Joined hands: Charleston shootings were about ignorance, hatred

There is no getting around the facts -- what happened in Charleston Wednesday night was the action of a sick, racist individual.

There is no justification in any way for anyone who would walk into a church -- or anywhere for that matter -- take out a gun and shoot innocents for absolutely no other reason than the color of their skin.

We have to start there as we try to figure out what message we are to take away from the Charleston shootings.

And the conclusion we can draw, without hesitation, is that the accused is nothing but a piece of scum.

Adjudication will come, and justice will be served in this case.

It won't bring back the nine people we lost, but it will avenge their deaths.

The question is, What do we do now?

The first step is to be there, first, for the families and the congregation at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. They will need prayers and support not only from their community and state, but from other Christians around this nation.

This is the time to speak as one and to offer assistance -- in whatever form it takes. We need to stand hand in hand -- black, white, Hispanic, Catholic, Baptist or Methodist.

But that is only the first step.

We have to talk.

We have to listen to each other above the cacophony that is about to erupt from those who want to paint this nation as a bunch of racists just waiting to attack minorities, and even more dangerous, those who want to keep the fires of hatred and distrust burning rather than to find a real solution to this issue.

We need to figure out that we really do not have to be defined by race, that there is a way to bridge the gap and to start moving forward in a new direction.

And it can be done -- and is being done -- every day across this country.

We have to understand that those who do these sorts of things, who kill indiscriminately and who bear these prejudices, are sick criminals. Their actions are no more explainable than those of any murderer -- than Dylan Klebow at Columbine High School, Adam Lanza at Sandy Hook Elementary or James Holmes at the Colorado movie theater.

The difference is only the sickness to which these criminals chose to attribute their actions.

And to try to make sense of this tragedy, that is a truth we have to acknowledge.

We won't fix this overnight. But trust can be created and we can unite now against those who seek to divide us -- no matter what method they choose to accomplish their mission.

We can open the dialogue. We can fight back against hatred, against racism, against violence. We can do it, together.

All it really takes to accomplish a mission of such magnitude is communication, common purpose and a decision that hate will not win, not this time and not ever.

Love, prayer and understanding -- those are powerful weapons.

And really, more than ever, that is what we need now.

It is time to start building more of those bridges.

Published in Editorials on June 19, 2015 11:38 AM