Alana Simmons didn’t intend to speak to Dylann Roof at his bond hearing, two days after he shot and killed nine members of Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. But as others began to speak forgiveness, she felt the need to tell about the legacy of love her grandfather, Rev. Daniel Simmons, 74, left behind. The experience changed the direction of her life.

Now, a year after the June 17 massacre, Simmons heads a growing non-profit organization that promotes acts of forgiveness and gives voice to the message that love is stronger than hate.

My musical tastes do not include rap and hip-hop, but when Snoop Dogg comments on the Roots remake, saying he is tired of movies about slavery and would prefer a series “about the success that black folks are having,” he is singing my song.

While there is no question that slavery has left an indelible mark on the descendants of slaves and the nation (former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called it America’s “birth defect”), continuing to dwell on the subject does nothing to improve a single black life.

Although the South has made significant progress since the end of Jim Crow, and it is certainly light-years more advanced than it was during the time of slavery, it is still a mess when it comes to racial issues, with tensions between whites and blacks situated on a major fault line.

Major earthquake tremors are regularly felt at large state schools in the region. The latest was a lengthy sit-in last week at Clemson University in South Carolina, as students protested a series of racial incidents at the college. (Full disclosure: I’m a Clemson grad.)

“Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

We are so programmed by our history with race in America that reaction to the acquittal of George Zimmerman on charges of murdering Trayvon Martin depends largely upon one’s individual, even group experience.

If you are African-American, you might react like former Washington, D.C., homicide detective Rod Wheeler. Appearing on Fox News, Wheeler said many blacks look at quarterback Michael Vick, jailed for taking part in an illegal interstate dog-fighting ring, and wonder why Zimmerman gets away with killing a young black man.

What would it take for an overwhelming majority of Americans to say race relations are improving? According to a new Rasmussen telephone survey of 1,000 people, half of American adults think relations between the races are growing worse, up from 44 percent last year, and 20 percent think relations are getting better. Twenty-six percent believe race relations have stayed about the same, while 18 percent think rate race relations are good or excellent. We could use more of the “good or excellent” people.