Before Charleston’s Church Shooting, a Long History of Attacks
By DOUGLAS R. EGERTONJUNE 18, 2015
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More recently, the church, and particularly Pinckney himself, worked tirelessly to memorialize Vesey. Charleston is crammed with countless monuments and markers dedicated to white Carolinians, most of them slaveholders, but until last year, there was nothing to adequately mark the black struggle for freedom and equality. Pinckney was instrumental in funding the statue of Vesey that was finally erected in February 2014. Many white Charlestonians opposed the monument. Letter writers filled the pages of Charleston’s newspaper, The Post and Courier, with complaints.
In the coming days, the world will find out more about Dylann Storm Roof and his state of mind. But to dismiss him as simply a troubled young man is to disregard history. For 198 years, angry whites have attacked Emanuel A.M.E. and its congregation, and when its leaders have fused faith with political activism, white vigilantes have used terror to silence its ministers and mute its message of progress and hope. Denmark Vesey’s story should never be forgotten — nor should the tragedy of June 17.
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