Massacre In South Carolina: A Community Prays For Forgiveness

By Sandy Daley

Martin Luther King must have had the community of Charleston on his mind when he said, “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”

How poignant those words are indeed, as we heard about the massacre at the AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday evening.

The historic black church in South Carolina, one of the three most popular in the U.S., held their regular bible study service on Wednesday evening, and opened up their hearts and the church doors willingly to Dylann Roof, the young man who would then eventually kill nine of the parishioners, including the pastor. They did not question him, did not judge him, asked for no identification to verify his story; they were just happy that he wanted to hear and learn about the word of God.

This racist mass murderer turned his gun on them, even after he had been there for over an hour listening to the pastor explain the scriptures of the bible.  The devil was too far set in him for him to be able to turn off that switch. Yet, even after he was captured, and even though we were all angry, the common theme at the court house by the victims’ families was that they had certainly forgiven him; they begged for God to have mercy on his soul.

I was stunned, bewildered, befuddled even, as I listened to the statements that were being made to Roof as he stood with a very stoic look on his face in front of the judge: in a glass-cased enclosure. How could they forgive him so quickly I wondered? If I were a family member in that position, could I have been so forgiving? I honestly must admit that I would not, not so quickly at least. Maybe in a few years!

However, I understood, as these were God-fearing people, folks who believed in every word that the bible said to them, and forgiveness is a very important lesson from the bible. Not that I am not God-fearing, but I honestly must admit that a little part of me would want to, desire to with every fibre of my being; seek revenge.

So therefore, my heart not only goes out to the folks in Charleston, to all the families that have been affected, to the children who lost a parent, to the mother who lost a son, to the wife who lost a husband, and of the parishioners who lost their pastor. There are no words that will ever make their loss any better, nothing that you and I can do at this time, but to pray for their hearts to heal a little faster, for their pain to subside in a speedy way.  We will never be able to fully comprehend their grief.

Yet, we all can admit that this deadly shooting has taught us a lesson: that lesson is for us to forgive even in the worst of times. Roof stated that with this shooting he wanted to start a “race war”: I am happy to say that he has certainly failed in his attempts. Racism reared its ugly head in the heart of this young man with the child-like face and boyish haircut. It held unto his heart and would not let go.

However, the sun shone brightly on Charleston afterwards, as Roof’s plans to inflict pain and create mischief, reminded everyone that racism has no place in modern day society. Not only is the community of Charleston more united on a whole (even if it is temporarily), but this tragedy has demonstrated to us that we are more alike than uncommon, and that goodness will always trump evil: if we learn to forgive.

Sandy Daley is a columnist, radio and television personality and actress. She is also the author of “Whose Vagina Is It, Really?” She can be contacted at: Website: www.sandydaley. com, Facebook: womanincontrol@facebook.com, Twitter: https://twitter.com/whosevaginaisit and/or Email: thesinglegirlspot@
gmail.com.