CHARLESTON — One year after a white gunman shot to death eight black parishioners and their pastor at a historic black church here, hundreds gathered Friday in multiple services to sing, pray and remember those who died.
At an ecumenical service at the TD Arena in downtown Charleston, officials including Gov. Nikki Haley and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott talked of the tragedy at Mother Emanuel AME Church nearby and celebrated the lives of the victims and the three survivors.
President Barack Obama, who last year came to the arena to deliver the eulogy for Sen. Clementa Pinckney, the pastor of Emanuel who lost his life in the shootings, sent a message to those gathered for Friday’s service.
“As a nation we are deeply moved by your boundless love and unshakable resilience,” he and First Lady Michelle Obama said in the message, read to the audience. "The enduring hope that you've embodied is not only a profound expression of your faith but also a symbol of the courage that has guided America forward for generations."
At a later and smaller service at Emanuel, a multi-racial coalition, the Civilitas, joined Emanuel to honor the victims and call for forgiveness and racial reconciliation. The group also called for churches nationwide to join in the work of racial unity.
"All of us wish we didn't have to be here but we must," the Rev. Dr. Claude Alexander said.
The three-hour service at the TD Arena mixed messages of faith, reform and transformation.
Even the man accused in the shootings, Dylann Roof, was mentioned in the service, as one pastor prayed for God to show him mercy. State and federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in his case.
Haley talked of each of the nine victims and three survivors, who she calls the Emanuel 12, and reminded the state of the kindness, strength and faith South Carolinians have shown in the aftermath of the murders. She said the state remains great.
“When we were tested, we proved it,” she said.
Other speakers used the occasion to talk of gun control, noting the recent deaths of 49 people killed in an Orlando nightclub by a gunman using an assault weapon.
“Can’t we at least remove the availability of assault weapons from those who have broken the law?” Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg asked to applause.
State Sen. Marlon Kimpson, a Charleston Democrat who has pushed a bill for expanded background checks, said in the wake of shootings in Charleston, San Bernardino and Orlando, “we must in Congress and state legislatures address gun reform.”
Scott talked of the “unbelievable” grace shown by victims’ family members in telling Roof they forgave him and how the state’s unity resulted in the lowering of the Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse grounds.
“Let us stand together,” he said in closing.
Haley, who led the push to lower the Confederate flag after the murders, told the audience that the shootings feel like they happened yesterday.
She urged the state to remember both families of victims and the survivors and to be better people. She said she thinks of the victims each day and the lessons they have taught her.
“It is our job as a people to prove to them that June 17 was not in vain," she said.
Nine posters of the victims stood in front of the stage, each topped with “Still Speaking from Eternity.”
The numbers of those attending were a fraction of the audience a year ago, when more than 5,000 packed the arena to pay their respects to Pinckney and listen to the president sing Amazing Grace.
“Love and support, that’s why I’m here,” said Odell Harris, 61, who drove a church van early Friday morning from Richland County.
Kerry Linen from Charleston said the memorial service helps with the healing process.
“I just needed to be here,” she said. “Coming together is just something people need to do.”
Eugenia Johnson, 85, of Charleston, a former librarian, said she came to the service in honor of Cynthia Hurd, one of the nine victims who worked as a librarian. She said mass shootings have left her afraid and unnerved.
“It’s just such a tragedy to think what is happening,” she said. “I don’t know which direction the world is going in.”
Jestine Townsend Graham of North Myrtle Beach, said she knew all the victims, including one who was her cousin.
“I have to be here,” she said. “They are all my sisters and brothers.”
At Emanuel, a bell was tolled nine times for the victims while thunder stormed overhead.
The Rev. Dr. Greg Thompson of Charlottesville, Virginia, who is white, said he saw victims' family members tell Roof they forgive him on television and showed it to his children, saying, "this is one of the greatest moments of American history."
He said the history of America is a history of white supremacy that has benefited generations of whites, including him.
"There's no misery like this," he said. "We can be more than this."
As part of the service, those attending read a call to action written a year ago by black and white Christians nationwide, including a commitment to have a conversation in each person's faith community about "the plague of racism in America."
In front of Emanuel, where piles of flowers have been left in honor of the victims, Jim Doyle of Charlotte brought his 7-year-old twins, who left roses at the fence.
"We just want our kids to understand the value of what's going on," he said. "We ought to have a lot of people out here to commemorate what happened, not only here, but throughout the country."
