CHARLESTON, S.C. — Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., is opening a new place of remembrance this weekend to honor the nine people killed during a Bible study at the church in 2015.
The official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Emanuel Nine Memorial is scheduled to take place Saturday morning at the historic church location.
The multi-million-dollar memorial project was created to ensure that the victims of the June 2015 mass shooting are never forgotten. Among the nine church members killed was Cynthia Graham Hurd.
Her brother, Charlotte City Councilman Malcolm Graham, traveled home to Charleston for a private family ceremony ahead of the public weekend events.
The victims were gathered inside the church for a routine Bible study when gunman Dylann Roof opened fire, later telling authorities he intended to start a race war.
Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church holds deep personal history for Councilman Graham, spanning multiple generations of his family who grew up attending services and learning about God at the church.
“Emmanuel was home, right?” Graham said. “My grandmother went to Emmanuel. My mother went to Emmanuel and sang in the choir. Cynthia, Jackie and I went there as young kids.”
Traveling back to Charleston for the memorial event evokes a range of complex feelings for Graham as he reflects on his upbringing alongside his parents and siblings.
“Mixed emotions, bittersweet. I enjoy going home,” Graham said. He emphasized that the shooter specifically targeted the congregants because of their racial identity.
“It was really an attack on the race of people because it didn’t matter who they were. The only thing that mattered was that they were there and that they were black,” Graham expressed.
The Emanuel Nine Memorial was designed by the same architect who created the National Sept. 11 Memorial in New York.
Victims’ families, including Graham, took part in the groundbreaking and worked directly with the architects throughout the development process.
“Very much involved in working with the architects right from the very beginning,” Graham said. “Obviously raised a lot of money to get it done, multi-million dollars from major corporations and others who contributed to building the memorial.”
Graham said the completed site will provide a dedicated space for the nation and local community to reflect and pay tribute.
“To celebrate their lives, not focused on how they died, but to celebrate them and talk about the sacrifices that they made on behalf of all of us,” Graham said.
Following the 2015 shooting, law enforcement tracked the suspect to North Carolina the next day. A motorist noticed Roof’s vehicle on her way to work in Kings Mountain and reported it to police.
Officers located Roof on Dixon Boulevard in Shelby and took him into custody. Roof was later sentenced to the death penalty and has since been pursuing appeals.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony and public unveiling of the Emanuel Nine Memorial is set for Saturday morning at Mother Emanuel AME Church.
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