“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” —Martin Luther King Jr.
It is such a rare act that most do not know how to respond, except in stunned silence. Relatives of the nine people murdered while attending a Bible study and prayer meeting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., told the accused killer they forgive him.
In recent days, African-American Christians from Charleston’s “Mother” Emanuel AME Church have radiantly modeled what it is to experience joyful Christian sorrow in the way they responded to the racially motivated murder of their pastor and eight other parishioners at a Bible study last Wednesday night.
“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” —C.S. Lewis
Sunday evening while participating in the Bridge to Peace event, my sister witnessed an act that encapsulates Charleston’s reaction to the brutal Emanuel AME Church murders. While an estimated 15,000 people held hands in unity across the Ravenel Bridge, a man stretched his hands toward heaven and declared at the top of his lungs, “This is how we riot in Charleston!”
Politics | A vocal group of young African Americans wants to change the face of conservatism
