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| Democratic debate: Charleston expects commitment to progress on gun control | Democratic debate: Charleston expects commitment to progress on gun control |
| (7 months later) | |
| A board at the front of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal, the beautiful whitewashed church in Charleston that played host to hideous scenes last summer with the gunning down of nine congregants by a white supremacist, proclaims the church open for business for everybody: “Wednesday Bible Study 6pm.” | A board at the front of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal, the beautiful whitewashed church in Charleston that played host to hideous scenes last summer with the gunning down of nine congregants by a white supremacist, proclaims the church open for business for everybody: “Wednesday Bible Study 6pm.” |
| It was on Wednesday 17 June 2015, at the 6pm Bible studies class, that the racist shooter, sitting in on the session as a strange but welcome guest, inflicted his carnage. The very next week, in the same room, the class resumed, as it has every week since, still open to strangers. The only concession made to the gunman’s display of bloody bile was to rename the room the Fellowship Hall. | It was on Wednesday 17 June 2015, at the 6pm Bible studies class, that the racist shooter, sitting in on the session as a strange but welcome guest, inflicted his carnage. The very next week, in the same room, the class resumed, as it has every week since, still open to strangers. The only concession made to the gunman’s display of bloody bile was to rename the room the Fellowship Hall. |
| “We will not be stopped by hatred – that’s the spirit in which we still meet, every week,” said Elizabeth Alston, an archivist of the Mother Emanuel church, as the AME is affectionately known. She was at the church on 17 June, for a quarterly meeting that afternoon. The only reason she left before the class began was that she is scared of the dark and wanted to get home while it was still light. | “We will not be stopped by hatred – that’s the spirit in which we still meet, every week,” said Elizabeth Alston, an archivist of the Mother Emanuel church, as the AME is affectionately known. She was at the church on 17 June, for a quarterly meeting that afternoon. The only reason she left before the class began was that she is scared of the dark and wanted to get home while it was still light. |
| Alston will be at the church for Sunday morning’s regular service. It’s a big weekend for the Mother Emanuel church, a big weekend for Charleston … and a big weekend too for Hillary Clinton and her main rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Bernie Sanders. In the evening, they will be debating at a public arena just one block away from the church. | Alston will be at the church for Sunday morning’s regular service. It’s a big weekend for the Mother Emanuel church, a big weekend for Charleston … and a big weekend too for Hillary Clinton and her main rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Bernie Sanders. In the evening, they will be debating at a public arena just one block away from the church. |
| This weekend also marks the annual celebration of the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr, a huge event in South Carolina, which has a 30% African American population and long history of civil rights struggle. MLK weekend is not a historical commemoration so much as a burning, current reality in a state where the Confederate flag was only brought down over the state capitol three weeks after the Charleston massacre, 150 years after the end of the civil war. | This weekend also marks the annual celebration of the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr, a huge event in South Carolina, which has a 30% African American population and long history of civil rights struggle. MLK weekend is not a historical commemoration so much as a burning, current reality in a state where the Confederate flag was only brought down over the state capitol three weeks after the Charleston massacre, 150 years after the end of the civil war. |
| Furthermore, the debate will be staged at the Gaillard Center, which sits on a street named for John C Calhoun, the firebrand 19th-century senator, secretary of state and vice-president who opposed abolition or compromise slavery. | Furthermore, the debate will be staged at the Gaillard Center, which sits on a street named for John C Calhoun, the firebrand 19th-century senator, secretary of state and vice-president who opposed abolition or compromise slavery. |
| I want them to understand gun control is not just a political issue to get votes – this is real, it’s people’s lives | I want them to understand gun control is not just a political issue to get votes – this is real, it’s people’s lives |
| The confluence of the Emanuel AME aftermath, Martin Luther King weekend and the fourth Democratic presidential debate is made all the more poignant by the single theme that runs through all three events: gun violence. The subject is certain to come up during the debate, given its location just a stone’s throw from the scene of last summer’s tragedy, the civil rights accent of this weekend and Clinton’s recent push on gun reform as a means to gain advantage over Sanders, a senator widely seen as wobbly on the subject. | The confluence of the Emanuel AME aftermath, Martin Luther King weekend and the fourth Democratic presidential debate is made all the more poignant by the single theme that runs through all three events: gun violence. The subject is certain to come up during the debate, given its location just a stone’s throw from the scene of last summer’s tragedy, the civil rights accent of this weekend and Clinton’s recent push on gun reform as a means to gain advantage over Sanders, a senator widely seen as wobbly on the subject. |
| With polls tightening in Iowa to the point that the two are almost neck and neck, and Sanders showing a sustained lead in New Hampshire, what was previously unthinkable is now the subject of frequent conversation – the possibility of the avowed socialist from Vermont taking the first two contests in the 2016 primary race. That makes South Carolina, as the first primary in the south on 27 February, and Clinton’s efforts to shore up her support among African American voters – partly through her strong pitch on guns – all the more urgent. | With polls tightening in Iowa to the point that the two are almost neck and neck, and Sanders showing a sustained lead in New Hampshire, what was previously unthinkable is now the subject of frequent conversation – the possibility of the avowed socialist from Vermont taking the first two contests in the 2016 primary race. That makes South Carolina, as the first primary in the south on 27 February, and Clinton’s efforts to shore up her support among African American voters – partly through her strong pitch on guns – all the more urgent. |
| In the run-up to the debate, Clinton has issued what she calls her “vision for a new economic future for African-American communities”. She has also been emphasizing her close ties to Barack Obama, the first black president, and to his executive orders on gun control – a theme she is further underlining this weekend through an ally at her side: Eric Holder, the former – and also first black – attorney general of the United States, who has just endorsed her. | In the run-up to the debate, Clinton has issued what she calls her “vision for a new economic future for African-American communities”. She has also been emphasizing her close ties to Barack Obama, the first black president, and to his executive orders on gun control – a theme she is further underlining this weekend through an ally at her side: Eric Holder, the former – and also first black – attorney general of the United States, who has just endorsed her. |
| In campaign speeches and in TV ads, Clinton has relentlessly battered Sanders, who is from the rural, hunting-friendly state of Vermont, over his perceived weakness on guns. She has been highlighting his 2005 vote in the House of Representatives in favor of a National Rifle Association-backed measure that offered exceptional immunity from prosecution to gun manufacturers. | In campaign speeches and in TV ads, Clinton has relentlessly battered Sanders, who is from the rural, hunting-friendly state of Vermont, over his perceived weakness on guns. She has been highlighting his 2005 vote in the House of Representatives in favor of a National Rifle Association-backed measure that offered exceptional immunity from prosecution to gun manufacturers. |
| In Sunday’s debate, she may well also raise, as she has started to do in recent days, the issue of a 1993 vote by Sanders that helped to introduce what has come in the wake of the Mother Emanuel shooting to be known as the “Charleston loophole”. It has allowed gun purchases to go ahead three days after they are initiated even if an FBI background check isn’t yet completed – a move yet again pushed for by the NRA that allowed the Emanuel AME shooter Dylann Roof to acquire a gun. | In Sunday’s debate, she may well also raise, as she has started to do in recent days, the issue of a 1993 vote by Sanders that helped to introduce what has come in the wake of the Mother Emanuel shooting to be known as the “Charleston loophole”. It has allowed gun purchases to go ahead three days after they are initiated even if an FBI background check isn’t yet completed – a move yet again pushed for by the NRA that allowed the Emanuel AME shooter Dylann Roof to acquire a gun. |
| On Saturday night, at a “first in the south” dinner in Charleston hosted by the South Carolina Democratic party, Clinton referred pointedly to both the Charleston loophole and the immunity provision. Without naming her presidential rival, she made clear her disdain for his position, vowing to fight to repeal the immunity and saying of the loophole that it was used by the shooter at Mother Emanuel to get his gun “and it should never have been passed in the first place”. | On Saturday night, at a “first in the south” dinner in Charleston hosted by the South Carolina Democratic party, Clinton referred pointedly to both the Charleston loophole and the immunity provision. Without naming her presidential rival, she made clear her disdain for his position, vowing to fight to repeal the immunity and saying of the loophole that it was used by the shooter at Mother Emanuel to get his gun “and it should never have been passed in the first place”. |
| Sanders, speaking at the same event, did not overtly try to defend his record on guns, saying that “just about everybody in this country understands you must keep guns out of the hands of people with criminal records and mental health problems”. But if the crowd of about 500 largely African American diners was at all representative of South Carolina’s Democratic electorate, the senator for Vermont has a tough job challenging Clinton in this state. | Sanders, speaking at the same event, did not overtly try to defend his record on guns, saying that “just about everybody in this country understands you must keep guns out of the hands of people with criminal records and mental health problems”. But if the crowd of about 500 largely African American diners was at all representative of South Carolina’s Democratic electorate, the senator for Vermont has a tough job challenging Clinton in this state. |
| Clinton was given a rousing standing ovation, whereas enthusiasm for Sanders was limited mainly to younger members of the audience. | Clinton was given a rousing standing ovation, whereas enthusiasm for Sanders was limited mainly to younger members of the audience. |
| Though Bernie Sanders and his campaign team have been working hard to try and limit the damage over his record on gun reform, it’s a visceral subject for the black residents of Charleston and South Carolina. | Though Bernie Sanders and his campaign team have been working hard to try and limit the damage over his record on gun reform, it’s a visceral subject for the black residents of Charleston and South Carolina. |
| Rev Sharon Risher is the eldest daughter of Ethel Lance, who was one of the nine people killed in the church last June. She also lost two cousins, Tywanza Sanders and Susie Jackson, and a close childhood friend, Myra Thompson. | Rev Sharon Risher is the eldest daughter of Ethel Lance, who was one of the nine people killed in the church last June. She also lost two cousins, Tywanza Sanders and Susie Jackson, and a close childhood friend, Myra Thompson. |
| She has become an active campaigner with Everytown for Gun Safety and the aligned group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense. Though she does not specify a preference for Clinton or Sanders, she does have a direct and potent message for both of them. | She has become an active campaigner with Everytown for Gun Safety and the aligned group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense. Though she does not specify a preference for Clinton or Sanders, she does have a direct and potent message for both of them. |
| “I want them to understand that gun control is not just a political issue to try and get votes – this is real, it’s people’s lives,” she said. “If you can help to save one child, help one family avoid having to grieve as we have grieved, we will be very appreciative.” | “I want them to understand that gun control is not just a political issue to try and get votes – this is real, it’s people’s lives,” she said. “If you can help to save one child, help one family avoid having to grieve as we have grieved, we will be very appreciative.” |
| Elizabeth Alston described herself as a staunch Clinton supporter and said she approved strongly of the candidate’s approach to guns. | Elizabeth Alston described herself as a staunch Clinton supporter and said she approved strongly of the candidate’s approach to guns. |
| “I believe strongly in the second amendment right to bear arms – but to bear arms responsibly. Not for children to bear arms, or mentally ill people to bear arms, or criminals to bear arms.” | “I believe strongly in the second amendment right to bear arms – but to bear arms responsibly. Not for children to bear arms, or mentally ill people to bear arms, or criminals to bear arms.” |
| Risher, who is chaplain at an emergency ward in a hospital near her home in Dallas, Texas, said it was time the movement pioneered by King embraced the struggle against firearms deaths. | Risher, who is chaplain at an emergency ward in a hospital near her home in Dallas, Texas, said it was time the movement pioneered by King embraced the struggle against firearms deaths. |
| “We must deal with the issue that’s in front of us right now – and that’s gun violence,” she said. “I know Dr King would be at the forefront of this.” | “We must deal with the issue that’s in front of us right now – and that’s gun violence,” she said. “I know Dr King would be at the forefront of this.” |
| Her sister, Nadine Collier, was the first relative of a victim of the Mother Emanuel shooting to stand in front of Roof two days later and say she forgave him. | Her sister, Nadine Collier, was the first relative of a victim of the Mother Emanuel shooting to stand in front of Roof two days later and say she forgave him. |
| “If God forgives you, I forgive you,” she said. | “If God forgives you, I forgive you,” she said. |
| Risher said she could not agree. | Risher said she could not agree. |
| “Forgiveness – that’s not how I feel,” she said. “I don’t forgive Dylann Roof yet. As an ER chaplain, I deal with families who lose people from gun violence every day. I understand that forgiveness is a process.” | “Forgiveness – that’s not how I feel,” she said. “I don’t forgive Dylann Roof yet. As an ER chaplain, I deal with families who lose people from gun violence every day. I understand that forgiveness is a process.” |
| She added: “I will go through the process of forgiving him, and I know I will forgive him. But I’m not there yet, and I don’t feel bad about that.” | She added: “I will go through the process of forgiving him, and I know I will forgive him. But I’m not there yet, and I don’t feel bad about that.” |