Charleston Church Shooting: 9 Dead At Historic Black Church

Last week, Nadine Collier stood up at the bond hearing for the man who’s accused of murdering her mother, Ethel Lance, and eight others at Emanuel AME Church on Wednesday, to say that she forgave him, that she hoped God had mercy on his soul.

On Thursday, Lance’s grandchildren continued to illustrate the family’s strength and love as five of them paid tribute to the woman they knew as “Granny” at her funeral service at Royal Missionary Baptist Church, a large sanctuary in North Charleston.

“She was a victim of hate, but she can be a symbol of love,” said Brandon Risher, the oldest of Lance’s grandchildren.

Aja Risher, a granddaughter, shared the same message, adding that she wants her grandmother to be remembered as a “catalyst for this country to change,” and not for being “one of nine victims, but that she is one of nine guardian angels ... watching over everybody.”

Najee Washington was the last grandchild to take the lectern. Her mother — Lance’s daughter Terrie Washington — died in 2013 of cancer, and Najee said she felt “pure joy” that her mother and grandmother were reunited in heaven.

“And I just want to say thank you, Granny, for keeping your promise to my mother before she died, and that was to get me through school,” she said. “Granny graduated high school. My mother graduated college. And now I have to graduate with a master’s.”

Lance, 70, was a mother of five, the matriarch of the family after her husband died in 1988. Described as a caretaker by nature, friends said she took pride in her work as a custodian at Emanuel AME Church, and at the Gaillard Municipal Auditorium, where she retired in 2002 after 34 years.

The venue played a special role in Lance’s life and in her family. It’s where she’d take her grandchildren to see gospel performances when she had a night off. It hosted her daughter Collier’s wedding reception in 2011.

Last week, Collier shared memories from that night, when her mother danced and celebrated with family, friends and former coworkers. “She loved to dance and she loved to sing,” she said.

As the family filed in to the church Thursday to view Lance’s remains, the choir sang “One Day at a Time,” Lance’s favorite song that she sang all the time to herself and to her church group. Collier said it “gave her strength” in difficult times.

During the eulogy, Rev. Norvell Goff, the interim pastor of Emanuel AME, described Lance as a “faithful friend” with an “infectious smile,” who dedicated her life to her family and the church.

“She was at the church seven days of the week. I believe if God gave her eight she would have been there eight days a week. ... Mother Emanuel was deep down in her spirit, her soul.”

Goff told the gathered crowd, which included civil rights leaders the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, that Lance was part of a greater purpose that was now “bringing folks together and not separating them,” he said, roaring with enthusiasm as applause thundered. “I am here to tell you that we are stronger because we are together as a community.”

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Sharonda Ann Coleman-Singleton was a mom so proud that she called a friend during a football game to proclaim, “My baby got a sack!” She was a coach so dedicated she spent hours with her students while her own children played their games. And she was a minister so devout that “she prayed until tears rolled down her cheeks.”

Coleman-Singleton, 45, was remembered Thursday before a full house at Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, little more than a week after she and eight others were shot during Bible study at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

Gov. Nikki Haley, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley and North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey were among about 2,000 mourners who attended the funeral. Civil rights leaders Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton spoke.

Coleman-Singleton, a native of Newark, N.J., was a minister at Emanuel AME, as well as a speech pathologist and girls’ track and field coach at Goose Creek High School, and the mother of three children. Her oldest son, Chris, plays baseball at Charleston Southern University.

Coleman-Singleton was “Tookie” to her sorority sisters and track teammates at South Carolina State University, where she was a championship-winning hurdler. She was the Rev. Singleton to the members of Emanuel AME, where she worked with youth and young adult ministries. And she was Coach Singleton at Goose Creek, where she’d worked since 2007.

“That’s what I always called her,” said Joe Hauff, the boys’ track coach at Goose Creek. “I’ll always remember how she touched the lives of her students, her kids as she always called them.”

Riley described Coleman-Singleton as a coach who “taught life lessons.”

“The thought that this woman won’t be a lifelong mentor to her students and children is heart-rending,” Riley said.

As a minister and Christian, Coleman-Singleton was always questioning, said the Rev. Steve Singleton, a family friend.

“Was Jesus left-handed? Was he really six feet tall?” She wanted to know,” the Rev. Singleton said.

Haley addressed Coleman-Singleton’s children — sons Chris and Caleb and daughter Camryn — by saying, “Your mother taught our country and our state what real love looks like.”

Haley also told the children, “You are not in this by yourself. The people of South Carolina, we’ve got you.”

Riley said Coleman-Singleton was one of those “special citizens that shape so positively the personality and character of their community.

“In each of her roles, everyone that she touched was changed, their personality changed,” Riley said. “That is passed on, and that’s how a community is changed.”

Jackson and Sharpton both drew a line between Coleman-Singleton and martyrs of the civil rights cause in America.

“She joins a crowd of great witnesses who by their innocent blood made this country better,” Jackson said.

Sharpton recalled the bombing of a Birmingham church in 1963.

“Four little girls from Birmingham need a coach,” Sharpton said. “Sharonda is on her way.”

Sharpton and Jackson both noted the role the deaths of the nine at Emanuel AME at the hands of an avowed racist might play, in Charleston and in America.

Said Jackson: “This can be a transforming moment; we must use this moment to reach higher ground and never go back.”

Sharpton said, “We saw the terror of those nine, but then we saw their families look hate in the face and say that hate won’t win.”

And Riley recalled the way Coleman-Singleton lived her final day on this Earth:

“On her last day,” Riley said, “she left home, went to church to pray and to study the Bible — and then she went to heaven.”

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Sharon Benjamin waited in line Thursday with thousands of strangers to see her cousin, Sen. Clementa Pinckney, for the very last time.

She scanned the crowd, wrapped all the way around Emanuel AME Church and down several streets, and said the gathering was a testament to the impact Pinckney, a reverend and pastor at the church, and eight others who were gunned down inside last week made.

“What was intended for evil has been turned into something good,” Benjamin said. “The importance of the sacrifice that has taken place with these lives will be long, long lived.”

She and her husband drove from Atlanta to attend the viewing downtown and be at Pinckney’s funeral Friday.

Benjamin remarked on the outpouring of love and support from the community, though it wasn’t surprising given the number of events since the mass shooting dedicated to showing love for one another and unity in Charleston.

“This is the result of their love,” she said of the victims. “That love was so strong that we don’t have any choice but to also love.”

She stood in line next to a couple from Mount Pleasant. Randy and Mary McWhorter had not known Pinckney personally but wished more than ever waiting to pay their respects that they had.

“I came to know him better through the vigil last week,” Randy McWhorter said. “(We came tonight) to share in the love and the peace and thanksgiving. We truly see this as a spiritual act; it’s as if we have some of God’s presence here.”

Sharon Benjamin called the McWhorters her new best friends and said it was another example of the good that came from such a tragedy.

“That just shows you how this thing is going to bloom, how it’s going to grow — new beginnings, new relationships,” she said, excitedly wrapping her arm around Mary McWhorter. “I really believe that (Pinckney) would have been happy to see what an impact his life made on the community.”

Sarah Seabrook of Goose Creek was overwhelmed at the number of people waiting to see the Ridgeland Democrat.

“I hope that this is an example for the rest of the world,” she said. “These people will definitely be missed in the community.”

She was somber as she described how she knew some of the victims and how she cried “for a whole week,” after their deaths, but said it helped to see the community support.

“You can tell everybody’s hurt, but everyone wants to be together,” she said.

Monica Jefferson of Charleston lined up at 2 p.m. for the 6 p.m. viewing to show her support. She was teary-eyed as she watched Pinckney’s casket, draped in red roses, carried up the stairs of his church.

“With a tragedy such as this, I think you have to come together as a city for unity and peace for those taken away from us,” she said.

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After nine days of shock, grief and moments of remarkable grace, the president and vice president of the United States are headed to Charleston to console a city and a nation still reeling from the shooting of nine people in a storied black church.

President Barack Obama will deliver the eulogy for the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, a friend and pastor at Emanuel AME Church who was among those gunned down on June 17.

Obama will be accompanied by his wife, Michelle, and Vice President Joe Biden, his wife, Jill, and a bipartisan group of federal lawmakers. The White House said the Obamas will speak to grieving family members during the visit.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is postponing a fundraiser in Philadelphia to attend the funeral services, Comcast Corp. executive David L. Cohen told the The Philadelphia Inquirer. Cohen was set to host Friday’s fundraiser.

The family of Walter Scott, a black man who was fatally shot by a white North Charleston police officer as he ran during a traffic stop in April, also will attend, according to their spokesman, Ryan Julison.

“The community supported them and Sen. Pinckney supported them and they want to support him and the community and the other victims in the same way,” he said.

Because of the outpouring of sorrow and support, Pinckney’s funeral will be held at the TD Arena at the College of Charleston. The arena is just 280 steps from the church’s front doors, a church that Obama described in the shooting’s aftermath as “a sacred place in the history of Charleston and in the history of America.”

The president is scheduled to arrive in Air Force One on Friday and take a motorcade to the arena. A tribute program is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., with the funeral service beginning at about 1:45 p.m., the White House said.

His visit comes amid yet another incident that exposed the country’s enduring racial divide.

President Barack Obama will deliver the eulogy for Pinckney on Friday in Charleston.

“Mother Emanuel is, in fact, more than a church,” Obama said in a news conference the day after the killings. “This is a place of worship that was founded by African-Americans seeking liberty. This is a church that was burned to the ground because its worshipers worked to end slavery.”

This visit also is personal. The Obamas knew Pinckney and have other friends in Emanuel AME Church. The president reportedly went to the church during the 2008 Democratic primary campaign. Biden also knew Pinckney and had seen him in February during a prayer breakfast in Columbia.

Obama will eulogize one of the state’s most prominent political and religious leaders. Pinckney was born in Beaufort and came from generations of ministers. He began preaching in his early teens. He was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1996 at 23, the youngest African-American to win a seat. Four years later, he was elected to the state Senate.

There, he developed a reputation as a gentle but powerful agent for change. He was a vocal supporter of legislation requiring police to wear body cameras, an issue that itself grew from racially charged incidents here and elsewhere across the country.

The impact of his death was felt Thursday night at Emanuel AME as thousands gathered to pay their respects at his viewing. The mourners watched as six men dressed in matching dark-brown suits carried the pastor’s casket up the stairs and into the church where he spent his final moments.

Scott Pickering of Atlanta said it was still difficult to comprehend what happened to his friend and former classmate. The two attended a Doctor of Ministry program at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.

“Clem was a bringer together,” Pickering said, his expression twisted with grief. “He had a beautiful, deep singing voice, he was a leader, he was sincere and he was extremely gifted.”
 
He called the gathering of people a beautiful sight.

“I think this just shows that we can’t face our fears, our turmoils, by ourselves — we need not only God, but one another,” he said. “The fear of tomorrow is easier to face when you know you aren’t facing it alone.”

Cindy Bohn Coats, chairwoman of the Charleston County School Board of Trustees, waited more than an hour to see her friend one last time. She said she worked with Pinckney often at the Statehouse on education issues.

“He treated me and Charleston County School District like we were one of the most important parts of his constituency,” she said, adding that the turnout was proof of his impact across the state. “This was a person that was respected, who cared and who affected our lives positively — so many of us.”

She and Clara Heinsohn, another Charleston County School District employee, called Pinckney’s death a great loss for everyone.

“There’s really only one person who I would have turned to in this tragedy, and it just breaks my heart that it was him,” Bohn Coats said. “Oh, I love that man.”

Pinckney was 41 years old and a father of two children as he led the Bible study class the night of June 17. At the end, the shooter reportedly stood and said “I have to do this,” and shot Pinckney first.

. . . Obama reportedly began working on his remarks early this week, along with lead speechwriter Cody Keenan. Obama is known to write major sections himself, especially when it comes to eulogies. Given the president’s recent comments about the nation’s racial divide, the president’s eulogy offers a chance to comfort grieving families and channel a nation’s frustration.

“This may be as consequential speech as he’ll ever give,” U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn told The Associated Press. “He will be speaking to the nation. This is not just about Charleston.”

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Hours before the repast for Sharonda Coleman Singleton’s funeral was scheduled to begin on Thursday afternoon, Cynthia Alston swept into the Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church kitchen, still wearing her churchgoing floral scarf and silver hat. Another volunteer quickly brought her up to speed: “These aren’t the caterers,” she said, motioning toward two white women carrying in pound cakes, pies, vegetable platters and foil-wrapped trays of macaroni-and-cheese.

The Singleton family earlier this week contacted RaGina Saunders’ family, owners of Scott’s Grand and operators of pay-what-you-can Destiny Café, about handling the meal for 400 mourners. The Saunders in turn recruited chef Kimberly Brock Brown to help prepare a buffet spread of fried chicken, baked chicken, chicken perloo, green beans, meatballs and cornbread.

And then Brown posted the assignment on Facebook, asking her friends for support. She received a cash donation from the Chicago chapter of the American Culinary Federation, which is connected to the area through a member who studied at Johnson & Wales’ Charleston campus. But mostly, people wanted to cook, because the motions of measuring and mixing felt restorative and meaningful after a horrific week.

“I didn’t know how I could help, I didn’t know how I could get involved,” said Franny Russell of the Middleton Place Foundation. She and Middleton Place Restaurant pastry chef Courtney Simpson showed up at Mt. Moriah with pans of sliced heirloom tomatoes from Middleton’s garden and mustard-sauced barbecue with rolls to match. “Our team rallied,” Russell said.

Desserts and salads came unbidden from North Charleston Baseball, and Les Dames d’Escoffier Charleston collected a carful of homemade dishes from members. Chick-Fil-A unexpectedly arrived with 200 sandwiches, five chicken nugget trays and sweet tea; the sandwiches were ultimately packed up in takeout boxes for the hearse drivers and far-flung relatives with long trips home.

“We just feel like a lot of people are giving money,” Rivers Avenue Chick-Fil-A store manager Zach Babbitt said. “We’re trying to help the family at a time like this by doing what we do best.”

Ortez Simmons of A Touch of Elegance and Wedding Décor outfitted the tables in bright pinks and greens, and constructed a balloon arch to match. Although Mt. Moriah regularly fills its dining room, serving 400 plates of shrimp-and-grits on Easter Sunday, Ortez said he’d never before arranged a room for so many people. He set a centerpiece that he described as “crystal with bling wrapping” on every table. Candles graced the table for Singleton’s family.

Before the funeral service ended, Alston joked about the difficulty of getting volunteers to help clean up. But there wasn’t much to put away at the end of the evening: All of the food -- anticipated and otherwise -- was eaten. Desserts were gone even before the buffet line opened.

“Food can heal a lot of things,” Brown said. “It just takes you mind off your worries.”

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CrazyPaul said:

Damn, there are two threads about the stupid flag. What's up with that? Two Threads!!!!! That means everyone who opposes the flag has to reply to both threads like I do. Honestly, this forum is out of control.

Anyway, here's a link...

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/25/opinions/rhea-confederate-flag-symbols/index.html

I really don't understand that you still don't get it.

Remember this idiot, Gov Wallace who worshiped this flag said that blacks were not allowed in this college because of this flag. Jesus Christ, when will you wake up?

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Reba said:

I was enjoying the funeral service for Rev. Pinckney until President Obama started making political statements as part of his eulogy.

The other parts of the service, the preaching, music, and testimonies about Pinckney's life, were a blessing.

At least he ended with Amazing Grace and some "shoutin'."

I love how the organist improvises and accompanies the preaching.

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Reba said:

I was enjoying the funeral service for Rev. Pinckney until President Obama started making political statements as part of his eulogy.

The other parts of the service, the preaching, music, and testimonies about Pinckney's life, were a blessing.

At least he ended with Amazing Grace and some "shoutin'."

I love how the organist improvises and accompanies the preaching.

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Jane B. said:

I did not follow the Pinckney service. But, from other things you have said I have gotten the impression that President Obama cannot say anything that you like regardless of what it is about. In other words just because he is the one that said it you do not like it.

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Reba said:

I was enjoying the funeral service for Rev. Pinckney until President Obama started making political statements as part of his eulogy.

The other parts of the service, the preaching, music, and testimonies about Pinckney's life, were a blessing.

At least he ended with Amazing Grace and some "shoutin'."

I love how the organist improvises and accompanies the preaching.

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Police had an eye on Roof for months before he shot dead nine African-American worshipers in cold blood on June 17. An officer arrested him on drug possession in late February.

During the bust, something bothered the officer. Roof had been asking suspicious questions at a shopping mall, The State reported: When does it close? And how many people work there?

The officer made note of the suspicious questions in a police report. Roof was released after the drug arrest on his own recognizance.

Then, on March 13, the same officer spotted Roof loitering in his car for hours at a public park. He was wearing all black, the police report said.

Because the officer was off-duty at the time, he alerted another to investigate. The second officer asked Roof if he could search the car. Roof complied. That's when the 40-round magazines turned up.

Roof also had a forearm for an AR-15 in his trunk. It allows a shooter to more easily keep a grip on the rifle, as the barrel grows fiery hot from the shots pouring out of it.

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Calvin said:

Some of the red flags:



More here: Charleston racist shooter Roof wanted an AR-15; had magazines, accessory

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The silver casket, with its enormous bouquet of pink and lavender flowers, rolled into place first. Pallbearers opened the top section and arranged the linens inside to permit family members to view Susie Jackson one last time before she was laid to rest forever.

The dark brown casket of Tywanza Sanders was positioned next to that of his beloved aunt.

Through the warm, humid sanctuary of Emanuel AME Church family members processed, pausing at the foot of the altar to bid farewell then take their seats. The Rev. Norvel Goff, interim past of Mother Emanuel and presiding elder of the AME Church’s Edisto District, read from the Psalms.

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

The Rev. Stephen Singleton offered an opening prayer for these two victims of a mass shooting at the church on July 17, and for their grieving families.

“Though they might have nightmares, give them sweet dreams.”

Jackson was remembered as a gentle, loving figurehead.

“She was a mother to so, so many, this matriarch of the Jackson family,” church member Carlotta Dennis remarked.

Jackson, who was 87 when she died, sang in the choir, was a member of the Woman’s Ministerial Society, attended Bible study regularly, was a trustee of the church and volunteered in myriad ways over her many years of constant faith and fidelity, Dennis said. She gave generously, to her church, to her family, even to strangers.

Jackson was deeply rooted in Charleston. She lived in an old single house within walking distance of her church. She attended Buist Elementary School and Burke High School and worked as a beautician and home health care provider. She was always thinking of others, her family said.

Her grandson Walter Jackson Jr. spoke of God’s call and his grandmother’s readiness to heed it.

“For all those who knew Susie Jackson, ‘no’ wasn’t really in her vocabulary,” he said. “I have a feeling God called on her: ‘I’ve got a mission for you Susie Jackson!” That mission surely left behind mourning friends and family, including eight grandchildren, but it was for a purpose “bigger than life,” Walter Jackson said. It was to call her higher and to inspire a nation.

Mourners entered the church dampened by a burst of heavy rain and waited nearly an hour for the service to begin. Many who could not secure a seat in the pews of Mother Emanuel were directed to Second Presbyterian Church, which was equipped for an overflow crowd.

The service included unprogrammed remarks by Mayor Joe Riley and Gov. Nikki Haley, as well as a prayer by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. It drew to a close with the climactic singing of a gospel song, “I Can’t Give Up Now,” by Minister Jarell Smalls, who brought the church to its feet.

The song was followed by yet another inspirational sermon by Goff, who has presided over all of the funerals.

“I’ve just got a quick news-breaking announcement,” he said at one point. “Every demon in Hell is mad right now!” Mad because a full church was celebrating the lives of exemplary Christians. “My heart is still broken but I feel that mending is taking place.”

People, he said, have come together.

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Cynthia Hurd’s love of books couldn’t be limited to a single library, and her “homegoing service” couldn’t be contained in a single church.

Hundreds of mourners showed up Saturday morning for the funeral of the Charleston County librarian, as the city, state and nation continue to grieve for her and the eight other lives lost in the June 17 shooting inside Emanuel AME Church.

Mother Emanuel filled quickly with mourners, and about 200 people unable to get in watched via a video feed from inside the nearby Second Presbyterian Church.

Assistant Democratic Leader U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, said he is a longtime friend of Hurd’s brother, former North Carolina Sen. Michael Graham, and one of his daughters considered Hurd her best friend, “This is a family that makes us all proud,” Clyburn said.

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said there will be a monument placed at Emanuel AME Church just as there was on the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, where four black girls were killed in a 1963 bombing.

“What happened on the first floor of this church a little more than a week ago is now part of our history books, just as the Birmingham bombing,” he said, “but the consciousness of our country has changed so much in 50 years. ... The hateful act in this church shook America that didn’t want to believe or couldn’t believe that this kind of hate could still exist in our country.”

Riley, who first met Hurd when she worked serving ice cream at Swenson’s in Charleston, said Hurd’s public service, which also included service on the Charleston Housing Authority board, enhanced the lives of tens of thousands of people.

“And in the manner of her tragic death, leading to our country’s revulsion, her death will lead to change — and Cynthia Hurd will be helping millions,” he said.

Other speakers struck a lighter note.

Charleston County Library Director Douglas Henderson said Hurd was so powerful, “she could lift you with her smile,” and Housing Authority CEO Don Cameron told jokes about his visit to London with Hurd a few years ago for a tenant’s conference. He said they worshipped together inside Westminster Abbey, and Hurd found the service “a bit staid.”

Hurd, 54, worked with the county’s libraries for 31 years, managing the John L. Dart Branch, then the St. Andrews Regional branch, which is being renamed in her honor. She also worked at the College of Charleston’s libraries, and the college is naming a scholarship to honor her.

Gov. Nikki Haley said she didn’t know Hurd but has come to admire her for her love of books and outspoken nature — and for part of her email signature that said, “Be kinder than necessary.”

“That’s what I will take with me,” Haley said. “That’s an amazingly powerful phrase.”

Haley also said she was sorry this happened on her watch, “but we will make this right. We will make this right.”

Graham, Hurd’s brother, highlighted several lessons from a book his sister Cynthia gave him when he became a parent.

“She was my friend and confidant, my advisor, my conscience,” he said. “She didn’t have any kids, but she adopted everybody’s kids.”

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Tywanza Sanders was shot protecting his mother. As he died he reached to help Susie Jackson.

“You don’t have to do this,” he told the man who pulled a gun on the Bible study at Emanuel AME Church. “We are no harm to you.”

Tywanza Kibwe Diop Sanders, 26, was hailed as a hero Saturday at a funeral service for him and his relative Susie Jackson, 87, in the sanctuary. So many members of the large extended family were there that church leaders had to ask mourners to give up seats so that immediate family could be seated.

Felicia Sanders, his mother, who was at the Bible study but not shot, had to be helped to her pew. She paused to gaze at her son but could not bear it for long. She lingered, gazing at Jackson, then leaned over to kiss her forehead.

Sanders was remembered for a “majestic and contagious smile few people have.” He was remembered for his entrepreneurship, as one of those people that always seemed to have a lot of things going at once. He loved his mother so much he tattooed her name across his chest as she fought cancer. When she told him that no woman would marry him with her name across his chest, he told her, “Well, that will be their loss.”

He was remembered for his artistry. A poem of his was read that spoke of social conscience and ended, “divided by color/So we are all trying to be equal.” It was titled “Tragedy.”

Mourners kept coming back to Sanders’ last moments. The family’s remembrance of him in the program said his last words were, “Where is my Aunt Susie. I’ve got to get to my Aunt Susie” as he reached for her.

When he was a young child, Shirrene Goss said to the mourners, her much younger brother told her he was afraid of the flush of the toilet. She apologized for the nature of that recollection in the circumstances, but said, “And look what he did last week. He wasn’t afraid of anything.”

Sanders would tell Goss he couldn’t wait to do all the things he wanted to do, and when he succeeded, he would take care of her, she said. “He wanted to take care of everybody.” She told the mourners that when she heard of the shooting, all she could think was, “My ’Wanza, My ’Wanza.” But looking out at everyone in the church, she realized she should be saying, “Our ’Wanza.”

Laqueta Kelly drove from Greenville to be there for the former Allen University schoolmate and friend whom she met while crying on the campus one day. He came up to her, asked her what was wrong, rubbed her head and told her everything was going to be all right.

“He inspired a lot of people,” Kelly said. “He inspired me.”

The Gospel reading was the reading of the Bible study that night, Mark’s parable about a farmer casting bad and good seed. Gov. Nikki Haley told the family their lost loved ones taught South Carolina and the country how to love, the family themselves taught South Carolina and the nation how to forgive.

Sanders’ first cousin, Tonetta Scott, when she finished speaking, asked, “Keep my family in your prayers.”

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A month after enduring his own tragedy, Vice President Joe Biden stood at the front of Emanuel AME Church and spoke from the heart to a full house.

Dressed in a black suit and purple tie, Biden said he and the late Rev. Clementa Pinckney had been at a prayer breakfast at the church not long ago. Pinckney was among nine people gunned down June 17 in the basement of the place of worship during a Bible study.

Biden’s attendance, along with his son and daughter-in-law Hunter and Kathleen, was meant to be a show of solidarity, he said, but it also was an effort to lift him and his family up during their time of grief.

“The reason we came was to draw strength from all of you, draw some strength from the church,” he said, noting that he had spoken and or met with each of the nine victim’s families since their losses. “I wish I could say something that would ease the pains of the families and of the church. But I know from experience, and I was reminded of it again 29 days ago, that no words can mend a broken heart. No music can fill the gaping void.”

Biden’s son died May 30 of brain cancer. Biden said only faith could bring relief during such difficult times.

“And sometimes, as all preachers in here know, sometimes even faith leaves you just for a second,” Biden said. “Sometimes you doubt. And that’s why I pray in the tradition of my faith. ... There’s a famous expression that says faith sees best in the dark, and for the nine families, this is a very dark, dark time.”

Biden read from Psalms 36:5-7.

“Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.

Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep.

You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.

How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!

People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”

He said he took comfort in those words.

“I pray, I pray that the families will find refuge in the shadow of his wings, and I pray that the love that all of you have shown to them, and people around the country to me, will help mend the broken hearts of their families and mine,” Biden said.

The congregation stood in applause as Biden went back to his seat.

“It was a blessing,” said Lavern Smith of his remarks. “It’s a powerful message.”

Smith attended the church for the first time Sunday with friend and lifelong member, Courtney White, who said she was encouraged by Biden’s words.

“It was a message for everybody,” White said. “We should all be as one during this time.”

Amahl Bennett was born and raised in Emanuel AME. He currently lives in Rock Hill, but his mother is an officer of the church and he attended Sunday’s service.

“I thought it was a very moving, very touching service,” he said. “I think (Biden’s) words came from a very moving place. You could feel his spirit.”

Bennett said it meant a lot to the church that Biden came for fellowship after his hardship.

Biden sang hand in hand with the congregation, “We Shall Overcome.” He also watched as interim pastor, the Rev. Norvel Goff, delivered his sermon and a young man gave himself to Jesus Christ during an altar call. Biden wore an “Emanuel 9” ribbon on his blazer just underneath an American flag pin.

Mayor Joe Riley also attended the service Sunday and later sat with the vice president.

“His heart was broken by this tragedy,” Riley said, adding that he was not surprised by his visit to the church. “It’s just the type of vice president that he is.”

After the service, Riley said he took Biden to Pinckney’s office. He described the space as “modest,” with just a few pictures, but one that is prominently displayed is of Pinckney posing with Biden.

“I just wanted the vice president to know,” he said of showing him the photo. “I think his heart was warm. I think he was proud.”

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