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The first black president of the United States is coming to Charleston to eulogize the victims of a mass shooting at a historic African-American church — a tragedy that one civil rights activist said was a sign of "how far yet" the nation has to go to put racial tensions behind it.
Thousands of mourners are expected to gather Friday to hear President Barack Obama pay tribute to the pastor and eight parishioners of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. The nine were slain at the church during a Bible study session last week in what authorities are investigating as a racially motivated attack.
Friday's service for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was also a state senator, promises to be another wrenching but cathartic occasion for the community to say goodbye to the victims.
The first two funerals, for Ethel Lance and Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, were held Thursday, with tight security and emotional responses to the eulogies and hymns.
Attendees included South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Sharpton noted that on the day of the shootings, he was in Washington watching Loretta Lynch being sworn in as the nation's first black female attorney general. "That morning, I saw how far we have come," Sharpton said. "That night," after the shooting, "I saw how far yet we have to go."
Police officers stood guard and checked bags as mourners filed in for the funerals, which were held as the debate over the Confederate flag and other Old South symbols continued around the region. A growing number of leading politicians said Civil War symbols should be removed from places of honor, despite their integral role as elements of Southern identity.
"A hateful, disillusioned young man came into the church filled with hate ... and the reaction was love," Riley said at the funeral for Coleman-Singleton, 45. "He came in with symbols of division. The Confederate battle flag is coming down off our state Capitol."
Police plan to close several streets Friday around the TD Arena in downtown Charleston for Pinckney's funeral that is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.
Channel 9 reporter Blake Hanson traveled to Charleston Thursday and will continue to bring you live reports Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
