U.S.
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CHARLESTON, S.C. — Rising up yet again after tragedy and buoyed by a spirit of forgiveness, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) opened its doors for services on Sunday as usual, just days after a gunman killed nine worshippers there, including its pastor. Liz Alston, a member of Emanuel for more than forty years and the church’s historian, says she can’t ever remember a time when its doors were closed. “The church is still a crime scene,” she said. “The emotional impact is horrendous.”
But the surviving leadership of the church, known as Mother Emanuel, say they are determined to show its resilience. “Our faith is stronger than the fear and the racism and bigotry that has been demonstrated by one individual,” said Norvel Goff, an elder of the church, on Saturday.
Goff led the service on Sunday, which was attended by South Carolina's governor, Nikki Haley, and Charleston's mayor, Joseph Riley.
"We still believe that prayer changes things. Can I get a witness?" Goff said. The congregated responded with a rousing "Yes."
"But prayer not only changes things, it changes us," Goff said.
The alleged shooter, Dylann Roof, entered Emanuel AME during a Wednesday night prayer study, gunning down nine members of the congregation. Among the dead were four assistant ministers and the church’s pastor, Rev. Clementa Pinckney.
The immediate removal of so many church leaders leaves many unanswered questions in the short term, Alston said. “How do you regain control?” she said. As the church’s historian, Alston says she’s struggling for how to best preserve the church’s legacy. “I’m looking for ways for the legacy of the church to go on,” she said. She wants to work with the police department to preserve some of the flowers and objects left in memorial before they’re cleared away.
“The church will change forever,” Alston says. “I think that it will bring people together.”
The broad support the church has received over the last few days, from many faiths and communities, gives Alston hope that the Emanuel shooting can be a starting place for improving race relations. “I think that white America, and South Carolinians, we all feel that the first step in healing the race relations is removing those symbols of hate and the Confederate flag,” she said.
Friday, many family members of the victims came together during Roof’s video arraignment, when Judge James Gosnell allowed families of the victims to speak. “I forgive you,” a family member of victim Ethel Lance said to Roof, sobbing as she spoke the words. "You took something very precious from me and I will never talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again. But I forgive you. And have mercy on your soul."
The granddaughter of another victim, Rev. Daniel Simmons, said, “Although my grandfather and the other victims died at the hand of hate, this is proof. Everyone’s plea for your soul is proof that they lived in love and their legacies will live in love. So hate won’t win. And I just want to thank the court for making sure that hate doesn’t win.”
While giving her statement, Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor’s sister said she was still very angry. She acknowledged her sister’s legacy. “She taught me that we are the family that love built! We have no room for hate, so we have to forgive.”
The statements set an important tone for the community going forward, said Rev. Cress Darwin, pastor of neighboring Second Presbyterian Church, two blocks from Emanuel. “I think it’s very powerful,” he said. “It was powerful that the victims’ families were able to express their grief and anger,” Darwin said. “They all expressed, near as I can tell, forgiveness.”
Friday, many family members of the victims came together during Roof’s video arraignment, when Judge James Gosnell allowed families of the victims to speak. “I forgive you,” a family member of victim Ethel Lance said to Roof, sobbing as she spoke the words. "You took something very precious from me and I will never talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again. But I forgive you. And have mercy on your soul."
The granddaughter of another victim, Rev. Daniel Simmons, said, “Although my grandfather and the other victims died at the hand of hate, this is proof. Everyone’s plea for your soul is proof that they lived in love and their legacies will live in love. So hate won’t win. And I just want to thank the court for making sure that hate doesn’t win.”
While giving her statement, Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor’s sister said she was still very angry. She acknowledged her sister’s legacy. “She taught me that we are the family that love built! We have no room for hate, so we have to forgive.”
The statements set an important tone for the community going forward, said Rev. Cress Darwin, pastor of neighboring Second Presbyterian Church, two blocks from Emanuel. “I think it’s very powerful,” he said. “It was powerful that the victims’ families were able to express their grief and anger,” Darwin said. “They all expressed, near as I can tell, forgiveness.”
Friday, many family members of the victims came together during Roof’s video arraignment, when Judge James Gosnell allowed families of the victims to speak. “I forgive you,” a family member of victim Ethel Lance said to Roof, sobbing as she spoke the words. "You took something very precious from me and I will never talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again. But I forgive you. And have mercy on your soul."
The granddaughter of another victim, Rev. Daniel Simmons, said, “Although my grandfather and the other victims died at the hand of hate, this is proof. Everyone’s plea for your soul is proof that they lived in love and their legacies will live in love. So hate won’t win. And I just want to thank the court for making sure that hate doesn’t win.”
While giving her statement, Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor’s sister said she was still very angry. She acknowledged her sister’s legacy. “She taught me that we are the family that love built! We have no room for hate, so we have to forgive.”
The statements set an important tone for the community going forward, said Rev. Cress Darwin, pastor of neighboring Second Presbyterian Church, two blocks from Emanuel. “I think it’s very powerful,” he said. “It was powerful that the victims’ families were able to express their grief and anger,” Darwin said. “They all expressed, near as I can tell, forgiveness.”
Darwin said that while he was not close to Emanuel’s slain pastor, the two had great mutual respect for one another. “Rev. Clementa Pinckney and I were colleagues,” he said. “It’s such a shock for something like this to happen, especially when it’s not in Missouri and it’s not in other parts of the country, or even other parts of the city, but a block away from your church.”
The impact of that shock will usher in changes at the Darwin’s church. “We’re going to get cameras for our property,” he said. “We’ll be more vigilant,” and there will be new protocols to insure safety of the congregation and the onsite preschool, he added.
“But we also will not give in,” he added. “We won’t give in to exclusion, we won’t give in to suspicion. We’ll seek to be prudent but we won’t be afraid….Death and hate and violence and resentments and chaos – these aren’t the final word.”
Unlike the families who spoke on Friday, however, Alston says she doesn’t yet feel forgiveness. “Yes, forgiveness is from the Bible. I would say that I’m glad that they are forgiving, but right now I’m a little harder than that.”
The details of how her fellow church members were killed run through her mind. They were studying Mark 4: 16-20, she said, flipping through her bible to read the passage out loud: “And those who are sewn among the thorns are the ones who hear the word.” She wasn’t there on Wednesday night, and immediately noticed in the news footage that Pinckney was not out front assisting, something that would have been instinctual for him.
“Then I found out he was the first one to be killed,” she said. “I could [envision] Clementa embracing this man sitting beside him while he was plotting their death,” she said. “I am angry, rather than being forgiving. Maybe forgiveness will come after some accountability for his actions has been satisfied.”
Alston doesn’t expect members will be afraid to return, she said. The church had been demolished once before, in 1822, after some of its members planned a revolt against slavery, but it was rebuilt to become a beacon of the civil rights movement. “You must remember that the church is the focal point of leadership in our community,” Alston said. “Without the church, what would we have?”
What has been left behind, she says, is resolve. “We will not let anyone take the church from us,” she said. “Oh no, I will walk into that church if it’s the last day of my life.”
With wire services. Jonathan Martin contributed reporting.
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