In 1965 I worked with several local black workers in Pineville, SC. The events at Emanuel AME church upset me. However, it took this message from one of those workers who risked her life to fight racism in the community around her to realize how terrifying it must be to see the world going backward to the horror she lived through as a child. She still lives near Pineville. She wrote me: “Just trying to get myself together after what has happened in Charleston. I have to admit that I don’t feel safe at this point. I have gone to church since the shooting but have been on edge. I attended a prayer vigil last night for the Emanuel 9 and it was well attended. We are trying to heal. One of the Emanuel 9 was my daughter-in-law’s classmates from college and another was my sister’s friend’s sister. As you can see many of us have been affected. My son is an AME minister so they have a lot to deal with. Just got a call and a black church is burning in Williamsburg County, the county where a vigil was held last night. We had a storm; prayfully it was lightening and not what I think it may be. The name of the church is Mt. Zion AME. Is it starting all over again? Hope it was the storm.”
According to weather reports, there was no lightening in the storm the night Mt. Zion was burned. How does a storm set a church on fire without lightning?
According to the Sacramento Bee there was lightning that night. ( My friend who was in a memorial service nearby saw no lightening.) There is no proof of arson. But the FBI has not ruled on what caused the fire. 7 churches have been burned since Emanuel. Two were arson for sure. One was electrical and the others no one knows yet. I need to see a weather report! Seven fires since Emanuel. Coincidence?