Now the last author panel is about to begin. It took place at the mother manual church in charleston last year. Hello welcome to our afternoon session. Todays format we had three distinguished panelists and coauthors we are joined by the professor. Thank you so much for taking time to be with us today. As a friendly reminder if you have not heard this yet please think about donating to our sources. Each of the authors a portion of the proceeds go directly back to the festival. About the book before we get started. And not only recounts the events of a terrible day that happened in june of 2015 but also offers us a History Lesson that really reveals a deeper look at suffering, tramp in ongoing rage of people who helped form the church. In many ways todays book and discussion is not only charlestons story but its a story of america. As a story of the deep south. Fighting for freedom and fighting for civil rights. We hope you will engage the authors as we talk talk and hear from them. The shootings that took place in charleston opened up a deep wound of racism that still permeates the south and southern institutions and pretty much the fabric of in the fabric of our society. We are trusted tells a story of people who have been a continually beat down by who have also triumphed over the worst of adversity. Exploring the stories of one of the oldest churches looking at forgiveness and looking at healing it is my pleasure to introduce you to our panelist first we have kurt frazier he is here. Hes been an editor of five different daily newspapers in the south including his hometown paper post and courier at the university of michigan. And is currently marketing and Public Relations manager. Fear charleston your charleston South Carolina. He is a professor of history at the college of charleston where he teaches africanamerican history. He has been a consultant on many Historic Sites and has served on boards of several history nonprofit organizations. He has been seen in films such as the africanamericans and the slavery in the making of america. And leslie of South Carolina. Her poems had been nominated for multiple awards she is the author of the prize winning children story the cofounder and former president she serves on the Editorial Board of the poetry series and also joined the faculty member faculty member from Austin University who will help shape our conversation today. Please join me in welcoming our panelist. [applause]. Think you so much. We are very fortunate to have these three with us today the idea of bringing people from different the liberal arts to tell the story is marvelous. One of the things i think you should know as some of the background of the efforts of these writers. Frazier has written a book called behind gods back. I was very curious about that book in one of the things he talked about he collected ten years worth of oral histories of his people and he talked about the fact that when he entered college his culture was somehow denigrated and he felt as if he have to hide a precious gem of his heritage what was curious just this week one of my students said exactly the same thing. When i went to my First White School i was placed in a box of serotypes which meant i have to consistently defy these stereotypes. I first recognized my blackness there. I was embarrassed about where i came from. One of the important aspects of this book is that we are still dealing with some of the issues that harvest brought up if i may one of the things that this preparation led me to do and her poetry especially one poem from the endless repetition. It shows that we have the spirit to delve neither the horror of this tragedy and get to the poetry of the Human Experience and if i may it was up home we are supposed to read at the South Carolina eggnog ration. I think nikki haley was at right. The two minutes was thought to be too much time to devote to poetry. From her palm one rubber one boat. Where the Confederate Flag still flies behind the statehouse hunted by the past. We are at war with herself they were splintering near the sea. She is ready to address the situation though in a humorous side note it reminds me of a statement that they made. She was talking to an irish made in a hotel and she said while girls, you came around one boat i came over on another boat and now are in the same boat. And last but not least bernard powers of my own heart and academic he got 1 degree at northeastern university. His book a social history 1822 to 1883 was elected a choice award for one of the best academic books. We have the people whose skills are necessary to tell the story how did the three of you come together. Thats great because thats what we were going to start with. It started with a palm and we like to begin with this because it puts us back to the day in june. The day after the shootings. And they were putting together a section that someday that they open for services. It was still a crime scene downstairs but they were open for services and wanted some articulation of what this meant. Its always the holy city. I found a speech. Those were his words speaking to me. It seemed to embody what we needed to hear. We will take a little bit how we came together. Holy city. Ellis gather and be silent together like stones, glittering in sunlight it hurts our eyes and search the sky for answers. Let us be strangers together as we gather in circles wherever we need to the heavens and pray for the fallen and speak their names. They are not alone. As bells call across the wounded Charleston Sky it was ringing in our hearts holding onto one another like brothers, like sisters and because we know wherever there is love there is god. So the palm was used to canopy the text for their story which had beautiful visuals of just the crowds into the thousands of people that were coming to pay tribute and a lot of people saw this on the news and a woman who does Book Promotions that was working with me at the time it took just about every ounce of my brain and imagination and then she was insistent and i thought people from charleston should tell the story we were right in the middle of it. I picked up the phone and called her. I was happy to hear from marjorie. We have not talked in a while. I decided after i got over the excitement of her offer to engage in her with the opportunity to do this book my mind started spinning and i was reflecting on the past in my Life Experiences which at that point prepared me i think the people in the community and i said we can tap those resources and i love your references to the community. They were iconic images. Women who walked the streets. All of this we can blend into this narrative those are some of the thoughts that were going through my mind. Of course i friendly and friends who are still member of the manual. I moved away from trusted in the mid 1960s. Since then after moving away and coming back i learned a lot more about charleston in the church in the role of that they played i thought this would be a very Good Opportunity to bring those narratives in the stories and the role that the church played not only in the community but also in the civil rights movement. It is not noted as one of the leading cities but there are many things happened that happened there in the 1960s. As a kid growing up there. My grandmother used to tell me when you go to college she would say richard allen. As a kid growing up there i did not know of the rich history of the nomination. I have an opportunity to interview that on stories. And the role it played. And the movement through civil rights and into the modern day. I knew that if we were can do that properly we need to the foundation and i called dr. Powers. As i always am very glad to hear from her but i was surprised at the project he begin to subscribe described to me. As he mentioned for a number of years ive been working on a project really focused on the history of the African Methodist Church mainly from its beginning until the. Of the great migration. And so i thought that this would be a wonderful opportunity for me to take some of the research that i have already developed into a certain extent turn into a different direction and bring that material into this project. I said yes, im willing to participate and what do we need to do next. So in terms of the project well had different but complement tree roles im historian and i immediately know that we needed to provide some background on the church and what that denomination wasnt how i came into existence because they would be confused by the name. Some people would wonder about that. And i knew we needed to talk about the founding bishop for the church a man who began life as a slave was able to become through self purchase it was right at the end of the american revolution. One of the leading black ministers but alan had two concerns at the end of the 18th century and one was that racism was deeply established. They will be able to control their own religious destiny. In philadelphia. And then to create an independent religious denomination. Beginning in 1816. He would become the founding bishop. So really incorporated into the very fiber of the churchs social injustice and anti racism. And for our purposes we know that there was an early branch. That may seem to be just a small fact but it is far more than that when you think about what i just said. I was the heart of slavery. For black people to have guided themselves together and then to create an independent denomination of methodist that was anti racist was quite troubling for why authorities there. And eventually this church which was the antecedent church was destroyed. The year was 1822. It was destroyed because it was determined that some of the members and leaders of this church which was then known as the African Church they were the slave conspiracy. And then to escape from South Carolina in 1822. What that really meant was that. There is no church in South Carolina and all. So what we do in the course of the book is to really look at a series of challenges that mother emmanuel has faced during the course of the history from this very first one. It was a threat. And then the friends of the other colleges that we when faced with. And then we had been met successfully over time included the most recent challenge. We dont do that because we thought it was much more interesting to organize a series of episodes where the pass and the present interactive with one another. And indeed when we thought about it we thought about the city of charleston and if youve been to the city of charleston you know that you walk up and down the street and you pace from one. Even as you walk up and down one block after another. We tried to put the book together in that way. If i could just read a brief section and then mark the free black who organized the conspiracy in 1822 was a leader in the African Church in charleston. He very frequently convened prayer meetings as the guys under which he organized the plan. And so in the book in the chapter entitled the safe conspiracy i talk about the meetings that he held in the way in which they were organized and what they what they did at these meetings and so forth. And then in the next paragraph we jump ahead to june 172015. Let me just read the brief section to you. On that tragic evening of june 17 another prayer meeting was held. It was competition and circumstances. They were illegal and usually clandestine gatherings like carbon dispersed by authorities. For the blatant bleeding threat that they posed. These meetings were also exclusively male which made their potential threat even greater. The teaching relied on the Old Testament and a god of judgment and physical deliverance. How different was the scene in the fellowship hall. Only a small number into hear the good news of the gospel proclaimed the study most of the attendees were women which is not at all unusual particularly for the modern church. Prayer meetings were public gatherings that broke no laws and the participants have every expectation of safety in gods house. But we know you know they were not safe that night. It was organized around a variety of things. And we think that creates a dynamic that produces the greatest interest in texture for the various characters that we discussed. The past is always president president. I do understand. They boarded the neighborhood with a Public Housing project in a street named lawrence. It wasnt until years later. And another that facade was the facade of a bracelet mail. It was a very important commodity that made the colony wealthy. And they rivaled a philadelphia and new york. I did know and we all knew we all hated henry lawrence. And as a church the street on which the church friends. In the book i interviewed austin told me he is to throw rocks up there. And try to hit the statue. Years later i met harvey jones. He was a few years older than me. And he was probably one of the first persons who told me of his relationship with the church and his role as a young protester in the civil rights movement. Emmanuel with one of the churches that organized a Youth Movement in the early 60s is still today the Central Business district. And they shared with me an essay he had written i didnt do anything with it at that time. Maybe someday in the future i would be able to use this in some way. I called tim and we set up an interview and he told me about the protest time dr. King who have come to charleston. In the summer of 1963 they initiated the selective buying effort as part of the charleston civil rights movement. Hes can participate in the student protest because hed had just about enough of the laws. I realize i didnt want to not be able to go into a restaurant and eat like regular people. I did not want to be forced to go upstairs in the theater to watch a movie. Who rather be dead than treated less than a human. He have a number to nettie to protest along dr. King. During the march they stopped to each of the businesses that have refused to integrate. He threw a beer on jones. And then it was fine. How would i have reacted if that was me. A strong demonstration of the enormous nonviolence but forgiveness because its forgiveness that has elevated the story to the global perspective and in the book we deal with forgiveness quite extensively. They take a very complicated subject and brings meaning to it. We just want to address that. We were fortunate to able to be speaking with that. I just want to talk about it as briefly as possible and read a little passage the people that were at the Bible Studies that night. People have worked all day stayed for two hour Quarterly Business meeting probably had not have dinner. And commencing on to go to a bible study. It was like 100 degrees or something all of these people were people who practice their faith in all areas of their life. Many of them get their license to minister that night the preacher was there was also a state senator these are people not motivated by greed. It is an extension of that but we we can all learn from and not all of the family members and offered forgiveness. One of the things we wondered about right away was where they told to say that it was spontaneous im just entering a little bit from the book i will quote president obama who came down and spoke about the forgiveness. His wife was leading a bible study that night. He had worked 27 years on the probation officer. God told me exactly what to say. Because i didnt even want to be there. Did she suffer. I said exactly what god said to me knew where to begin in a new word and because he told me that was it if you go back and listen to his voice he said i forgive you but we would like you to take this opportunity to repent and give your life to the one who matters most power of the family statements is larger than them who really understands. He says the minute you set back, to children he said he experienced a kind of peace. What happened to my wife no more i said i knew where to go from there. I knew not to dwell on the tragedy anymore its amazing to speak to these people about it. Its not absolution using amazing grace. We thought about singing for you today. With the words amazing grace. His ideology probably did not differ much on it reinforces everything cap that grace that using anything amazing grace. May we find ourselves worthy of that precious and extraordinary gift as long as our lives and our may god spread grace on the United States of america and the times we are living in metz for sure. We have never quoted from the president s eulogy but it kind of seemed important i would like to talk a little bit about where we are today. I dont know how many of you knew this is a really significant thing. Its quite extraordinary. Why is forgiveness so often missing from our lives. The hate crime trials started the day below the election. He has five wanted to jump want to dump jump in and talk about this. Uncertainly next expected family members as an organization known as gun sense. They do not possess them. To ensure that background checks are universal into prevent the very tragic situation that allow the murder to gain access to the scott because he was not entitled to obtain a weapon but the default position as it has been finished within three days the applicant is entitled to purchase weapon. Is rather unfortunate nevertheless is a situation and then we have a group of people who have come out of the community and also out of official in the city to promote since we had had 70 of these tragic and unfortunate she needs in the last couple of years it has been known as project illumination. One of these examples of the shooting a shooting that occurred in north charleston. Thats initiative that has gotten off the ground. In charge of the a and e church. As part of the brief of the church. The percentage of the proceeds of our book go to the Scholarship Fund and the Literacy Foundation was founded by her family she was a beloved librarian. The families are trying to do things to better do education and change the gun laws they were trying to help the constituents. And the wife jennifer. They really stepped into a row. The story store is not over. So many on score. They can take advantage of this. They have come out of this. I might add one thing. It was a very unique and special organization. It was a justice ministries. As a group of ministers from all denominations in the city who came together and form this organization. To deal with issues such as weight staff. The dropout rates. They were having these ongoing talks to bring about change. Ironically some of the leaders of this organization were on a pilgrimage to birmingham and that night their cell phones started to light up. They quickly turned around. And the next they started having prayer meetings to bring the community together. To bring about the dialogue and the healing so all of these things are going on in charleston. Hate wont win. One thing i thought it was very curious i read one of your articles. The community evolution. And just to paraphrase a slight bit. They attempted to do this. Unprecedented state and federal legislation. This result was a significant transitional. Youre talking about reconstruction and it seems like we are still in the transitional. Can you comment on what you think we can do to move past transition to jump into this idea. What do you think we can do. Your book helps the process. What else can we do. First i think we need to get to the place where we can have a real truth and reconciliation encounter of the kind that south africa has set the precedent for. And given the decade old system of all of the evils that resulted from it nevertheless people were able to come together in a very honest way talk about the the past and the way it shapes the then present and then what needed to be done. There was also the opportunity and that that that that kind of encounter provided for real forgiveness. I will never forget that situation and that the one Nelson Mandela donned the jersey and they were the National Rugby team and was the international symbol. Nevertheless they could model this kind of reconciliation thats only possible and honest way the fact that the flag flew atop and then it was displayed in the face of people until 2015 indicates that we havent really dealt with the past. The other thing is we need to prevent retrenchment by ensuring that these restrictive voting acts are turned back because this is a very serious thing that will take us back to the jim crow era. Before you respond we want to make sure we leave a few minutes to give the audience time to interact and answer questions. We can ask that you step up to the make so mic so everyone can hear you. We will let you keep talking and answering questions. I know we have some writers here. This is a practical question. How did you divide the work. We voted in thirds first of all. Obviously he knew the history and wrote those chapters. We were interweaving chapters there is a kind of a continuity of style. We did all of the interviews we have to hand in a third of a book. We did not know what the interviews were going to produce. That was really tricky. We were very critical of one another. And honest and open with a lot of stories about that. We left our egos at the door. We have great editors but the other thing is the chapters are distinctly unique. We want you to feel what it felt like to be in charleston. Those first few days and in the beginning echoes right up to the flag coming down and then obviously the chapters that are embedded with the history the natural shifting would be there anyway one of the things i was interested in some of the poetic nature of setting the stage of an every day on a wednesday night the book begins wednesday night is church night in the south. At such a wonderful beginning because it is so true and real for those who know they can get with the program very easily. But the idea of the white stucco church there is a poetic quality that combines with the everyday quality of what theyre doing every wednesday night. Somehow makes the drama of the tragedy even more stark. We wanted to really had that strength. We all know he grew up in this church. Its a great amount the corner. I knew a couple of the people who were killed. Our hearts were broken and we lived through it. We wanted those feelings to be a parent its the very smallest city. The church is right up the street from the. And we we wanted people to have a visual map of this is the church in the heart of our town. I am glad you feel that way because we wanted to make people have that sense of place we were always mindful of what happened and using the visuals of the city without over dramatizing or sensationalizing of the story. We never really wanted a cross that line but we needed to capture the emotion. Its a piece of literature and how did you use it fairly. Thats one of the things that brought that to mind. I have to be a part of the emotion. I will be using your book in one of our classes soon. Think you for your work. [inaudible] is an ongoing suffering there was three children there but those who suffered the loss. They were in the office right off of the room. They both survived. We heard that they are back in school and they have great families that are supporting them. Some of the most beautiful things there were beautiful things that happened in terms of tributes. Some of them are really just beautiful in the little angels. I dont know its hard to say. I know the children in the church they were talking about that. There was some Psychological Services as late as six months ago. And then it was encouraging all of the members to avail themselves. Whether they really felt that they need them or not. Ive been given a queue that we are out of time for questions i do apologize about that. You will ask them all the questions you like. Please join me and thinking in thanking our panelists and guests. We will be signing books in just a few minutes. You can ask them questions up close and personal we think you thank you so much for coming out. Please walk with us over to the signing line. Thank you. We will have to stay in touch with you. [inaudible]