For the Black community of Charleston, South Carolina, and surrounding areas, the 10 years since the murder of the Emanuel 9 has been filled with pain, sorrow, healing and advocacy.
June 17 marked 10 years since White supremacist Dylann Roof walked into Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, sat in on the church’s Wednesday Bible study then fatally shot nine people, leaving five survivors.
Yet, with South Carolina remaining as one of two states without statewide hate crime legislation, advocates say very little has changed since then.
“It has been bittersweet. A lot of things that have happened have been positive and uplifting, and our family and the church family has received a lot of support from around the world,” Blondelle Gadsden, sister of Myra Thompson, one of the victims in the shooting, said to The Final Call.
“On the other side we’re still dealing with the judicial system and the process of the trial and the sentencing and then dealing with one appeal after another so that he could try to prolong his life after taking 9 lives.”
Mr. Roof, now 31, was convicted in federal court on 33 charges and sentenced to death. He pleaded guilty on state charges to avoid another death sentence and was sentenced to life without parole.
In April, two months before the 10th year commemoration, Mr. Roof’s defense team filed a motion to lift his death sentence penalty. The Supreme Court rejected a previous appeal in 2022.
“The wound is still fresh, like it just happened yesterday,” Elder James Johnson III, founder and CEO of the National Racial Justice Network, said to The Final Call.
Several community organizers criticized the city’s handling of the shooting and described its aftermath as a missed opportunity.
“Since it was handled in that fluffy, ‘we shall overcome manner,’ nobody really set up any sort of avenue to stop it. I mean, it could happen again tomorrow. There’s nothing really changed,” community organizer Shakem Akhet said to The Final Call.
Pastor Thomas Dixon, a community advocate, said Black people’s quality of life in the Charleston area could have been improved, but instead, the state did nothing but give token celebrations.
Mr. Johnson spoke about many of the issues still plaguing the Black community in Charleston and its neighboring city, North Charleston, including gentrification, poverty, the income gap and housing problems.
The church, family members of the victims and community organizers held commemoration events before, on and after June 17, including a prayer service, private get togethers for church members and family of the Emanuel 9 victims, a mental health session, a community dinner, a humanitarian awards gala, a community fair and a community forum and roundtable discussion.
The city of Charleston issued a proclamation declaring June 17 “Mother Emanuel Nine and Survivors Remembrance Day” in the city.
In a special message to street organizations who gathered in Charleston, Columbia and Greenville, S.C., in September 2015, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, shared words on the history of Mother Emanuel.
Denmark Vesey, “one of our great revolutionary heroes who decided that death was sweeter than slavery, and he organized a slave revolt against the wickedness and the tyranny of slavery, was a prominent member of the church,” he explained.
The church “was formed to give refuge to our people, and to teach our people the Word of God in a way that we would be comforted, that we would be united, that we would be strong as a people struggling for our liberation,” Minister Farrakhan said. “I think the young man, Dylann Roof, was acquainted with that history, and he wanted to make a statement, so he did.”
He described how there was “no real genuine sympathy for the 9 that were slaughtered,” as millions was raised for Mr. Roof’s legal defense. “The sentiment of the people that raised over $4 million in a short amount of time said they didn’t care that he killed a pastor, a member of the state legislature, and eight others,” Minister Farrakhan said.
Brother DeAndre Muhammad, student coordinator of the Nation of Islam’s Charleston Study Group, described feelings of heaviness still present and the desire for the affected families to have closure.
Present-day discussions about the 2015 massacre center around the hate crime bill, also called the Clementa C. Pinckney Hate Crimes Act, that has yet to pass in the state senate.
The bill, presented by State Rep. Wendell Gilliard, is named after one of the victims in the shooting, Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, who was a state senator and Mother Emanuel’s senior pastor.
Rep. Gilliard shared with The Final Call that the bill has not passed in the senate due to two senators who repeatedly voted against it. He said the law would encourage people to report hate crimes.
“For the past 9 years, the fight has been to pass this hate crime legislation that’s named after Reverend Clementa Pinckney, and we’re still in that fight and still having to struggle to get the support from the Senate,” Ms. Gadsden said.
Why is it taking so long for the bill to pass? “Racism,” she said. “I don’t think that South Carolina is ready to admit the racism that is so blatantly apparent in this state.”
Pastor Dixon argued that a hate crime bill would not be able to stop someone from committing a mass shooting, but having stiffer penalties in place may deter someone and cause them to think twice. He wants to see people put into office who would do right by the people of Charleston by implementing the bill and closing the “Charleston loophole.”
He explained that the “Charleston loophole” allows for a gun to be purchased if the results of a required background check does not come back within 3 days. Then, FBI Director James Comey released a statement in July 2015 saying that Mr. Roof should not have been allowed to purchase the gun he used in the shooting.
“Had the background check come back, the dealer would have known that he was ineligible to purchase that because he had a criminal offense not long before then and he couldn’t buy the gun,” Pastor Dixon said.
To prevent future massacres in the Black community, Mr. Akhet wants to see churchgoers protect their congregations by taking appropriate security measures. He used the Nation of Islam as an example. “The same thing that the Nation has been doing, people should do,”
He said. “We need to just tighten up a little bit to make sure this stuff doesn’t happen.” Mr. Akhet was referring to the security and safety measures enacted by the Nation of Islam at all of its public meetings and events.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan voiced on “The Ummah Reflects” podcast on April 21, 2023, that houses of worship should be protected. He referenced Surah 4, verse 102 of the Holy Qur’an, the book of scripture of the Muslims, which states that some pray while others watch.
“Every mosque, every masjid, every church, every synagogue, everywhere where God’s Name is honored must have a group that will protect the elderly and the young with their lives,” he said.
“Nobody should come to church anymore, or mosque anymore, or synagogue anymore, and not pass through something that will detect if you have something on your person that will create mischief in the house,” Minister Farrakhan stated.