For 14 years and a pastor for 24 years. Pinckney was also a family man, husband to wife, jennifer, for 15 years and had two daughters. Reverend pinckney and 8 other Church Members were killed by a gunman at a bible study on june 17th, 2015. The shooters goal was to start a race war in america with his horrific actions. Many believe this tragedy had the opposite effect. The fact that so many of us came together and people across the nation do not believe we here in the south, particularly charleston, theres no racial tension and theres togetherness. I believe this, too. I feel so much at peace here. Love is going to conquer all. Evil is not going to win in the end. I have such confidence in our love for each other. Nothing is happening other than i would love to see this happen more often, not in the wake of tragedy. President obama delivered the eulogy at his funeral. People are standing together to mend racial tensions in response to the tragedy, mother emanuel established the pinckney scholarship fund. The Charleston School district be named Simmons Pinckney middle school and in honor of pinckney and the phillips center. Well remember the reverend for the good hes done and the love hes spread to many people, william smith, wlyh, harrisburg. Thank you to our special broadcast, im Armstrong Williams williams, your host, joining us to remember those who died in the summer in charleston. His mother and cousin, we welcome you both to the show. Many people talk about forgiveness. It sounds good and it does, it sounds so sweet, but i think its a little easier to forgive when you have not walked in those shoes, but when its shoes tragedy, while you may forgive, there are other things that goes on that some people cannot understand. Well, it was pretty hard for me when i first heard about it, but i thought about it. I said, well, if god forgives us of our sins, why cant you forgive what happened in charleston. If we want to look back, we have to forgive. I want to go there clean. I dont want this on my mind, on my heart. So i forgive. Anita, have you had any contact with other family members . Have there been some kind of a connection since you all shared that loss . Yes. We have been together on several occasions occasions. A bittersweet, bittersweet tremendously hard. We laughed, we cried, but we pressed our way. We have to move forward. The forgiveness portion, i know the word of god as well. I cant say that im not youre still in progress . Im still in progress. Im a work in progress. Thats understandable. No question. I believe we have to look at it as it was more than just what we saw. I believe that we should be diligent as well as be alert. There are there is evilness there are persons who are struggling, whether its mentally, whether its hate, but we cant deny the fact that theres evil and hate and racism. We cant ignore those things. Even if i choose to forgive someone, im definitely not at the point of forgetting. Im not there yet. You know, for those of us that read the bible and watch the great movies that have changed the course of history where sometimes families and villages and communities have been sacrificed because there was a greater good that needed to take place, this is this story is biblical in proportion. You just cannot ignore the gravity of this story and why it happened and we say everything but its certainly it would be one of the greatest movies ever told when you tell this story and the Ripple Effect it had around the world. Were going to come back with cousin grace and anita. Im Armstrong Williams. Were celebrating lives and hopefully building something well be back. You know, anita, it is epic, it is like one of those greatest stories ever told. I mean, its one thing to remember these stories thousands of years ago that you read about i mean, but obviously this is a moment in our history that will live on in infamy. What is the greater lesson in this story . Im sure youve thought about t youve cried about it, you prayed about it, youve laughed about it, but theres got to be a greater message in this story. Well, armstrong, one of the things, when i look at senator pinckney, our beloved cousin clementa to us, there are things in our family that you cant buy in a book. I would imagine that the evil forces would not want that formula to be known to the world. Our faith. Work ethics. Education. An evidencebased curriculum. We didnt have all these programs. It was a village that raised the child like the village that raised senator pinckney. I can remember some of the struggles of his mom, being young having him. I can remember her having a daycare in her living room, but she was able to provide a living for her children, not only for her children, there were times she kept my children. She kept everybodys child. And some of those things, we put those weve put those core values aside. Clementa, he exemplified to a degree in death beyond whatever we could even imagine. The word of god says, death, oh, and even now, we see its an awful situation, but there are many opportunities to continue the legacy. There are many, many opportunities to take something that was meant for bad and turn around and make it for the good of the people. Everyone isnt evil. So that is something that we can permeate across the world. Everyone isnt evil. Cousin grace, i dont know if we have the picture of you in time magazine, an incredible story that took up half the magazine. You know, why those nine . Why at this time in our history, why in South Carolina . Why is that the world was to know and even though there were nine, the president chose to eulogize your grandson, the the world watched. Peoples wounds were healed. Things we have not seen in a long time. Why . Why your what was it about your grandson . Well, my grandson, he was just an humble young man. And i dont care where he would go to make a speech, he would make sure they understood what he was saying and being so young and knowing the work that he was doing, everybody just loved him. Do you think that i dont know if you believe in predestination. I dont know if you believe in faith. But everything, past, present and in the future, happens for a reason. Yes. And obviously it was the tragedy was so overwhelming, i mean, if there was ever a reason for people to protest and just have outrage and riot, this is but through your example of your family, you showed the world not only how to grieve but how to embrace a tragedy. In the most noble and most dignified way. Did you know you had that new . I can think of being in the st. James Community Working on my grandfathers farm, and one of my uncles, uncle laverne, walking through the fields and he said he was talking about clementa. This particular day, he says, that boy is going to be somebody great. Hes going to be the governor. He says, weve got to get him a car. And i was working in the fields, too. And at that time i literally thought we were slaves. I had no idea that we were working on our own farm, making money, even as a child. Thought you were a slave. Sure. I thought we were little slaves. Were working for our parents, so i can relate to it, yeah. And uncle laverne was already speaking and he already saw something. He and our uncle booker t. , they saw something. Even then, you cannot understand this greatness and this kind of price and sacrifice . Well, no. But then here comes our faith and here comes our god and the word says, but they that know him, not just believe him, but they that know him, he says they shall do exploits beyond. He says were a peculiar people, a chosen generation. Were joint heirs of Abraham Lorenzo and odessa and the other slaves. The st. James community. We cant deny the fact that clementa was chosen. Not only he, but the others as well. God literally had to do something. Listen, South Carolina is, from what were told, were at the bottom of everything. But that flag came down. But the flag came down. The flag came down. Were going to continue this. Its a historic it was a historical moment, a tragic moment, but wow, did the world amen. Not only did the flag come down, cousin gracie, but the best part of it is we have not even seen the best part of why this happened, why this tragedy had to occur. We can only see and feel and hear whats around us, but obviously we have no idea the thread that this tragedy spread to the world. You never know the number of lives that were saved, hearts looked at their child and said, you are that person. Or may have been teaching their children about judging people based on their race and how they look and say, look, if this is what my teachings have done to you and this is what you become, you fall on your knees and ask for forgiveness. Right. There are a lot of people that looked at themselves and said, yet by the grace of god, that could have been me. Thats true, yes. Anita. I dont want the world to think that its simple. Oh, nothing is simple that god does. Nothing is simple. Its not. No, because you cant understand it. Even you cant understand it. You cant comprehend it. Cant comprehend it. And actually, it happened on a wednesday and on sunday i asked my husband to take me to the church because i had to see for myself. I still couldnt grasp lying in bed on wednesday, phone ringing off the hook, but it was al sharpton who confirmed the deaths. I was blown away. Just engulfed with pain, but just shocked, just shocked to watch cnn for two weeks straight, to see your loved one across the tv, and the way it happened is something that we could not have imagined, someone coming in the house of god, a place that is called the hospital, a safe haven. Showing love. Showing love. Showing peace. Yes. He said he almost changed his mind they were so nice to him, and yet the devil had a grip on him. But that just goes to show how cunning he is. Word says he comes to rob, steal, kill and destroy. But now what do we do . I tell you this, it wasnt meant for his wife, jennifer, and for his daughter in that church to go. Thats true. Its not. No, no. It wasnt their time. It wasnt their time. It wasnt. And we had a similar incident to happen in my church. Maybe a couple weeks ago, a homeless person came in during sunday school off the streets with a graffiti handbag like a shoulder bag, and she came in the sunday school class, and ill be honest, i panicked. I kept i looked at the lady and i said, god, i dont want to just sit here and die. What are we going to do . And i ran and i ran to the pastors study and i shared with the pastor what i saw. Teaching sunday school, and they continued with the lesson. And the pastors wife and i, we went in a room and we just prayed. So im out of the room. I said, okay, lord. I dont have to deal with this. Theyll deal with that. Shortly after, one of the deacons came to me and said, anita, its time for the leaders to pray. So i go in the room and the leaders and the leadership, were all going to pray and i look up and theres the lady. Shes still in the sunday school class, and the space that was open for us to hold hands, i had to stand right beside her. I prayed, i prayed. I was like, lord, please. And i looked at the lady and i could see her skin was red from the sun where she had been in the sun. I could smell the alcohol, and i kept praying in the spirit of he had me to embrace her and hold her, but i was alert. I was praying but i definitely was alert. It still lives within you. Its there. You cant escape it. Youre paranoid. Yes. Anything thats suspicious. Hold that. Dont go away. Now, anita, we need to know the outcome of that situation. Well, when i held her, i felt i did feel the peace of god. He was there. And, again, i could smell the alcohol on her and i felt her brokenness. So i asked her, i said, why are you here . She said, im hungry, im hungry and i want a hotel. I held her hand and as i was holding her hand, i was praying and i was like, lady, dont you make a move. And so my husband gave her some money. She just wanted something to eat. After such a prayer. Prayer. Jennifer and i were together yesterday and we just prayed. We have to believe. We have to believe that the holy spirit will arrest us and give us peace that surpasses all understanding. We have to trust, even during the time of the sunday school incident. The men were there, they were like, you cant be afraid. We have to show her the love of christ. Are you making progress . Yes. Are you making progress . Yes, i am. Well, you can tell youve had a few more storms and ship wrecks along the way. Oh, yes. You know, we have to get there. We have to yes, we have to get there. I cannot thank you enough for coming on the show with us. You know what . Celebration but its something to acknowledge that we dont need to understand everything in life. We need to take from what is broken in life and put it back together somewhere else. You can never put it back together in your family, but other families, we can save them and ultimately save mankind. Youre part of the process of healing mankind. Good day, everybod im Armstrong Williams. 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