Editor’s Note: Eboni S. Nelson is a professor of law at the University of South Carolina School of Law. She is also the vice-chairperson and former chairperson of the South Carolina Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
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Eboni Nelson: In South Carolina, there has been much improvement in the racial climate over the years
Nelson: We must not let the atrocity of this shooting stop the community from engaging in meaningful dialogues about race
During the summer of 1993 as a rising high school senior attending Governor’s School in Charleston, South Carolina, I attended Emanuel AME Church for Sunday worship. Although I was young, I recall sensing the significance of “Mother Emanuel” to the surrounding community and being enveloped by her welcoming love and spirit. Tragically, hatred and evil took advantage of that same spirit, resulting in the devastating loss of nine innocent lives.
Atrocities such as the horrific shooting in Charleston provoke heartrending anguish and grief in people everywhere. However, for members of the black community who have too often experienced senseless violence due to racial hatred, our sorrow is visceral and makes us question whether our country will ever be free of racial animus.
The answer is no. Not because America is inherently racist or because it is not a just society. Rather, it is because racial hatred is premised on evil — an evil that takes over rational thought, thereby allowing irrational and destructive thinking to cloud one’s judgment. It is this same evil that took the lives of four beautiful school girls in Birmingham, Alabama, more than 50 years ago, and it is the same evil that will always be present in the hearts and minds of some people. In light of this, what, as a country, are we to do?
As I try to answer this, I imagine myself as one of Reverend Pinckney’s congregants sitting on the pews of Emanuel AME Church studying the Word on that fateful night. I imagine posing the question to him. I imagine hearing him provide the following answer:
“We are to do as Christ teaches us. We are to love. We are to treat others the way we would want to be treated, and we are to forgive those who trespass against us.”
Although many of us have been taught these lessons since childhood, it is admittedly very difficult to put them into practice during heartbreaking times such as this. However, this is not only what we are called to do but also what we must do in order to heal racial tensions that threaten the progress our country has made.
Here in South Carolina, there has been much improvement in the racial climate, particularly as it relates to whites and blacks. State officials took swift and just action against former police officer Michael Slager in the death of Walter Scott, and the General Assembly recently passed new legislation requiring body cameras for all state and local law enforcement officers.
However, disagreements on issues ranging from the placement of the Confederate flag on state grounds to the racial and economic disparities in educational opportunities remain. When discussing these and other race-related issues, starting from a place of love and empathy instead of accusation and distrust can help move us forward to a place of mutual understanding and advancement.
As a black community, we cannot let our pain and anger harden our hearts such that we stop engaging in meaningful dialogues about race relations with others who neither look like us or think like us. The white community cannot retreat from the uncomfortable conversations about race, or harden their hearts to the painful experiences that blacks and other minorities have endured and continue to endure on a daily basis.
If we are to combat the evil that darkened Mother Emanuel’s door, we must learn from her and interact with one another in the same loving and welcoming spirit as she has shown for nearly 200 years. May God’s love provide comfort to the victims’ families and to our country during this difficult time.
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