We Are Charleston: Tragedy and Triumph at Mother Emanuel
by Herb Frazier, Dr. Bernard Edward Powers Jr., Marjory Wentworth | History | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0718077318 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0718077318 Global Overview for this book
Registered by 
ResQgeek
of Alexandria, Virginia USA on 12/26/2017
This book is in a Controlled Release!
ResQgeek of Alexandria, Virginia USA on 12/26/2017 This book is in a Controlled Release!
2 journalers for this copy...
A Christmas present from my daughter's boyfriend, who is going to school at the Citadel, in Charleston.
On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof shot and killed 9 members of the Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC, and injured five others. It appears that he was a white supremacist and that he was hoping to provoke a race war with his actions. This shooting was just one of a series of incidents that were pulling back the veil that masked the deeply buried strains of racism in America, going back to the shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012, and includin (among others) the shooting of Michael Brown in Furgeson, MO in 2014, and the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore just weeks earlier. At the time, the response of Charleston, and South Carolina more broadly, seemed to suggest that we were turning a corner, facing the realities of racism, and that we might actually make progress towards healing these very old, very deep wounds in the fabric of our society.
Alas, it was not to be. The rhetoric of the current administration has acted as a dog whistle to those who harbor racist beliefs, emboldening them to act on their views. The death toll continues to climb, with no end in sight.
This book, which begins with a review of the shooting and a profile of victims, is also a careful analysis of the history of race relations in Charleston and the role that Emmanuel AME Church had in that history. It is a poignant reminder of just how much of this history is overlooked, swept under the rug, or just plain ignored by those who find it uncomfortable. But, as the authors point out, we will never truly heal the wounds of racism until we honestly confront this ugly history.
This book is actually a terrific memorial to those who died that evening in Charleston, preserving and promoting the values and beliefs that they embraced in life, and honoring their lives by placing their tragic deaths into the historical context of racism and hatred. While there are some places where it was a bit too "preachy" for my tastes, I still would recommend this book for anyone who wants to better understand the historical roots of racism, and how it continues to work in America today in ways both overt and subtle.
Alas, it was not to be. The rhetoric of the current administration has acted as a dog whistle to those who harbor racist beliefs, emboldening them to act on their views. The death toll continues to climb, with no end in sight.
This book, which begins with a review of the shooting and a profile of victims, is also a careful analysis of the history of race relations in Charleston and the role that Emmanuel AME Church had in that history. It is a poignant reminder of just how much of this history is overlooked, swept under the rug, or just plain ignored by those who find it uncomfortable. But, as the authors point out, we will never truly heal the wounds of racism until we honestly confront this ugly history.
This book is actually a terrific memorial to those who died that evening in Charleston, preserving and promoting the values and beliefs that they embraced in life, and honoring their lives by placing their tragic deaths into the historical context of racism and hatred. While there are some places where it was a bit too "preachy" for my tastes, I still would recommend this book for anyone who wants to better understand the historical roots of racism, and how it continues to work in America today in ways both overt and subtle.
Releasing for the Black History Month challenge.
This book will be available at tomorrow's monthly BC-in-DC meeting in Old Town Alexandria.
This book will be available at tomorrow's monthly BC-in-DC meeting in Old Town Alexandria.
======================
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Journal Entry 4 by 
6of8
at -- Mail or by hand-rings, RABCK, meetings, etc, Virginia USA on Monday, February 17, 2020
6of8 at -- Mail or by hand-rings, RABCK, meetings, etc, Virginia USA on Monday, February 17, 2020
Darn you, ResQgeek! I have so many books that came from you and I have no time to read them, but you keep bringing stuff that interests me. This semester I am taking classes in both Trauma and Violence/Risk Assessment. I will likely read it. But I may offer it to a friend first -- at the time of this horrible event, she was dating a woman who belonged to the AME church and they were particularly impacted by it. I don't know if she will want to read it or want to not think about it as a result, but I will offer it.
This is one of those books that has sat on my shelf for some time because I was worried about the subject matter being too grim. I have a very strong memory of this particular event, of President Obama's speech and singing at the funeral of the pastor, and of the way it ripped the scab of the oozing wound that is racism in America. My dear friend at that time was dating the daughter of an AME pastor and this obviously hit them both pretty hard. Since that day almost 8 years ago, the problematic politicization of race in America has reached a fever-pitch and mass shootings are a daily occurrence, to the point where I have only vague notions of where the last dozen of them occurred and they are not seared in my mind the way Charleston and Sandy Hook and Las Vegas are. I found it striking that President Obama's speech cited 3 touchstones of racism involved in the tragedy and in our larger body politic -- and these are 3 of the biggest areas of ongoing political battles in our country right now: voting rights, gun violence, and poor police practices. It makes me worry more than a little that those problems have only seemed to get worse since then and not better.
Anyone reading this book should be aware from the outset that it is published by a Christian publisher, so there is some solid Jesus content in here. I don't find it to be too much, given that this tragedy took place during a Bible study class, which makes religion a key touchpoint here. But I did have a bit of trouble with a historical reference to the founder of the AME denomination as recognizing his "spiritual depravity" before conversion. I was fascinated to see the ties between Charleston and Mother Emanuel and so many of the historic moments involving race in this country. The Citadel college was originally created to give whites a place to train after a failed attempt at a slave uprising planned by members of the congregation. The involvement of Charleston as a part of the Brown v Board of Education suit. The strikes and sit-ins organized in Charleston. And of particular interest to me, discussion of the Charleston Area Justice Ministry (CAJM), an organization that has interested me since it was discussed on the Instagram postings of Doug Hickok, a gifted Charleston-based photographer and participant in this movement whom I learned about through one of my Goodreads/BookCrossing friends.
I particularly enjoyed the way the authors were able to interweave American history with the story of the tragic racial murder, explaining the roots of Charleston as a slave capital, the birth of the AME church among slaves and former slaves, and the history of the fight for social justice as part of the mission of the church. I enjoyed the discussion of the Revolutionary War in the US as juxtaposed to slavery, which reminded me of the first exhibit at the African American History and Culture Museum highlighting the number of the US Founding Fathers who owned other human beings. For instance, I have always heard of Patrick Henry's declaration "give me liberty or give me death!" but I didn't know that the speech also included a discussion of the British government as putting him and other white wealthy colonists in "chains and slavery." I appreciated the observation that the slaves of the revolutionary movers and shakers were not impressed with the expressed fears of being slaves to the British "They wondered how slave owners could decry schemes to "enslave" them, while holding human beings as prperty."
The lives of the Emanuel Nine and of many others closely connected to them as discussed in this book are sources of inspiration. I wish that I could have learned their stories some other way than in a memorial to their murder. I wish that we could find a way to reach across the divide that seems to grow every day and find common ground to keep these tragedies from being on a constant loop in our present day. This book gave me much to think about.
Setting this aside for my friend mentioned earlier in the post to read when she comes to visit me next week.
Anyone reading this book should be aware from the outset that it is published by a Christian publisher, so there is some solid Jesus content in here. I don't find it to be too much, given that this tragedy took place during a Bible study class, which makes religion a key touchpoint here. But I did have a bit of trouble with a historical reference to the founder of the AME denomination as recognizing his "spiritual depravity" before conversion. I was fascinated to see the ties between Charleston and Mother Emanuel and so many of the historic moments involving race in this country. The Citadel college was originally created to give whites a place to train after a failed attempt at a slave uprising planned by members of the congregation. The involvement of Charleston as a part of the Brown v Board of Education suit. The strikes and sit-ins organized in Charleston. And of particular interest to me, discussion of the Charleston Area Justice Ministry (CAJM), an organization that has interested me since it was discussed on the Instagram postings of Doug Hickok, a gifted Charleston-based photographer and participant in this movement whom I learned about through one of my Goodreads/BookCrossing friends.
I particularly enjoyed the way the authors were able to interweave American history with the story of the tragic racial murder, explaining the roots of Charleston as a slave capital, the birth of the AME church among slaves and former slaves, and the history of the fight for social justice as part of the mission of the church. I enjoyed the discussion of the Revolutionary War in the US as juxtaposed to slavery, which reminded me of the first exhibit at the African American History and Culture Museum highlighting the number of the US Founding Fathers who owned other human beings. For instance, I have always heard of Patrick Henry's declaration "give me liberty or give me death!" but I didn't know that the speech also included a discussion of the British government as putting him and other white wealthy colonists in "chains and slavery." I appreciated the observation that the slaves of the revolutionary movers and shakers were not impressed with the expressed fears of being slaves to the British "They wondered how slave owners could decry schemes to "enslave" them, while holding human beings as prperty."
The lives of the Emanuel Nine and of many others closely connected to them as discussed in this book are sources of inspiration. I wish that I could have learned their stories some other way than in a memorial to their murder. I wish that we could find a way to reach across the divide that seems to grow every day and find common ground to keep these tragedies from being on a constant loop in our present day. This book gave me much to think about.
Setting this aside for my friend mentioned earlier in the post to read when she comes to visit me next week.
Shared wirh my friend who is visiting. She used to date a woman who attended the AME church and has family in the clergy. They were together when this tragedy occurred.
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Any future reader or recipient of this book is encouraged to leave a journal entry here on the BookCrossing site to let prior readers know the fate of the book. You can make an anonymous entry without joining the BookCrossing movement, but if you are interested in joining, it is a free and spam-free community where your contact information is not shared with others. Best of all, members receive private messages via e-mail from books like this one when those books are journaled, allowing for long-term relationships between books and readers.
