Thursday June 17th is the 6th anniversary of the murders of the Emanuel 9 at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. At our 2019 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Churchwide assembly we dedicated the 17th as a commemoration to honor those martyred that day. We acknowledge they were martyred at the hands of a young man who did not hear enough in his ELCA congregation growing up condemnation of racial hate and white supremacy to overcome those who radicalized him to perform this act of terror.
Resources for such commemorations can be found at https://www.elca.org/emanuelnine. And resources for learning more about combating white supremacy can be found through our Briarwood Leadership Center sessions on white supremacy and racism. bwtx.org/developing-leaders/pages/white-supremacy-racism
“On June 17, 2015, Clementa C. Pinckney, Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel Lee Simmons, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, and Myra Thompson were murdered by a self-professed white supremacist while they were gathered for Bible study and prayer at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (often referred to as Mother Emanuel) in Charleston, South Carolina. Pastors Pinckney and Simmons were both graduates of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. A resolution to commemorate June 17 as a day of repentance for the martyrdom of the Emanuel Nine was adopted by the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on August 8, 2019. Congregations of the ELCA are encouraged reaffirm their commitment to repenting of the sins of racism and white supremacy which continue to plague this church, to venerate the martyrdom of the Emanuel Nine, and to mark this day of penitence with study and prayer.” #KnowTheirNames #NTNL #Emanuel9 #AME