Charleston church massacre ten-year anniversary

Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina was the site of one of the worst hate crimes of the modern era. On, June 17, 2015, white supremacist Dylann Roof entered the building like a wolf in sheep’s clothing to join nine Black parishioners, Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Rev. Sharonda Coleman Singleton, Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, Rev. DePayne Middleton, Tywanza Sanders, Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr. and Myra Thompson, for bible study before drawing a pistol and slaughtering them in the house of God. It despicable on numerous levels and left the country stunned, saddened, and angry that such violence was still part of the society. Following his arrest a day after the shooting, Roof openly admitted to police that he took those nine Black lives because wanted to start a race war.

Today marks a decade since that horrific massacre and the surviving members of the victims’ families are reflecting on their trauma and the memories of their loved ones. Jennifer Pinckney and Malana Pinckney, the widow and daughter of Rev. Pinckney, spoke to TODAY’s Craig Melvin about how hard this year of milestones has been as the 16-year-old high school senior went to prom for the first time and her 21-year-old older sister Eliana Pinckney graduated college.

“This year there were a lot of milestones,” Jennifer Pinckney told Craig. “Malana went to the prom, Eliana graduated from college. It’s just been like, ‘Your father should’ve been here to witness and to be a part of all of this that’s going on.’”

Malana hid under a desk when Roof began shooting and spoke about the enduring emotional damage that it has done to her formative years as a teenager.

“Just trying to keep my life normal,” Malana told Craig. “It is so hard to go through your life and not just let this tear me down for the rest of my life. I have so much that I have to live for, for my mom and for my dad.”

Felicia Sanders lost her 26-year-old son Tywanza Sanders and her 87-year-old aunt Susie Jackson to Roof’s hate crime. She told TODAY that she was hiding her granddaughter from the white gunman when the shooting began. For her, there is no moving on, she feels just as incarcerated by grief as Dylann Roof is by prison bars.

“You don’t,” Sanders told Craig. “You just have to do what you have to do. I feel sometimes like, even though Dylann Roof got sentenced, I feel like we got sentenced also.”

Polly Sheppard came face-to-muzzle with Roof during the massacre and he spoke to her directly to explain she was not going to be shot down in cold blood

“I thought I was going to die because the gun was pointed downward,” Sheppard said. “He went past me after he said that, and shot Tywanza (Sanders) five or six times. Then he came back by me and said, ‘I’m 21 and my life is over.’ He clicked the gun two times, but it jammed or something.”

There are many more stories like this from that harrowing day and our thoughts and prayers are with all those still struggling to cope with the pain of losing their family and friends at the hands of a admittedly racist white man.