Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC
This week marks the sixth anniversary of one of the most horrific acts of racial hatred and violence in modern American history. On June 17, 2015 a young white supremacist attended a Bible study at Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. After around an hour of Bible study and prayer, he shot and murdered nine precious Black people who are pictured and named below:
One of the victims, Ethel Lance, was the mother of Rev. Sharon Risher who at that time was a hospital chaplain in Dallas, TX. Rev. Risher was not among the several murder victims family members who spoke words of forgiveness to the perpetrator within days of the murders. She struggled for several years but was able to eventually forgive him based on her faith in Christ. Instead of seeking revenge, she followed up on her act of forgiveness by advocating for ways to prevent hatred and violence. Her efforts included not only resisting racial hate groups but also working with others to organize against gun violence and the death penalty. In an article published in the Religious News Service on June 1, she focused on her reasons for working to abolish the federal death penalty. Please take a few minutes to read the following words from someone who knows what it means suffer such an unspeakable loss:
Despite this pain and the damage done to my family, and possibly because of it, I reject the death penalty. I am aware that racism and other unfairnesses taint the criminal legal system in the United States; there are many other reasons to oppose capital punishment. But I know I am called to this work of ending it because these years of appeals can only be shortened if we abolish the death penalty altogether…Whatever happens legally, I know that this killer will never be free. For me that is enough. As a Christian, I also know what my faith teaches and I am grateful for the strength I get from Jesus. After wrestling with it for several years, I forgave him. In doing so I was able to release myself from the outrage and hatred that was consuming me with a desire for revenge…Now I wish our government would also give up on revenge. We’re only on the first round of appeals. How much longer will this go on?
I want his death sentence to be overturned, not for him, but for me. We can be safe from people who hurt and kill others without executions. I know not all will agree with me, but from my perspective, ending the death penalty is the best thing we can do to help murder victim families heal. (Click here to read the full article)
Notice that Rev. Risher points out both the inherent injustice of the death penalty as well as the hurt it causes to murder victims families. Vengeance is the one rationale for the death penalty, and it does not bring healing to murder victims families or society. This is why she calls on our government to “give up on revenge.” On this sixth anniversary I am grateful for the witness of Rev. Risher whose faith in Christ through great pain and struggle led her not only to a place of personal forgiveness but also a call to work for a society that promotes justice and healing rather than violence and hatred. The video of Rev. Risher posted below comes from this time last year. By listening to her story in her own words, her witness is even more powerful.