Remembering Rev. Clementa Pickney And 8 Others– The Trial of Their Murderer Has Began

Dec 7

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Dear Friends,

rev_pinckney_homepageTrial started today for the man who murdered 9 Black people in the Emanuel AME Church on June 17, 2015.  I’m currently working in getting details about today’s hearings so we can  follow the trial.

President Barack Obama delivered the eulogy for the Reverend Clementa Pickney who was among the dead.  Rev. Pickney was also a State Senator.  He was 41-years old.

Below is the video of the full eulogy.  Listening to it gives us an answer as to why Dylann Roof, an avowed White supremacist, selected that church to carry out the murders.

 

Posted on 12/07/2016, in Emmanuel 9 and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 18 Comments.

  1. Mr. Militant Negro | 12/07/2016 at 11:37 pm

    Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.

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  2. davebarclay1954 | 12/07/2016 at 11:57 pm

    Can’t in all honesty like this post, this shows the racism still rampant through our society and it’s never justified. We are all the same regardless of sex, skin colour, sexual preference. We have to keep chipping away at the racist, sexist and misogynistic minority until prejudice becomes a thing of the past. No one is born prejudiced, they are taught prejudice from an early age. Let’s break that cycle now and join together to condemn (not people) the reasoning behind prejudice so we can truly move forward as people who respect life and each other.

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    • Xena | 12/08/2016 at 2:26 am

      Dave,
      Re:

      “Let’s break that cycle now and join together to condemn (not people) the reasoning behind prejudice so we can truly move forward as people who respect life and each other.”

      Amen. What in your opinion, is the reasoning behind racial prejudice? Is it ignorance, hate, both or more?

      Liked by 3 people

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      • mindyme62 | 12/08/2016 at 4:26 am

        I know the question isn’t directed to me but I believe racism stems from fear. Fear of retribution. And the desperate wish some people have to ‘be better’ than someone else. Anyone else.

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        • Xena | 12/08/2016 at 6:42 am

          Mindyme,
          We are looking for answers, and the more people who discuss this issue, the better. Thanks for your comment. I’ve thought about the concept of enslaving people of different languages and different cultures from another continent. Everything was strange for them, so convincing them that they were not intelligent and could neither learn must have been fairly easy. That must have been the beginning of the concept that those of African descent are not as “good” as those of European descent.

          America now seems to take the fear and project it towards Muslims who are identified by their clothing. There have been Muslims in this country for as long as I can remember, but they assimilated or were American converts.

          The ideology that some people are better are others because of their color of their skin is something I’ve never understood. The needs of mankind does not discriminate. Hunger, rest, sickness, diseases, and even death does not discriminate.

          Liked by 2 people

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        • yahtzeebutterfly | 12/08/2016 at 7:34 am

          Did you see this student putting a White Supremacist in his place?

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      • davebarclay1954 | 12/08/2016 at 11:42 pm

        It’s a mix of ignorance and fear, that breeds the hate. If we can show the new generation there is nothing to fear then maybe we can turn things around. It’s a big ask but together we can make a start. I love the differences between people, diversity breeds success. As a species we have a long way to go but look how far we have already come!

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        • Xena | 12/09/2016 at 11:33 am

          Dave,
          Your words are encouraging.

          Liked by 3 people

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          • davebarclay1954 | 12/10/2016 at 2:45 am

            Thank you, as a white male I grew up with prejudiced uncles but my mum was the rock guiding me to see we are all the same. Sex, skin colour, faith make no difference. We all bleed red if cut, women are amazing are they not? They can take a young man and shape him to question everything, accept nothing at face value and become a human being worthy of the name.

            Liked by 1 person

          • Xena | 12/10/2016 at 2:33 pm

            Dave,
            Your mom sounds like a great person. I always thought that women could find more in common with each other, and overcome whatever racial prejudices and bigotries there are. It does appear that there are women who do not fit that perception and they are very ugly inside. I also think that when women become mothers, they begin understanding how all people are the same, and no one chose what to look like. Their child is the most important thing in their life. From learning to raise and educate, to getting health care, they want the best for their child, and that doesn’t leave room nor time to pick and choose based on the color of a helper’s skin.

            Thanks so much for spurring these thoughts.

            Liked by 2 people

  3. yahtzeebutterfly | 12/08/2016 at 8:07 am

    Xena, I listened again to President Obama’s eulogy that you posted and agree with you that

    “Listening to it gives us an answer as to why Dylann Roof, an avowed White supremacist, selected that church to carry out the murders.”

    Excerpt from his eulogy:

    “Friends of his remarked this week that when Clementa Pinckney entered a room, it was like the future arrived; that even from a young age, folks knew he was special. Anointed. He was the progeny of a long line of the faithful — a family of preachers who spread God’s word, a family of protesters who sowed change to expand voting rights and desegregate the South. Clem heard their instruction, and he did not forsake their teaching.

    “He was in the pulpit by 13, pastor by 18, public servant by 23. He did not exhibit any of the cockiness of youth, nor youth’s insecurities; instead, he set an example worthy of his position, wise beyond his years, in his speech, in his conduct, in his love, faith, and purity.

    “As a senator, he represented a sprawling swath of the Lowcountry, a place that has long been one of the most neglected in America. A place still wracked by poverty and inadequate schools; a place where children can still go hungry and the sick can go without treatment. A place that needed somebody like Clem.

    “His position in the minority party meant the odds of winning more resources for his constituents were often long. His calls for greater equity were too often unheeded, the votes he cast were sometimes lonely. But he never gave up. He stayed true to his convictions. He would not grow discouraged. After a full day at the capitol, he’d climb into his car and head to the church to draw sustenance from his family, from his ministry, from the community that loved and needed him. There he would fortify his faith, and imagine what might be…

    “Clem was often asked why he chose to be a pastor and a public servant. But the person who asked probably didn’t know the history of the AME church. As our brothers and sisters in the AME church know, we don’t make those distinctions. “Our calling,” Clem once said, “is not just within the walls of the congregation, but…the life and community in which our congregation resides.”
    Full transcript can be found here:
    https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/06/26/remarks-president-eulogy-honorable-reverend-clementa-pinckney

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  4. Pat Hartman | 12/08/2016 at 8:13 am

    Since I believe in reincarnation, it would be ridiculous to have bad feelings toward any group, because maybe in a former lifetime, I belonged to that group.
    Likewise it would be insane to make life more miserable for any group, because next time around, I might be one of them!
    Even if I didn’t care about being a good person or treating other people well, sheer naked self-interest is enough to keep me from wanting to worsen the condition of any group that I might, in my next life, be born into.

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    • Xena | 12/08/2016 at 3:55 pm

      Hey Pat! Yes! Even without believing in reincarnation, there’s a law in the universe that goes along it. I believe in that law. It’s reaping and sowing. Some call it karma. There are folks who go about planting evil in their garden of life and that is all they have to harvest. When they find themselves in a position of needing compassion, love, forgiveness, etc., and go into their garden, they find they have not planted those things so there is none in their garden.

      Thanks for your comment.

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  5. yahtzeebutterfly | 12/08/2016 at 12:32 pm

    Dr. William Barber wrote on the individuals with the families of the Emanuel Nine who chose to forgive:

    “The perpetrator has been caught, but the killer is still at large: the deep well of American racism and white supremacy that Dylann Roof drank from. These families are challenging the schizophrenia of American morality, which allows political leaders to condemn the crime but embrace the policies that are its genesis.

    “These brave family members are telling America that you cannot focus only on Dylann Roof and absolve the nation of its historic sickness. In a profound way, they are saying that giving the killer the death penalty is not going to fix what ails us. Arresting one disturbed young man will not bring “closure” or “healing” to a society that is still sick with the sins of racism and inequality, where too many perpetuate the slow violence of undermining the promise of equal protection under the law, which preachers like Denmark Vessey, Martin Luther King, and Clementa Pickney fought for.”

    (Excerpt from Rev. Barber’s June 24, 2015 article at https://www.thenation.com/article/justice-after-charleston/ )

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