Lessons from Mother Emanuel AME Church

Authors of 'We Are Charleston' address DIHS audience

In June of 2015, a shooting rampage by a lone white gunman left nine dead at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston - and a community consumed with despair and disbelief.

How can healing begin after such an unspeakable act of violence? What can tragedy teach us about ourselves? What role does history play in helping us understand the lessons of the past? The authors of the book “We Are Charleston: Tragedy and Triumph at Mother Emanuel” attempted to answer those questions, while capturing the true spirit of the city in the days, weeks and months after that fateful day.

Journalist, writer and editor Herb Frazier; College of Charleston professor and historian Dr. Bernard Powers, Jr.; and South Carolina Poet Laureate Marjory Wentworth worked tirelessly to tell one of Charleston’s most important narratives.

“Using the tools of the investigative reporter to find the central stories, the historian’s grasp of the past as context, and the poet’s ability to plumb the depths of the human condition, we began this new project together,” wrote the authors, in the book’s introduction.

On November 15, Dr. Powers and Ms. Wentworth shared the story behind their 220 page account at a special program hosted by the Daniel Island Historical Society at Church of the Holy Cross on Daniel Island.

Wentworth, who was first to address the audience, spoke about how the idea for the book was born. The day after the shooting, she received a call from a reporter at the Post and Courier, who asked if she could write a poem that would pay tribute to the Mother Emanuel victims. Wentworth couldn’t help but feel the heavy weight of the request. The poem was to run in the paper’s Sunday edition and she had just a little over a day to complete it.

“I think the hardest thing I ever had to do was write that poem,” said Wentworth. “…I thought about what we needed, on a Sunday, and I thought we needed a prayer.”

Wentworth began to reflect on a quote from the Rev. Clemente Pinckney, one of the nine church members who lost their lives in the shooting - “Only love can conquer hate” - and the words began to flow.

“Let us gather and be silent together like stones glittering in sunlight, so bright it hurts our eyes, emptied of tears, and searching the sky for answers.

Let us be strangers together as we gather in circles wherever we need to stand, hand-in-hand, and sing hymns to the heavens and pray to the fallen.

And speak their names: Clementa, Cynthia, Tywanza, Ethel, Sharonda, Daniel, Myra, Suzie, and DePayne.

They are not alone. As bells in the spires calls across the wounded Charleston sky, we close our eyes and listen to the same stillness ringing in our hearts, holding on to one another, like brothers, like sisters, because we know that wherever there is love, there is God.”

The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) recorded Wentworth reading the poem and broadcast it all over the world. It wasn’t long before publishers and agents came calling. Soon, a friend suggested she consider writing a book about the tragedy. Wentworth contacted Frazier, a former member of Mother Emanuel Church, and he agreed to help with the project. Frazier then reached out to Powers, who is well versed on the history of the AME Church both locally and nationally. They had a tight timeline to complete the book - get it to the publisher by December of 2015 and have it released by the anniversary of the shooting six months later.

“There were many times and points during the project where things could have gone awry,” said Powers. “But we really came together, and we set our egos at the door…Now we are even closer as personal friends than we were at the outset.”

They divided the project into thirds and each wrote different chapters - sharing insights and constructive criticism with each other along the way.

“I think that made it better - and stronger,” said Powers.

Wentworth and Frazier conducted most of the interviews, talking with victims’ family members and others close to the church.

“Part of our goal was to bring these people to life,” said Wentworth. “Some of the details were amazing…We also felt very humbled by the responsibility, and wanted to honor these people in the best possible way. But it was just an enormous responsibility.”

In his chapters, Powers focused on the AME church’s long and storied past.

“History is the spine that holds the book together,” he added. “…While history is important, we don’t just present a linear history, we integrate the present with the past to create a livelier story…Our lives in the present intersect with the past.”

One of the themes that defines the Mother Emanuel tragedy is not necessarily the heinous act of violence that took place in a Bible study that warm summer evening, but what happened afterwards. As the nation and the world watched, Charleston came together, led by the example of forgiveness expressed by several of the victims’ family members at the bond hearing for gunman Dylann Roof. It was an unexpected turn of events - and it had a significant impact.

“It came out of nowhere and I think it astonished everyone,” said Wentworth. “…Forgiveness is not absolution. But it takes power away from that person.”

A member of the audience asked Wentworth how the family members were able to forgive.

“It starts with the people in the room that night,” she responded. “They were at a Bible study because they were strengthening their relationship with God. Their faith permeated their lives.”

All in all, the authors knew they didn’t want the book to be about Roof.

“This is not his story,” said Wentworth. “Once we started telling the stories of the people, he didn’t belong in the book any more. So that was a conscious decision.”

Forgiveness, she added, was “the biggest piece” of the story.

“In Charleston, we’ve shown a different way to handle things,” said Wentworth. “It’s a different, transformative period. The families have been extraordinary…If you can forgive in those circumstances, I think you have freedom in your soul.”

“Look at the way they have responded,” added Powers, of the Mother Emanuel Church and its members. “It is a triumphant story. We hope the congregation will continue to rise.”

For more information about the book, visit www.wearecharleston.net.

Daniel Island Publishing

225 Seven Farms Drive
Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

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