Emanuel AME victims remembered with calls for unity, stricter gun laws

Bakari Sellers remembers seeing Clementa Pinckney at a church fish fry on the campaign trail in Walterboro.

Sellers was running for lieutenant governor in 2014 and complaining to Pinckney about something, he recalled to the congregation at Beaufort’s Grace Chapel AME Church on Thursday. The memorial service was to remember the nine victims of the Emanuel AME Church shooting in Charleston a year ago.

The victims included Pinckney, a Ridgeland native, state senator and Emanuel AME pastor who was killed during the midweek Bible study. Pinckney also had preached at Beaufort’s Jericho AME and Porter’s Chapel in Port Royal.

Sellers said Pinckney’s response to his gripes was to look ahead.

“I remember he smiled at me the way he did and told me to stop worrying so much about what happened yesterday and get busy working for tomorrow,” Sellers told the crowded sanctuary. “I remember he told me, ‘Bakari, just keep your eyes facing forward and your feet moving forward, and you’ll get where you’re going.’ ”

Sellers said the Charleston victims and victims in the recent Orlando, Fla., shooting should be an example of moving forward. In a charged message, he railed against the ability of mass shooters to have obtained their weapons.

“It’s up to us now to right the wrong, to ease the suffering and to dream of things that never were, daring to say ‘why not?’ ” Sellers said. “I’m tired of watching this war we’re waging on ourselves.”

Leaders of churches of numerous faiths and denominations participated in the service, part of what is known as the Unified Interfaith Community Coalition of Beaufort.

Pastors praised the progress since the Charleston shooting but said continued action is needed.

“We thank you for the spirit of love, that spirit of forgiveness that came from that church,” Tabernacle Baptist pastor and state Rep. Kenneth Hodges prayed.

Nine candles were lit, the name of a victim said with each one. A 10th candle was lit in memory of the Orlando victims.

Joseph Darby, presiding elder for Beaufort-area AME churches, urged the congregation not to limit their response to memorial services.

He called the Emanuel AME shooting “a horrific act in a safe place,” joined Sellers in calling for stricter gun laws and lauded the diverse group in the pews.

He said he hopes the response to the shootings at an Orlando gay club has the same effect on relationships with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

“You look colorful,” Darby told the congregation. “This is hopefully what hereafter will look like.”

Sellers remembered Pinckney as a lawmaker above petty politics, a pastor who showed strength for his congregation and community and a committed father and husband.

“Clem was a good man,” Sellers said. “Not good in that he always tries to do the right thing, but good all the way to his center. Good the way a spring day is good, like it just makes you better to be near it.”

This story was originally published June 16, 2016 at 9:20 PM with the headline "Emanuel AME victims remembered with calls for unity, stricter gun laws."