persecution, arson and natural disasters during its first 200 years. Then, a self-avowed white supremacist walked through its doors on June 17, 2015. After sitting through a Wednesday night Bible study, he murdered nine Black parishioners during their closing prayer.
The horror of the racially motivated massacre gripped millions. They watched in awe as some family members offered moving expressions of forgiveness just days later. Many were again captivated when then-President Barack Obama broke into an emotional rendition of “Amazing Grace” during the Rev. Clementa Pinckney’s funeral.
The legal system swiftly responded by convicting and sentencing shooter Dylann Roof to die for his crimes. The survivors and victims’ families split a $88 million lawsuit settled by the Justice Department.
The mass shooting underscored the fact that the same society that fostered such God-fearing victims also bred the murderer who wanted to ignite a race war. READ MORE…
