From pain and shame to grace and courage in South Carolina

Over the last few months, the conversation of race in America has in many ways dominated mainstream media. From the protests and grand jury decisions in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore to the smartphone videos of the inhumane and deadly treatment of Eric Garner, Walter Scott and Freddie Gray, these brutal examples of the interaction between police and young black males have sparked a growing movement with a generation wedded to social media, connected by a hashtag that black lives matter.

Yet on the evening of June 17, the conversation changed dramatically as nine parishioners attending Bible study at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, lost their lives to a racist rage of violence. What’s different with this tragedy is that in the midst of the vulgar act of violence, South Carolina responded with such amazing grace that it should be an inspiration for Americans to act in love and respect, especially now that the S.C. Senate has voted to remove the Confederate battle flag from the Capitol grounds.

The Charleston shooting cannot be an event lost in our memories in a few months but should be a catalyst for our country to strive to be a more perfect union, where each of us can respect our differences with the grace and dignity exhibited across the state of South Carolina.

The victims’ families, grieving with heavy hearts, spoke to their loved ones’ alleged killer, a terrorist who wanted to incite racial animus, with such loving forgiveness that it should be an instructive lesson to people of faith and inspirational to all of us. The larger Emanuel AME Church family demonstrated loving courage by not allowing this racist, terrorizing incident to divide the church community or start a racial war.

Even with the shame of the April police shooting of Walter Scott, there is hope. People are coming together in Charleston across racial and political lines. Mother Emanuel Church has a rich history of facing violence and despair with remarkable resilience and courage. Hopefully, the good to come from these horrific acts of evil will end with reconciliation, racial healing and, yes, even sensible gun-safety initiatives.

While Dylann Roof will be held accountable, the question still lingers: How at the young age of 21 did he develop such hatred and evil attitudes? He had to believe that he had permission from society to hate black people and felt empowered to kill his victims who welcomed him with open arms.

S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, with the support of many state legislators from both political parties – along with U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, a Democrat; U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican and the state’s first black senator since Reconstruction; and U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham, a Republican – made a passionate and impressive call for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the Capitol grounds. This flag for many is a symbol and reminder of our nation’s darkest hour. The governor’s words and leadership were unifying and encouraging.

Even though removing the flag could be seen as both politically motivated and driven by economic interests – given the national outcry for the flag’s removal and big businesses removing the flag from their shelves – South Carolina is showing the nation and the world that our best days are ahead and that we’re better together than we are divided.

In the same way Charleston has banded together as a community, America, too, can come together to embrace and respect her rich diversity. We must continue to have those conversations about race to ensure that we can face the reality of its division. Likewise, these conversations must lead to lasting change, with legislation in states where it is harder for our citizens to vote than for a mad man to purchase guns to kill innocent and honorable citizens.

As a country, I hope we can act with the same haste to move beyond the removal of a divisive symbol of hate and terror to begin our needed conversation and action on race and sensible gun control.

This story was originally published July 6, 2015 at 6:18 PM with the headline "From pain and shame to grace and courage in South Carolina."