by Agunda Okeyo 

I am a huge admirer of Robert F. Kennedy. In learning American history as a youth, I was struck my RFK’s profound humanist transformation from a righteously conservative politician (dare I say, racist) to a truly revolutionary equal-rights activist. Undoubtedly the death of his brother and the racial complexity of the time motivated this change--and likely cost him his life. In an unprecedented visit to apartheid South Africa in 1966 he said the following to a rapt audience at the University of Cape Town, South Africa:

by Neisha Washington

In the wake of last month's Charleston church shooting, in which six women and three men were gunned down mercilessly, black people across the country have felt increasingly unsafe. The event demonstrated the lack of security black bodies have in even sacred spaces. An attack on the black church is an attack on the very heart of black society. It seems there is no place to be safe and black in this country, no place in which we’re free from having aspersions projected onto our melanin.

by Leah C.K. Lewis

Shortly after the murders of the Mother Emanuel 9 in Charleston, our nation began a “conversation” about forgiveness. Nadine Collier, Ethel Lance’s daughter, forgave her mother’s murderer in what seemed like mere hours of the shooting. This stunning act of forgiveness provided us with a point of reflection. Then, at the terrorist’s bond hearing, Myra Thompson’s grandson, Anthony Thompson, conveyed his forgiveness. Christopher Singleton and his sister Camryn similarly forgave this same man who murdered their mother, the Reverend Sharonda Coleman-Singleton. Truly, Ms. Collier, Mr. Thompson, and the Singletons displayed tremendous dignity and resolve.

by Denise Miller

“…it is not permissible that the authors of devastation should also be innocent. It is the innocence which constitutes the crime.” ― James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time

by Anna Gibson

by Anna Gibson

Fierce debate has taken place in the weeks following the shooting of nine victims of AME Charleston Church in South Carolina. Dylann Roof’s embrace of white supremacy, alleged mental illness, and even disputes about whether or not he should be forgiven have all been the subject of discussion. Recently, Fox News interviewed Bishop E. W. Jackson in an attempt to frame the shooting “not as a race issue but a faith issue.” Bishop Jackson appeared to be in agreement despite all evidence to the contrary. Meanwhile, photos of Roof have turned up of him wearing Apartheid-era badges on his jacket, and posing with a Confederate flag.

by Anna Gibson

by Danae Ross

Our news feeds and timelines have been inundated with articles lamenting the shooting in Charleston. Many reports emphasize the quantity of lives lost this Wednesday, without even a mere mention of the victims’ names. Their lives are barely acknowledged, while the shooter's entire existenc, both before and after the massacre, is detailed. Innumerable outlets are investing energy into analyzing—even rationalizing—his behavior, while no reference at all is allotted to the men and women of Emanuel A.M.E. They are not merely nine "people," "churchgoers," or even "African Americans.” Instead, they have become no more than a number: nine. As in 9 "dead," 9 "killed," 9 "slaughtered," 9 "shot." Nine. Period. End of story. Not only does this threaten to psychosocially sanitize these homicides by dehumanizing the men and women we lost last Wednesday, it allows the media to perpetually humanize the shooter while simultaneously pushing the victims—and us, as a community—to the back burner.

by Michelle Charles, MSW

All too often, when we discuss in the motives of white male mass murderers in the media, we become fixated with the status of their mental health and whether or not mental illness may have played a role in their actions. In the case of atrocious shooting in Charleston, South Carolina at the historic flagship Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church, we have somehow managed to fall victim to this useless conjecturing again, despite the Pro-Apartheid and neo-colonial signifying patches with which the shooter adorned his jacket. As this familiar hemming and hawing becomes United States narrative, I have become fiercely disinterested in the discussions about the mental health of the perpetrator in the context of these shootings, as they serve myriad destructive purposes. It privileges the perpetrators with the luxury of our understanding; it inaccurately paints mental illness as a precursor to destructive acts; and it neglects the mental health needs of those who were victimized or directly affected by the event.

by Cherise Martinez-McBride

I only got to see four of them before I had to close my browser window. Profiles of people who were spending their Wednesday night at Bible study, and never got back in their cars or on the bus or the sidewalk again.

by Inda Lauryn

McKinney, Texas. New Orleans, Louisiana. Baltimore, Maryland. Charleston, South Carolina.

by Rebecca Carroll for The Guardian

Before opening fire – and reportedly reloading five times – the man who killed nine black people at the historic Emmanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday night, reportedly said: “You rape our women. And you’re taking over our country. And you have to go.” (Dylann Roof has been arrested in North Carolina and is expected to be charged with the crime.) According to police, three of the people who died were male, including South Carolina state senator Clementa Pinkney, who served as the church pastor, and six were female.

by Crystal St. Marie Lewis

I’m certain you’ve heard the news by now. Nine Black people were murdered last night at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church in Charleston, South Carolina. The gunman, a White man, reportedly attended Bible study and prayed with his victims before launching into a tirade about how Black people are “taking over the country” and “raping white women.” He opened fire on the congregants, killing most of those in attendance, including the Rev. Senator Clementa Pinckney.

by Carmen Jones

by Leah C.K. Lewis

The domestic terrorism unleashed at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Mother Emanuel) last night in Charleston, South Carolina, “the Holy City,” starkly displays the hypocrisy of U.S. Christianity. According to the Pew Research Center, 70.6% of U.S. citizens identify as Christian. If in fact, nearly two-thirds of the people of this country who purport to be disciples of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, stood for LOVE there is no way in hell that the murder and oppression of African Americans would be anywhere near acceptable and well-tolerated.