♪ ♪ Rose Simmons> In the healing process, it takes a lot of energy.

It takes a lot of time.

♪ Melvin Graham> Imagine someone taking a knife and slashing you across the face.

The wound will heal but every time you look in the mirror, you're going to see that scar.

For the last ten years.

I tend to grieve.

♪ So.... ♪ (foreboding music) (Polly Sheppard on phone) Please answer.

Oh God.... <Dispatch> 911 What's the address of the emergency?

Polly Sheppard> Please, Emanuel Church.

There's plenty of people shot down here.

Please send somebody right away.

<Dispatch> Emanuel Church?

Polly> He's coming.

He's coming.

He's coming.

Please.

But when it got to me, all of a sudden he just stopped.

He said, "Shut up."

Did I shoot you yet?

And I said, "No."

He said, "I'm not going to."

♪I'm going to leave you here to tell the story.

♪ Beryl Dakers> Hello, I'm Beryl Dakers.

Thank you for joining us.

As we commemorate the 10th anniversary of the horrific Mother Emanuel tragedy.

We pause, not just to pay homage to the victims and survivors, but to look at ways in which the tragedy might inform us in making our world a better place.

Joining me here in the studio are the Reverend Eric Manning, who is senior pastor of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, Reverend Manning is now in his ninth year as pastor.

Next, is Reverend Sharon Risher, daughter of the late Ethel Lance, a former hospital chaplain who is now an anti-gun violence activist.

And then we have Reverend Nelson-Rivers III, pastor of Charity Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, a long time NAACP leader and vice president for religious affairs for the National Action Network.

Next to me is the Reverend Anthony Thompson, who is the widower of the late Myra Thompson and former pastor of Holy Trinity Reformed Episcopal Church in Charleston.

Each of you, has been intricately impacted by this tragedy, and, you bring unique perspectives to this discussion.

Reverend Manning, I'm going to start with you, however.

Though you were not there ten years ago, you've been there for nine years now.

You have shepherded this church through its... resurrection, in a sense.

What's been the biggest challenge for you and the church in recovering from the tragedy?

Rev.

Manning> Thank you for having me.

I would say the biggest challenge is every season when we come up to the June 17th commemoration, the church goes through a period again of, as we heard Melvin Graham saying, reopening the wounds.

And it becomes challenging for us.

And many, of course, go through their own process of grief, again, their own process of trauma, being retraumatized.

And then, we come past June 17th, and then we continue to go through the re-healing process.

I think the whole thing, the whole thing that I've learned over the past nine years, is to give everyone the permission to be in whatever space they are in, for however long, they need to be.

And then my task as a pastor is just to continue to shepherd them, as we can.

And as God gives us the strength and the insight and the guidance to do just that.

Beryl> Is it bothersome to you and Sharon?

Reverend Risher?

I'll ask you this, but, you know, perhaps we don't hear much about it, all along.

It's just at these major points of commemoration, these major anniversaries.

Rev.

Sharon Risher> Well, I think that's one of the reasons that I'm so active in the activism that I'm involved with, with the gun violence prevention and to the death penalty action movement, I'm in.

My job, I believe, is to remind people to make sure that they don't forget what happened in that church and the reason why all of that happened in that church.

So I continue in everything that I do to remind people about them and to make them realize that they aren't just people that you see on news clips or in a story that they were actual people that led lives, that had family that loved them.

And each one of them had their own, personalities and the ways they affected the Emanuel Church community and the Charleston community.

Beryl> As we look at the Charleston community, I'm going to go back to you for a moment, Reverend Manning, because this church has had a legacy of tragedy, really historically.

How do you use that as a positive force?

Rev.

Manning> From positive force, we continue to utilize, I believe, what I heard Polly Shepherd say recently, the fact that we're still standing, right.

the resilience there in within the congregation.

The resilience within, remembering that God is still with us.

So that can always become a positive.

And when you see all of the senseless gun violence activities take place and you see still so much hatred, that continues to be very much prominent, Emanuel continues to be that light in the pathway of darkness.

Right, So just to continue to remind people that Mother Emanuel has been in existence now for 207 years, and we're still standing.

We're still holding up the torch.

Beryl> You know, moments following that tragic event at Mother Emanuel, the outpouring of expressions from around the world just descended upon the city of Charleston.

And the steps, really, of Mother Emanuel Church itself.

Today as they continue to share the rich history of the church, efforts are underway to preserve and share many of the tokens that were sent worldwide.

Clementa Pinckney> My name is Reverend Clementa Pinckney, and where you are is a very special place in Charleston.

And it's a very special place because this church and this site, this area has been tied to the history and life of African-Americans, since about the early 1800s.

♪ >> We've always had visitors coming to the church, and the tours have always been a part of activities here at the church.

There's certainly, we have more people who have been coming, following the tragedy of June 17th, 2015.

And so they have an opportunity to come and hear about the 206 years of history.

While the tragedy is a part of our history, the church has a robust history.

♪ That edifice dates back to 1891, still has the original floors, the original pews, all of the stained glass windows throughout the church are part of the 1891 church.

Church has the gas lighting from 1891, and it also has a massive pipe organ that dates back to 1908 and is still the organ that we use every Sunday within the sanctuary.

It is a largest African-American church in the city, has a capacity of about 1 thousand, 1 hundred and 22 (1,122), gothic revival architecture, still has the high stained glass windows, two massive murals up front, one of the crucifixion, another one of the Ascension done by an African-American artist by the name of John H. Greene.

And commissioned in August of 1945.

So we're very, very proud of this sanctuary.

♪ Recently, we were able to acquire a space, building 113 Calhoun Street, from the city, and with the goal of having a space to share the memorabilia that had been sent from all over the world, from people who were expressing their sympathy, people expressing their support, to the community and especially to members of the church and family members.

We've received a variety of items coming within the church.

We have quilts, shawls, prayer cloths, and a lot of the artwork.

♪ Some of our banners are pretty unique, because they were in the space at the church and gave people an opportunity to have the expressions, writings, signatures, or just words of comfort.

One in particular.

So many people left their signatures and we have signatures that are kind of overlapping on top of each other, and it actually created somewhat of a unique artwork.

When you look at all the signatures and messages that were left, ♪ I think the, the big goal is certainly to make sure that we remember the names, and we continue to say their names, but it's also an opportunity to send a message about the history of the church, as well.

And we want to start there, to tell stories.

And we believe that if we don't tell our stories, then, somebody else will tell our stories in a different way, or somebody may steal the stories.

So I hope it's an opportunity to continue to tell stories an opportunity to just share the goodness of people and the things that they, took the time to do, and have an opportunity to say thank you.

And, and that provides a space where we as a church can say thank you to a world at large, and certainly, thank you to the community here.

♪ Beryl> Speaking of the community, Dr. Rivers, Charleston was united.

It seemed as though the entire world was united behind Charleston and the church.

As we look at this event ten years hence, is that unity still there?

Rev.

Rivers III> I'm not sure it was there then.

I think we were in shock, and the shock was made manifest by the evil that the person brought and expressed throughout and even afterwards.

The unity was around, trying to build each other up.

We had this huge event, the prayer service, at T.D.

arena, that the two mayors of Charleston, North Charleston helped us to put together.

But I think the, the image of the unity is contradicted by the reality of what we deal with now.

And since, we, Clementa Pinckney was, was with us after Joe, after, Walter Scott was killed, and he gave the prayer at the place where Walter laid after he died, a week before the killing, we were together behind Governor Nikki Haley signing the body camera bill, which came from Walter Scott being shot by a police officer.

Exactly one week later, Clementa was killed.

While we were on the Freedom Road tour, and we made a commitment to meet each other when I got back.

So, the, the issue of unity has to be defined because united about what and united for what purpose?

If the unity we talked about even existed, then the hate crime bill in his name, would have been passed by now.

It's been ten years, still has not been passed.

<Yeah.> The, if unity existed then, what Dylann Roof expressed, would not be embraced so much, in the rhetoric, even on our General Assembly.

So I think the unity has to be defined.

Unity, for what purpose?

Yes, the funerals.

Yes, the mourning.

Yes, the humanity of those who were killed.

But the truth is, it took nine lives to get the flag off the dome.

And now for ten years, the same state that did that unity and cried out, has refused and made what happened to him a crime.

Beryl> Reverend Thompson, how do family members view this?

And I'm just asking you as a representative of certainly I know there's not a universal healing among all the family members, but as you look at this, what do you see as the culminating steps toward healing, or are we still far away from that?

>> Healing is a very delicate process, especially from the tragedy that occurred at Mother Emanuel.

Because, when you when you think about how it happened, like Reverend Risher, previously said, it was, it was because of racism, you know, he hated Black people.

And then, this is something that, you know, we as Black people have been dealing with for so many, so long, it's particularly in the city of Charleston.

And so, when you think about healing, in a sense, we've been healing now for hundreds of years, hundreds of years.

And then, this tragedy at Mother Emanuel just put, you know, more damper on the wounds, so to speak, made the wound larger.

But then when you think about the, the, what came out of the tragedy and what I call a divine intervention of God himself for family members to express their forgiveness.

That changed a lot of things.

You know, that, that, that, that forgiveness began healing in the city of Charleston because for the first time, you know, I'm born and raised in Charleston.

I went to school in Charleston, worked in Charleston, you know, as a...as a pastor.

And, you know, I have experienced racism from one end to the other.

And, and in doing so, to, to see what happened after the amount of tragedy I saw, I saw a change.

Beryl> I'm going to explore that, that, that issue, particularly of forgiveness, again, in just a moment.

But first, let's look at this as family members of the victims lost during the church shooting, took on the very heavy mantle of ensuring that the voices of their loved ones will continue to be heard.

Melvin Graham> Every year I write a memoriam for my sister, and I remember one year I wrote these words.

I died because someone told a lie.

I died because someone told a lie.

I died because someone repeated the lie.

I died because someone believed the lie.

I died because someone acted on the lie that my life does not matter.

I live on the breath in the wings of those who refuse to repeat the lie and believe the lie that my life does not matter.

My family was thrust into the spotlight, and in light of our feelings for Cynthia and our love for Cynthia, we weren't going to simply fall into the background and be quiet.

She needed a voice.

She needed someone to speak up for her.

♪ Cynthia was executed in the most brutal fashion.

♪ Her voice was taken.

She's no longer with us.

Cynthia was an exceptional person in that I didn't know my sister until she died.

But when I say that, I say it in reference to the work that she was doing in the community and the things that she was doing to help other people.

So when Cynthia passed away, people came and started telling stories.

Let me tell you how Cynthia helped me.

Let me tell you what simply did for me.

I still run into people who say, I knew your sister.

Let me tell you what she did for me or how she affected my life.

People needed to know who Cynthia was.

She wasn't just a victim of a crime, of a hate crime.

The list of people that she has helped and the things that she has done in the community is what ♪ her legacy is about.

Not so much, Cynthia, but the work that she did.

Malcolm Graham> I was driving back from Charleston to Charlotte to get a change of clothes for a longer stay, so I missed the bond hearing and I was listening to it on CNN satellite radio, and I nearly wrecked the car.

Because at that time, it was literally two days after the shooting.

And Dylann Roof was being, presented to the public during his bond hearing.

And family members of others, said they forgave him.

Cynthia was still in the morgue at the time, and I just felt that, we needed to create what I call healthy tension, asking tough questions, ♪ un-peeling the onion.

♪ It was difficult, right?

♪ Because Cynthia and eight others were killed that night.

Five others were terrorized.

And...Cynthia would have said that the attack was against a race of people.

♪ The only thing that mattered that night was that they were there and that they were Black.

And the attack of African-Americans throughout history was similar to what they experienced that night.

Charleston's past became its present, and instead of forgiving Dylann Roof, we really need to pause and ask ourselves some tough questions during that time.

And still thereafter, maybe if we had, had some healthy conversations, healthy tension then, the shooting in Buffalo six years later after Charleston, similar circumstances, ten people killed in a Black grocery store, in a Black neighborhood by the White nationalist, who even had the name of Dylann Roof inscribed on his gun.

So we needed to create an environment where we can have these conversations, talk about our history, and ask some tough questions.

♪ When you look at the history of Emanuel in the South, this is just a repeat of what's happened in the past.

The lie.

is what caused Cynthia to lose her life.

So, Malcolm wants healthy tension.

I want us to stop the lie.

Let's stop the lie.

Let's kill the lie.

Because the lie is what's killing people, and what killed my sister.

Death is horrible.

Mass shootings are horrible.

And maybe if it's horrible enough, you'll do something about it.

Malcolm> The way forward, is, my, allowing the reader to walk in my footsteps.

From the day I found out that Cynthia was involved in the shooting and the experience I had along the way, and then at the end, really talking about, okay, how do we move forward?

And so, Cynthia, would have been, ♪ she's probably laughing right now.

The guy that couldn't string a sentence when he was together, when he was a young guy that wrote a book.

But, and now that book is placed in the library that bears your name.

And so it's just a matter of leaving a legacy for my grand kids and my nieces and my nephews and other family members so they can hear from our perspective what happened to Aunt Cynthia, what happened to our sister, and to put our footprint on her Charleston story.

♪ Melvin> For the last ten years, I tend to grieve.

♪ So.... ♪ Malcolm Graham> Everyone's faith walk is different, right.

And, and the healing process for the others are, ...take different routes.

Melvin> Healing with grace means for me, accepting what happened.

I don't understand why, but what I do understand is the grace that followed afterwards.

♪ How much money would we have to pay to get a library named after our sister?

How much money will it cost us to have the all the accolades that's been given to her, scholarships?

These are things that we could not have purchased for her in life, but in death, Cynthia will be remembered long after we're gone, long after our children are gone.

When they Google her name, when they look in books and talk about the Charleston Massacre, her name will be there.

♪ Beryl> The Graham brothers have actually raised many of the issues that we'll be talking about here, but I want to go back to that question of forgiveness.

Reverend Townsend, I'm going to start with you because I know you've written a book and it was called, "To Forgive".

That was the title of your book, but you've also talked about the dis-ease of forgiveness.

So what does this forgiveness mean?

Is it that easy to come by?

You just open your mouth and say, I forgive?

Rev.

Thompson> Well, forgiveness is not easy for anyone.

It wasn't easy for me after 48 hours, after 48 hours after the tragedy, you know, a lot of people thought, they wondered, how could you do that?

And, I didn't do it by myself.

It was a God driven thing to forgive, to forgive Dylann.

And once I did that, I discovered the peace that you receive from forgiving.

In other words, the forgiveness is not for the person who did you wrong or the person who committed the crime.

Not even for Dylann.

It was for me.

For me to be released from him.

You know, for me to receive the peace I need to be releasing the anger and the hate that I felt so that I can move forward in my life.

And that's exactly what happened.

And, and that's where the book called, To Forgive" come in.

Because I experienced such a peace that I thought I had prior to all this happening.

You know, I preached several times about the peace, that surpasses, all understanding in Christ.

And, and I thought we had it, but we didn't.

This is just entirely different than the peace that God really gives to you through acts of forgiveness.

And that's where the healing begins.

You know, the process could be, for some people, could be quite differently.

They may not be able to do it in 48 hours.

They may not, like, like Melvin.

I know Melvin personally.

You know, he may not be able to do it, you know, has not been able to do it for years.

But, you know, eventually you can get there, but you can only get there with God's help.

You're going to need God to help you make that decision.

Beryl> I probably shouldn't raise this question with a group of preachers around me, but is forgiveness, a prerequisite for healing?

Rev.

Rivers III> The challenge I had as a pastor, as someone who's very familiar with the Bible, every first Sunday in my church, we repeat the covenant.

And the covenant says following the rules of the Savior.

That means Jesus gave us a process for forgiveness.

It's in the book of Matthew.

The first thing is rebuke.

He says, rebuke the person who offended you.

That means you don't cuss them out.

Sometimes they're worth it.

But you go tell them what they did.

Then they must confess.

This is a four step process.

He has never confessed.

Third thing is there must be repentance, reparations that mean you have to repair or demonstrate your willingness to repair the damage you caused.

Then the fourth thing is then I forgive you.

My issue always was, nothing to do with the families was that a lot of folk used that as a blanket to hide racism under.

When the truth of the matter is Dylann Roof should have been rebuked by the folk he hurt.

They didn't get a chance to do that.

The second thing was, he was supposed to confess He didn't.

He didn't have to.

But he did not do what forgiveness requires.

And the third part of what Jesus says in his, in his process is that then you must repair or begin to repair the damage you did.

That's what reparations are.

That's why he says, rebuke, confess, repent, forgive.

Not forgive, and then others.

No, it's a process and Jesus leads this process out.

The challenge I had and the reason I didn't go whole hands... on that bridge, because I wasn't sure whose hands I'm holding.

You might, you might be Dylann, and use this as a way to cover up what you did.

So my concern always was, and still is, that folk have asked me, as a pastor from Charleston, as a social justice advocate and activist, How did those folks forgive?

I said, well, you have to talk to the folk who said it.

I'm giving you, in my mind what is clear the process for forgiveness was not followed.

If you're talking about what Jesus laid out when he was asked a question by Peter, how many times I got to forgive these folk?

And he said, Peter, you must follow this process.

First you must rebuke your brother or your sister.

Second, they must confess they did harm to you.

Third, then they must repair the damage or try.

And then fourth, you forgive.

Beryl> Sharon, I saw you nodding your head there for a moment.

And, one of the questions I want to ask you is you mentioned in the beginning that you are against the death penalty, which seems incongruous with what has happened in your life.

Rev.

Risher> Well, I guess I have just been out the box for this whole thing from the beginning.

I was not one of the ones who was able to forgive.

48 hours later.

It actually took me almost two years to be able to say publicly and to know within myself that forgiveness was what I needed for me.

I felt like, Black people have been the the precipitates of forgiveness, and our European and White brothers and sisters have always been able to latch on to that, to have some peace of mind that the way they treated us was okay because we were always so forgiving.

We continue to follow that pattern today.

And forgiving our oppressors that continue to oppress us.

The death penalty thing, as a follower of Jesus, I don't believe that we, man, state anything has the power to execute and kill someone.

What came out of this tragedy is my my willingness, my ableness, to be able to look at having mercy and giving mercy in a different way, understanding, even though, this horrific thing Dylann Roof did, I was able to see him as a person to understand that my faith tells me God forgave me, continues to forgive me, and Dylann Roof has that same opportunity to repent, be rebuked and all of that.

And it's not up to me to make those decisions.

But, yeah, I'm one of the few people that don't believe in the death penalty out of the nine families.

And sometimes I feel a little tension every now and then when it's brought up, because, of course, nobody can understand why I would do that, just like I didn't understand why they forgave him 48 hours later.

So there's a complex way of all of this in different people, in different issues in different understanding.

Beryl> One of the things that people seem to have been able to to garner around or to all latch into is the idea of doing some kind of outreach outreach from the church, in particular.

So one example, joining the Samaritan's Feet project represents an early effort in working with local community groups and businesses to transform the message of the tragedy into one of hope and one of service.

♪ Blondelle Gadson> The Samaritan's Feet Project is an awesome program sponsored by Coca-Cola.

They come in and they bring tennis shoes for young, old, all ages.

And, they just sit with the individual and talk to them and let them know how special they are, and that they hope they enjoy having the shoes and the socks that are being given to them.

We have done the program for at least seven years.

We stopped because of Covid, because we had started going into the elementary schools in the Charleston area.

And when Covid started, we had to stop the program, but we are now starting it again in hopes that there will be a continued part of the commemoration.

This started with the first commemoration that we had for the Emanuel Nine victims.

We had a representative from Coca Cola who offered to come in and have this is one of the projects that we would be able to offer the community during the time of the commemoration, and we were so grateful and accepted their offer to come in and help us.

It represents some of the qualities from the Emanuel Nine victims.

They were givers.

They shared what they had with the community.

And so when we were offered an opportunity to do this, we felt like it would be a good representation of the Emanuel Nine victims.

♪ Beryl> Reverend Manning, that's just one example of some of the outreach efforts that the church has put forward.

I noticed you were trying to get in on that forgiveness question, though.

Rev.

Manning> Well, I mean, realistically, and I respect everyone's response to forgiveness.

And I think that realistically articulates the difference there in and I always remind folks that it was Nadine's response that changed the tenure of the bond hearing that changed the tenure, as Reverend Nelson said, almost gave people an opportunity as a way out.

Right.

But then at the same token, it allowed that tension that Malcolm refers to, that, that, that healthy tension to kind of just fizzle out.

And the bad part about it, I remember what Reverend Joe Darby said, Was it just a "Kum ba yah" moment, or was it really a sustaining change?

And it wasn't a sustaining change, because here we are, almost ten years later, and there is still is not a hate crime legislation in the state of South Carolina.

There are still the Charleston, quote, unquote, "loophole" that is still open.

And we're still trying to figure out how are we to realistically show grace and mercy in this day and age, when it seems like, excuse me, not seems like, when we are deporting people on a regular basis.

If you begin to understand, as I have in recent months, because it has taken me almost eight and a half years to come to a conclusion with forgiveness.

And unlike Reverend Rivers, I don't need someone to repent.

Jesus on the cross said, "Father, forgive them, for they know of not what they do."

You have to remember on that cross Peter didn't have an opportunity to say to him, Jesus, forgive me for denying you, Judas did not have an opportunity to say, Jesus, forgive me for betraying you.

The crowd did not have an opportunity to say, Jesus, forgive us for turning our backs on you.

But Jesus first then said, forgive them.

So I have learned over these eight and a half years, or so since I've been serving Mother Emanuel, to basically release it, to pick up the mantle of forgiveness, as Christ would have us to forgive.

Granted, it has taken this time for me to get to that point.

And there are others who will still continue to have that discussion, and I'm completely fine with that, because we still have to give people the opportunity and the permission to be in whatever space they're going to be in and to love them.

And as Robert Richard just shared a few moments ago, to extend that same level of grace that God extends to us.

So there is a lot to unpackage, right!?

But I just wanted to quickly hit on those key points because I think it's very important to remember if it was not for the Spirit of God on that bond hearing, right, some people said, "Well, Charleston did not burn."

Charleston was on the brink of burning.

And I think we must remember that and then pay tribute and homage to who it was who led us through it.

And I would say, just to make sure everyone's clear, as Reverend Thompson, I think, shared as well, the Spirit of God, impressed on that particular day.

Beryl> One of the things that many of the family members are adamant about is the fact that we do have to remember, that we do have to make sure that the tragedy is never forgotten, that it's unveiled in all its ugliness, as well as whatever redemptive powers it may have.

And so Rose Simmons, who is the daughter of the Reverend Daniel Simmons, has recently poured all of her energies into creating very this visible and lasting memorials to her father, among them a recently produced film.

Let's take a look.

(foreboding drumming) ♪ ♪ (gun clicks) (soloist begins to sing) Rose Simmons> The major thing that motivated me to do this film.

♪ I need to let the world know, who my father was.

I want to let the world know how he died, how he suffered, but yet, how he fought to live.

The film is entitled "One Last Breath", because he was the last person to actually lose his life that night.

And, after, you know, being shot multiple times, he was able to crawl for help about 26 feet.

To me, that shows his strength and his, his desire to want to get up from where he lay to tell his story.

And of course, he can't tell it at this point, but I can.

And that's what I, I think that's what motivated me the most.

The state of South Carolina in Mullins, has a museum, a state museum.

And they have gifted me, a portion of that for a Reverend Daniel Simmons Museum.

Another thing, I think, we need to remember or and, and it's for some families.

So it should be for all are our loved ones that we lost.

I know that, when I think about my father, you know, I'm thinking about the times that we would have had these past 10 years.

As a matter of fact, we, He and I were planning a father-daughter cruise.

♪ When we can find a happy spot in our memory of our parents or some lost grandparents, some lost wives, husbands, I think it helps us in our grieving process.

And, there are so many reasons why, we need to remember.

Grieving in public is horrible.

That's what it's like.

I was not prepared for,... for that.

And it's like, you know, if you're on a team or a football team, you have you have to rise to the occasion.

The quarterback throws the ball to you.

You can either fumble or you can catch it and make an attempt for the touchdown.

So that's the way I looked at it.

So I had to rearrange, ♪ my grieving process.

And I had to remember, or I had to focus and make the most important thing not about me grieving, but about my father's memory, his legacy, and how this was going to be a part of history, as long as the Earth remains.

♪ Beryl> Reverend Risher, in many ways.

You took a similar course, I think.

You've also worked on a film, and I know you've become a celebrated op-ed columnist, and you do all of this speaking all over the... Why is that a driving force for you?

Rev.

Risher> First of all, thank you for telling me all the things, reminding me, how busy I've been for the last ten years.

And I'm finally at a point in my life where I'm able to pick and choose, now what I'm doing, I'm entering the golden stage of my life, and I'm, I'm, I'm enjoying that.

But yes, the activism, the film, "Quiet No More" talked about my journey of becoming an activist and how, I continue to do that.

Writing of the book was very cathartic, but me too.

grieving in public was something that I had to kind of hold back a little bit because of what I was doing, because of the activism, I couldn't be just a basket case everywhere I went.

But those feelings of, for me, there is never going to be an end to my healing.

I will heal until the day I die.

The memory of them is what keeps me propelled and doing the things that I do.

Even though I've pulled back, because yet again, my purpose, I believe, is to make sure that not only that, my mother is not forgotten for my family, but each one of the members are, is never forgotten.

And not that we romanticize them, but we remember them as real people.

Beryl> A father who lost his son on June 17th, 2015, is amazed with how his son's lifelong friends have continued, continued, persevered to focus on a cause that his son had initiated in life, and that's facilitating scholarships for other students around South Carolina.

Tyrone Sanders> Let me get a donut.

Crowd> Donut Tyrone Sanders> Let me get a doooo-nut.

Crowd> "Doooo-nut" Tyrone Sanders> Yeah, yeah.

Let's race this morning.

Let's go.

Crowd> 3, 2, 1 Tyrone Sanders> Let's goooo!

(Crowd cheers) (Applause) Tyrone> My son's friends, they're some of the greatest kids that I have met.

♪ This means a heck of a lot to me, because in a sense, they grew up underneath my guidance, a little bit by raising money for kids' education and everything, and, and they've picked up the pace after the passing of my son in his honor, to race for achievement.

When they told me that my son was the one that initiated that call, they're carrying out what needs to be carried out to help facilitate the education of our kids.

Dominique Gray> Record turnout.

Over 500 people have come out to participate this year, the largest year yet.

Ryon Smalls> We've all been friends with Tywanza Sanders.

Everybody, Everybody that's involved, saw Tywanza, as a, as a brother.

And we do this to, for his legacy, and for his family, and for the community as a whole.

A.J.

Harley> Between all of us going to, like, a variety of different colleges.

We'd swing by, and see him, swing by and see him.

So it was always good to get together.

It was always a blast when you were able to spend time with your friends, and especially, at that time, not knowing, you know, where you'd be, five, ten, 20 years later, you're, everybody's in different areas in their lives.

He's down in Florida.

They're in Charlotte.

I'm here in Charleston.

So, for us to actually be able to still come home and still be together and spend time together, it's a blessing.

And just trying to keep Tywanza's name and legacy fulfilled, in the midst of the tragedy, it's, it's amazing to see how far this has come, and just, what has been a blink of a ten years, truthfully.

Dominique Gray> We like to say we turned tragedy into triumph here at "Race 4 Wanza".

Ryon Smalls> And, and Wanza, was such a lively person.

The type of guy that he doesn't meet any strangers, always, always open to new adventures, the life of the party, so to speak.

Tyrone> They all live in different neighborhoods, but they all went to school together.

♪ But my house was their gathering place.

Dominique Gray> Tyrone used to come and, and give us knowledge about, you know, how to operate as man, as a man, how to become a man.

A lot of history, chock full, a lot of African-American history, especially "Charleston-centric".

So he would always leave us with some wisdom.

We joke and laugh, just like Wanza, both ends of the spectrum.

right?

Super funny guy, but super, super professional and super knowledgeable, as well.

So Tyrone, definitely has learned us a lot, lot of lessons that we love to have this extra father in our lives.

Tyrone> I hope they have much more races and I hope that they continue to help facilitate education.

Hopefully, my people can learn their history in America.

♪ And hopefully they don't do no more distorting of the history or try to keep us from learning our history.

But I need and want for it to be learned, ♪ From the time of our inception here in America, ♪ until now.

♪ Beryl> Wow!

Looking at that continuation, all of our talk has been, revolved around what we think happened that night and the messages that we got.

I'm going to take an executive privilege here for a moment, and listen to a survivor speak.

Let's listen to Polly Shepard.

Rev.

Thompson> That's right.

Polly Shepherd> My name is, Polly Shepherd.

I'm a 1963 graduate of Wilson High School, and, I was in the Emanuel Nine Massacre.

I survived it.

Came out alive.

♪ That night was an eerie night.

It was real hot.

And you couldn't hear anything outside.

Like crickets, you would hear crickets and different sounds at night.

It was a hot, muggy, still night.

Very quiet.

It was a different kind of day.

I was just there all day, busy all day.

and I hadn't eaten all day.

So I was really tired that day.

I wasn't supposed to be at the bible study, but my friend was doing the Bible study for the first time.

She was in her second year ministry class, and she said, are you staying for the Bible study?

She asked me and I said, "No".

So she said, she put a guilt trip on me She said, friends, usually support friends.

So I got a little angry, I had a few words with her.

and I walked out and walked straight to the last seat, near the kitchen, facing the outside door, trying to sneak out at any minute.

She kept her eyes on me, so I didn't have time to leave.

I ended up there.

We started Bible study about three minutes after eight or so, and Dylann Roof walked in.

♪ And Reverend Pinckney met him and gave him notes, the Bible study and the notes and sat him right beside him, up front, and when... Bible study was finished, he stood up and start shooting.

We were in the miss, miss prayer, where we say dismissing where, we were in a circle with hands together, with have eyes closed.

So we... it was a surprise when he started shooting.

He shot Reverend Pinckney first, ♪ and the others, afterwards.

♪ My best friend was Myra Thompson, and she was in her second year, ministry school.

There was five ministers killed during that massacre.

They didn't give her, her title afterwards, but to me, she would always be, one of the ministers that were killed in the church.

It was Reverend Pinckney, Reverend Simmons, Reverend Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Reverend Depayne Middleton Doctor Reverend Pinckney and Myra Thompson.

Those were the five ministers, So, the whole ministerial staff was wiped out that night.

I was in shock.

I, I didn't know what was going on.

I thought a transformer had blown or something.

We had, wiring problems.

The church is over 200 something years old.

So, I thought maybe it was a a wire, or something to do with electricity.

But Felicia yelled "Get down.

He's shooting."

So I hit the floor.

And would you believe I didn't have a scratch on me when I got up?

Not one scratch.

No blood, no nothing.

But I was under the table.

I could see him coming toward me, because I could see his dirty Timberland boots.

He had on some dirty Timberland boots, and my head was facing out.

So I kept my eyes on him the whole time.

So when he got to me, all of a sudden he just stopped and he said, "Shut up!".

"Did I shoot you yet?"

And I said, "No".

He said, "I'm not going to.

"I'm going to leave you here to tell the story."

But during that time, Tywanza rose up because he knew that his mother was still, still alive, because they had been talking.

And he knew I was alive.

So I think he just took the attention off of us Tywanza was...shot already.

So he rose up on his elbow and he asked Dylann, " Why are you doing this? "

And he said, "You're raping our women " and taking over the country, so I have to do this. "

So Dylann passed me and shot him 5 or 6 times as he was talking But Dylann told me, he said, " I knew you were here. "

" Because I could hear you praying up there. "

I know you were here all the time. "

I didn't intend to shoot you ," but I didn't believe that story.

I think it was just he didn't know what to say when he saw me alive and looking at him.

♪ But I got up, afterwards, after I had talked to the 9-1-1 lady, I got up and I went to check some people to see whether they had pulses or not, and I immediately, went in my nurse mode, I went in and I checked about three people.

I don't even know what three.

I know Reverend Pinckney was one and there were two ladies.

And Felicia called me to come back and check her son.

But before I could get there, the cops came in and they took us out.

But not before we saw him take his last breath.

♪ He was, when I was on the way back, ♪ When I was on the way back, I could see his body like he was swimming across the floor.

And he kept calling for his Aunt Susie.

"Aunt Susie.

Aunt Susie."

So when he reached her, his hand was in her hair, and that's when he took his last breath.

So his mother said, "Ms Polly, he's gone."

♪ And he was gone.

I know God has a purpose in everything.

So I'm left here to tell the story.

♪ I can say he figured I would be telling his story, but I'm telling the story how good God is.

And he does things in his own time.

I was wondering, too, why, so many people had to die, and I was left.

So, I would tell people when they asked me the question, I said, I had too much baggage.

He had to do some more work on me because I wasn't quite right to go where he is, yet.

♪ I've forgiven him.

♪ But that doesn't mean I don't think about it and get angry sometimes.

That's the way the process works.

It's just not a permanent thing.

You forgive one day and the next day you might be mad as hell.

You know?

Yeah.

Sometimes, I see when he's getting all this attention, ♪ I get very angry, but I have to always pray on it.

And I come back to normal.

If I can help, somebody else deal with this type of massacre, ♪ I think just seeing me alive, walking and looking pretty good, I think it would give them hope that you can go on after a tragedy.

You can go on.

♪ Beryl> In the few moments that we have remaining, I want to first, thank you all for joining us here tonight, but give you the opportunity to just very briefly tell me, where do we go from here in our quest to continue healing with grace?

Rev.

Rivers III> Polly Shepherd is a friend, one of the gifts of the killing.

We became friends and her story is coming out.

that'll be a gift because she has a great respect of where we go from here.

Polly Sheppard, spoke to the General Assembly, asked them to pass the hate crime bill.

They still haven't done it.

So if they want to close the gap between what they say and what they do.

Pass the bill.

Rev.

Risher> Where do we go from here?

We understand that we are our brothers' and sisters' keepers and everything we could do to help them thrive, help them to understand the history, that's what we must do.

Rev.

Thompson> We must continue on this having conversation, but more so than conversations.

We need to do actions, and it doesn't have to be in a group.

You can...individually.

You know, God has given us all gifts and, and our gifts became very evident at this time of this tragedy, whereas, no matter what happened to us in the past or what happened to us, the family members in that tragedy, you know, he's given us the ability through acts of forgiveness to continue to move forward in our lives, and we need to take advantage of that and not get concerned too much about the rhetoric about, you know, what's going on in the House, the White House, or whatever, because there's only one person in control who is sovereign, and that's God Almighty, Beryl> The benediction, Reverend Manning.

Rev.

Manning> So, as Polly has already graciously articulated we must continue to stand, right.

We must continue to persevere.

We must continue to show resilience.

Going right back as well to what Melvin said.

We must do our best to continue to tell the truth and to stop the lies.

And, as we all would agree, to remember, the Emanuel Nine and the Mother Emanuel Memorial Foundation will do just that.

So we are grateful.

Beryl> Thank you all for participating.

Thank you for watching.

And never forget the Mother Emanuel Massacre.

Good night.

(applause) (Pres.

Obama speaking at podium) Clementa Pinckney found that grace.

Cynthia Hurd found that grace.

Susie Jackson found that grace.

Ethel Lance found that grace.

Depayne Middleton Doctor found that grace.

Tywanza Sanders found that grace.

Daniel L. Simmons, Sr. found that grace.

Sharonda Coleman-Singleton found that grace.

Myra Thompson found that grace.

(church organ plays and audience cheers) Through the example of their lives, they've now passed it on to us.

May we find ourselves worthy, of that precious and extraordinary gift.

(church organ plays and audience cheers) As long as our lives endure, (church organ plays and audience cheers) may grace now lead them home.

(church organ plays and audience cheers) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪