Mother Emanuel AME Church held an Ecumenical Service Tuesday, June 17, in remembrance of the congregation members who were killed in a horrific targeted mass shooting 10 years ago.
White supremacist and neo-Nazi Dylann Roof carried out a mass shooting at Mother Emanuel, located in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine members of the historic church, Live 5 News reports.
Among the victims were the church’s pastor and state senator, Rev. Clementa Pinckney, 41; Susie Jackson, 87; and Rev. Daniel Simmons, 74.
Rev. Eric S. C. Manning led the service, which included testimonies from a survivor of a Jewish mass shooting, children of two of the Emanuel 9 victims, and a Hebrew prayer. Chris Singleton, son of victim Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, shared how he vowed to his mother to live his life as the complete opposite of her killer.
He encouraged love in the room when he asked the crowd to hug someone who looked completely different from them. People of all races, ethnicities, and backgrounds embraced each other, with some fighting back tears.
“I’m hopeful that we can teach love and remind people that we didn’t choose our skin color, we didn’t choose our first language, we didn’t choose where we were born or who we were born to,” Singleton said. “So, I would never hate you for those things, and hopefully you never hate me for them just as well.”
U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and his wife, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt, also delivered remarks.
“We know hate is dangerous,” Kelly said. “But hate with a gun in his hand is deadly.”
The service featured discussions on gun violence, the urgent need for gun control and reform, and ending targeted attacks against communities, including Black, Jewish, and Latino groups.
“Thank you for your pledge that never again will we allow any of these atrocities to take place in our city,” Manning said. “It’s going to require work. But how many of us are ready to do good work?”
The church will hold additional events this week to honor the memory of the Emanuel 9 victims and foster community building.
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