“All hope abandon, ye who enter here.” --Dante
This is the most difficult essay I have ever written, it is also the most gruesome story I know of. The only other store that I can compare is the 1963 Birmingham Church bombing, killing four small black girls. The level of evil and hate some whites put black people through is something and decent human being can never comprehend. On June 17th 2015 Dylann Roof did the unthinkable and the evil that lives inside of him is beyond all imaginations of human decency. Myra Thompson led the prayer group of the parable of the sower in Mark, Chapter 4
“The sower soweth the word...but Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.” The prayer group at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church came together at 8:00 P.M.
Dylann Roof entered the historic black church wearing a bulging black fanny pack and inside the fanny pack was a .45-calber Glock pistol and seven fully loaded magazine clips. Dylann Roof took a seat right next to Reverend and South Carolina State Senator Clementa Pinckney.
Reverend Pinckney handed Dylann Roof a Bible.
Thirty-five minutes later as the parishioners eyes were closed for the benediction Dylann Roof removed his .45-caliber Glock pistol and took aim at Reverend Clementa and shot him three times point blank range. Dylann Roof then pointed his gun at 87-year old Susie Jackson and he shot her more than ten times! Each victim of his assault was hit repeatedly and at the end of this gruesome slaughter there were more than eighty shell casings on the floor of the church.
Two women who survived the massacre said that Reverend Clemeta Pinckney managed to run twenty feet toward the office door in which his wife Jennifer and his six-year old daughter Malan were.
Reverend Pinckney collapsped before reaching the door which protected his family.
Dylann Roof went out the back door to his car then driving off into the night. The next morning,250 miles away in the town of Shelby, North Carolina, Dylann Roof was pulled over by local police and arrested.
QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED:
1.) Why did Dylann Roof target Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church?
2.) How did Dylann Roof pick this church?
3.) How diDylann Roof know what time to go there?
4.) Why did Dylann Roof kill on June 17th and not June 30th?
5.) Why is the date of these killings so important?
6.) Why did Dylann Roof kill Reverend Clementa Pinckney first?
7.) Was Dylann Roof a programed assassin?
8.) Did JUNETEENTH serve as motivation for the church massacre?
Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church is the most historic Black Church in America. The historic church dates back to 1791 when a group of free blacks and slaves came together to form the church.
On Tuesday, January 3rd 2017 a jury of nine whites and three blacks found Dylann Roof guilty on 33 counts and then Judge Richard M. Gergel imposed the death sentence upon Dylann Roof.
Days before sentencing Dylann Roof’s mother Amy Roof cried out loudly in the court:
“I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY!”
She fell to the floor and suffered a heart attack and Dylann Roof never turned around to look to his mother, the very woman who brought him into the world.
Nine innocent and peaceful Black Americans were killed simply because of the color of their skin and their African heritage.
Charles Micheaux
Atlanta*