Bells tolled across the city yesterday as thousands <g data-gr-id="20">linked</g> up on a towering bridge and a historic sanctuary reopened in displays of unity.
Residents repeated messages of solidarity, love and even defiance of evil at the remembrances, hopeful their expressions would drown out the hate embodied in the slayings at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Authorities say a white gunman was welcomed into a bible study last week at the historic black church before making racist remarks and shooting nine people to death.
“Because the doors of Mother Emanuel are open on this Sunday, it sends a message to every demon in hell and on earth,” said the Rev Norvel Goff, who led the first Sunday service since the killings at the church known as “Mother Emanuel” because it is one of the oldest black congregations in the South.
During the service, many stood some holding small children to shout their praises or raise their hands toward the church’s vaulted ceiling. For added security, police officers stood watch over worshippers.
Later on Sunday, thousands of people gathered on either side of the city’s iconic Arthur Ravenel Jr Bridge and marched across in a showing of solidarity and healing. Underneath the more than three-kilometer span with towering cable supports, dozens of boats gathered and blew their air horns in <g data-gr-id="26">support,</g> while cars honked as they passed on the bridge.
The bridge is named after a former state lawmaker and vocal supporter of the Confederate flag which represented the pro-slavery South during the American Civil War.
Obama in first prez podcast: US not cured of racism
President Barack Obama says the United States has not overcome its history of racism and is using the N-word to make his case.
In an interview, Obama weighed in on the debate over race and guns that has erupted after the arrest of a white man for the racially motivated shooting deaths of nine black church members in Charleston, South Carolina. “Racism, we are not cured of it,” Obama said. “And it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say nigger in public. That’s not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It’s not just a matter of overt discrimination.
Societies don’t, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior.” Obama’s remarks came during an interview out on Monday with comedian Marc Maron for his popular podcast, where <g data-gr-id="47">crude</g> language is often part of the discussion.