Arthur Hurd, husband of Emanuel Church shooting victim Cynthia Hurd, sits beside a portrait of his wife at his home in Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. June 15, 2016.
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South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley told The Greenville News that the Charleston community came together after the shooting, saying that “it was love and forgiveness and grace and strength that I am so proud to have witnessed in my lifetime”.
Many mourners have traveled to the historical black church in the past year, commonly known as Mother Emanuel, to pray and pay tribute to those killed on that terrible day.
President Barack Obama had eulogized the victims of the rampage at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, including its slain minister and state Senator Clementa Pinckney, in the same arena previous year. The group also called for churches nationwide to join in the work of racial unity.
After the service, Crites said she hoped the service was meaningful and as ecumenically “broad as God is”.
“It’s a shared responsibility”, Clark said. She recalled how they welcomed Roof and prayed with him for an hour before they were killed. State and federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in his case.
But after the shooting, she said vigils all around SC were full after shooting, not protests. She said the state remains great.
Passersby stop to look at memorials placed in front of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., Thursday, June 16, 2016.
On Sunday, when I learned that 49 people were killed at a gay nightclub in Orlando, and 53 more were injured, making it the largest mass shooting in modern US history, I turned off the news and stopped looking at social media. The hateful rhetoric we hear every day on television, on radio, from our elected officials, and even in presidential campaigns fuels and exacerbates the climate of hate that moves terrorists to take so many lives.
Tecklenburg called for a deeper commitment to move forward.
Daniel said he met with Pinckney on June 17, 2015 in Columbia hours before Pinckney traveled to Charleston to Mother Emanuel AME Church, where he served as pastor.
After photos of shooter Dylann Roof posing alongside the confederate flag surfaced, it prompted a state and national initiative to remove the flag from government properties, including the SC statehouse.
“I know the result of people coming and showing their love”, said Betty Deas Clark, the pastor of Emanuel AME Church. He said he visited Charleston after last year’s shooting and that he was shocked by the nightclub massacre in Orlando.
She urged the state to remember both families of victims and the survivors and to be better people.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley showed the programs from nine funeral she has kept since last summer, and spoke about faith and each victim. “The people in Charleston, I wish they could’ve seen it”, said Tyson.
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He remembers hearing the news here, one year ago. “I think it asked the question, ‘What have we come to?'” Tim Scott were scheduled to give remarks at the service. “I feel like this just happened yesterday”.
