Say Their Names! Clementa C. Pinckney, Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel Lee Simmons, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, and Myra Thompson were murdered by a self-professed white supremacist while they were gathered for Bible study and prayer at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (often referred to as Mother Emanuel) in Charleston, South Carolina. This martyrdom happened on June 17, 2015. Pastors Pinckney and Simmons were both graduates of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary.
A resolution to commemorate June 17 as a day of repentance for the martyrdom of the Emanuel Nine was adopted by the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on August 8, 2019. Congregations and synods of the ELCA are encouraged to reaffirm their commitment to repenting of the sins of racism and white supremacy which continue to plague this church, to venerate the martyrdom of the Emanuel Nine, and to mark this day of penitence with prayer and calls to action.
On Sunday, June 23, we remember Juneteenth (June 19), the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. From its Galveston, Texas origin in 1865, the observance of June 19th as the African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond.
We reflect on the vision of hope that filled the newly freed people in this country who began new lives by creating schools and colleges. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stressed that education is one of the pillars of equity. We are invited to act by directly supporting Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, one of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities. We encourage you to invest now at: www.htu.edu
On Sunday, June 23 we remember the Emanuel Nine martyrs and reaffirm our commitment ending racism.