The White House announced Monday that President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will attend funeral services Friday for the pastor of Emanuel AME Church, underscoring how deeply the nation has been seared by the slaughter of nine members of the historic black church by a white gunman looking to start a race war.
Obama will deliver the eulogy for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was “Mother Emanuel’s” pastor and a South Carolina state senator.
The president’s presence was expected. But Biden’s attendance adds emotional heft, as he just went through his own son’s heart-wrenching funeral.
“This is a time and place in history that I never thought I would see,” said Keesha Butler, a 20-year-old junior at Morris College in Sumter, S.C., who attended a vigil Saturday outside Mother Emanuel. “It is mind-blowing that hate crimes of this nature can still go on in America. All I can see is this is praying time.”
Also on Saturday, outside the church were people still gather to mourn the “Emanuel Nine,” Jarod White carried a tribute to his friend, homeboy and brother Tywanza Sanders. It was a simple white cross with “Tywanza C Phi C” scrawled across it in black.
Sanders, who at 26 was the youngest of the nine victims, graduated from Allen University in 2014. And while there, he quickly linked up with his fellow Charlestonians at all of the region’s historically black colleges and universities and joined Chuck Phi Chuck.
“Chuck” is slang for Charleston.
“My immediate reaction when I heard about Tywanza was heartbreak,” White said. “How could somebody so young die so soon?”
About a dozen members, dressed in black and white, came Saturday to honor their fallen brother.
“After the initial word of the shooting and the names starting coming out, I was one of the first to find out that Tywanza had been killed,” said Antonio Fokes, who attended Benedict College. “I was in total disbelief to know that someone would come into a church and murder people. We took this very seriously.”
Allen University President Lady June Cole called Sanders, who had a degree in business administration, “a well-known student who was committed to his education.”
Nearly a week since Dylann Roof killed nine church members in what Charleston police are calling a hate crime, the victims’ loved ones are figuring out how and when to bury their dead.
Chris Singleton, a baseball player at Charleston Southern University, tweeted Sunday night that his mother, the Rev. Sharonda A. Coleman-Singleton, will be laid to rest at noon Thursday at Emanuel.
The Rev. Norvel Goff Sr., presiding elder of the Edisto District of the AME Church, said he will not release details about the remaining seven victims until family members finalize arrangements. It is still unclear whether all the funerals will be held at Mother Emanuel.
“Many hearts are broken and tears are being shed,” Goff said. “But through it all, we are reminded that we serve God. We still have nine bodies to bury. … Now is the time for us to focus on nine families.”
Throughout the weekend, growing and diverse crowds of mourners made pilgrimages to the church to pay their respects to the Emanuel Nine. On Sunday night, thousands lined the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, which links Mount Pleasant to Charleston over the Cooper River, for a “Bridge to Peace” walk.
“I want to be in the presence of history, and I feel like I need to be here as a man and an African-American,” said DaVante Theinse, a 20-year-old junior at Morris College. “Every single African-American should be here. I never thought in my life I would ever see such a heinous crime perpetrated against black people — in a church.”
Theinse was one of several young, black college students who are trying to find meaning in the shootings, which come on the heels of a deadly season that has seen many high-profile killings of black people, particularly young black men.
Members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity from across South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina converged onto Charleston, bringing tons of bottles of water to hand out to mourners in front of Mother Emanuel. At one point Friday night, the brothers led thousands of people in hymn and prayer.
“We saw the need to respond to the people,” said Aaron Bishop, who graduated from Savannah State University. “This takes us back to the foundation of our fraternity. We were organized by a group of people who dreamed of a better tomorrow. Lifting as we climb.”
Several of the victims, including Pinckney, who was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, were in black Greek letter organizations.
Myra Singleton Thompson, who had just received her ministry license Wednesday night, was a member of Delta Sigma Theta. Cynthia Graham Hurd and Sharonda A. Coleman-Singleton both pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha in Atlanta.
“I am here to pay respects to all of the victims, but especially to Sharonda and Cynthia,” said Brianna Blair, a recent graduate of the University of South Carolina at Aiken, who wore a pink and green T-shirt, the colors of Alpha Kappa Alpha. “Even though I didn’t know them personally, I knew them through the sorority.”
Shekira Levins, who recently moved back to Charleston from Marietta, carried a cardboard sign reading “#veseytaughtus.”
Denmark Vesey was a former Charleston slave who purchased his freedom in 1799. In 1818 he co-founded Emanuel AME, and four years later he was executed for attempting to lead a slave revolt.
“This is in reference to understanding our plight and learning about our history and culture,” Levins said. “And preserving it.”
Her friend, Sara Daise, carried a sign quoting Maya Angelou.
“I created a sign that was affirming,” Daise said. “We are here because they kept going.”
Daise works as an interpretive guide at the McLeod Plantation, a 37-acre museum on the outskirts of Charleston that focuses on the lives of slaves owned by middle-class farmers. The site features several intact slave cabins.
“Sometimes the experience can be very overwhelming,” Daise said. “But when the makeup of this city is racism and white supremacy, (the church shooting) is a direct link to the past.”
AJC staff writer Daniel Malloy contributed to this article.
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