By: Rene Childress

We Americans have always held places of worship as somehow above the fray. They are sanctuaries of repose and worship. This has never been extended to Jewish or African-American worshipers. The African-American church in particular has been a consistent and favorite  target for white supremacist violence in America. 

Our current story is about Mother Emanuel Church in South Carolina. A church that is the oldest African-American church in the deep south. It was founded in 1814. Its history includes it being the worship see of Denmark Vessey. 

In the aftermath of the lynching of Denmark Vessey  the church was burned downed.  The reason for his hanging and the burning of the church was the supposed uprising that was to occur on June 17,1822. This has become an anniversary to remember its founding members and its first church structure. The church was rebuilt. 

In 1834 the congregation along with all the other black christians in Charleston were not permitted to worship together. They had to resort to how the old christians did in Roman times they had to meet in secret. Only after the union armies occupied Charleston were black christians able to worship in the open again. So much for following the good book. Slavery was king and white racism was the succor of white christians. Excuse me, I digress. 

Fast forward to June 17,2023. We find ourselves observing a warm humid day. The expected temperatures are to reach into the high nineties,the humidity is already at 70% by 9:00 am.The parishioners are finishing up their  weekly bible study. They have a young visitor in their midst. He is a stranger. Being good christian folks they accept the young man’s entreaty to join in their service. Unbeknownst to the congregants they had allowed a white supremacist terrorist to gather with them.  I will not use his name.

He is a young white male with dish water blond hair. As the meeting is breaking up he proceeds to shoot 10 people multiple times with hollow point bullets. He initially takes aim at an 87 year old grandmother Mrs Suzie Jackson. Her Grandson 26 year old TYwanza Sanders attempts to shield his grandmother and becomes the first victim of this racist fiend.

He continues shooting and reloading multiple times until he is out of bullets. A few survive by playing dead as they lie among their fellow worshipers. They are witness to the foul racist diatribe that proceed from his spittle filled mouth. He exclaimed “I have to do it.You rape our women and you’re taking our country and you have to go”. He tells the dying and wounded congregants “Y’all want something to pray about? I’ll give you something to pray about”. 

He escapes the whole incident with such precision and forethought it only takes a matter of minutes for the whole episode to unfold. He planned it down to every detail including making sure that South Carolina state senator Rev. Clementa C. Pickney was there. He made sure to attack this historical church and congregation on the 193rd anniversary of the supposed still born Denmark Vessey uprising. He left nine dead and one grievously wounded in his wake. He left a community forever reminded about their lack of safety in a society that still harbors and nurtures fiends of this kind. 

We find ourselves again witnessing another outrage of innocents being brutalized simply because of their skin pigment. How does a twenty something white kid born in the twenty first century come to believe that it is his duty to protect white womanhood from the” marauding black beasts” that roam the countryside looking for white women to ravage. How does he believe that these African- Americans are not part of this country and have been here since 1619. His words belay the mantra that are on all white supremacists’ “go to” about how to make America great again. How do we continue to see these words and eventual actions they bring about and not see that the problem is America not addressing the question of race. It is always just under the surface. 

This assassin was caught and convicted. Gee thanks. A lot of good it will do for the families of those killed. A lot of good it will do for the parishioners of Mother Emanuel who will never be able to enter their tabernacle and not feel uneasy as they go to worship. A lot of good that will do for the greater African-American population at large. 

The answer is we need to expose our children, all of them both black and white to the horrors that were our past and try to show them a different future. If we keep hiding the truth from them we will keep getting the same results. Prevention is the only balm that will heal our national wounds. Another worst story that did not have to happen. “Let Us Not Forget”