[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 104 (Tuesday, June 17, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3413-S3414]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COMMEMORATING JUNE 17, 2025, AS THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOTHER
EMANUEL AME CHURCH SHOOTING
Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I am on the floor today with my good
friend and colleague Senator Scott. He has a resolution commemorating
the 10th anniversary of the Mother Emanuel Church shooting. June 17 was
the 10th anniversary, and I just want to thank Tim for all he has done
for that church and for the victims of that horrible day.
You have been a real inspiration to the church and to the State, and
I am glad to join with you here today.
It is the oldest Black congregation in our State, opened in 1816. The
man who did this, Dylann Roof, killed 9 people, seriously wounded
another.
He is facing the death penalty. His goal was to go into that church--
invited in, by the way--and shoot people in a house of worship, African
Americans, trying to start a race war. He failed pretty miserably.
People in South Carolina embraced Mother Emanuel, the victims. We
loved the church, the church family, and I am proud of how our State
has rallied around this horrific event.
And to the people who lost their loved ones, there is a hole in your
life that can never be filled. The senseless act of violence motivated
by sheer hate and bigotry devastated your life. But I do want to let
everybody in the country know, Mother Emanuel is still standing,
stronger than ever. People in South Carolina came together in a way
that I haven't seen in a long time; and by this horrible, terrible
tragedy, I think we are stronger than we were before.
This involved a man who had serious issues, was able to get a gun in
violation of existing law about background checks. They finally reached
a settlement with the victims, and that was done a few years ago.
So the lessons learned for me from this horrible event was that there
is no safe place when it comes to bigotry and hate. The churches all
over the country, synagogues, houses of worship now have armed guards.
I hate we are where we are, but as we look back over the last decade
and how this has affected the people of Mother Emanuel and our State, I
am here to tell you that that church is stronger than it has ever been.
To the victims and their families, the hole that has been placed in
your life by this senseless act of violence can never be fully filled,
but we are trying to do our best to fill that void. And to my good
friend Senator Scott, thank you so much for your leadership from day 1.
And 10 years later, because of your leadership, we are remembering on
the floor of the U.S. Senate that tragic day. And I am just honored to
call you my friend and colleague.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.
Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Mr. President, let me first thank
Senator Graham for your thoughtful comments and, frankly, standing with
me and, frankly, more importantly, standing with our family of South
Carolina as we faced one of the horrific challenges our State has ever
faced in the history
[[Page S3414]]
of a State that has a very provocative history on race.
It is a rare moment when searing pain and disbelief leaves an
unforgettable yet undeniable impression on both your heart and your
mind.
Mr. President, 9/11 was one of those occasions. I remember exactly
where I was on that fateful day. June 17, today, 10 years ago, 2015,
was another one of those days.
I will never forget sitting in my bed when I received the news that
there had been a shooting in my hometown of Charleston where,
ultimately, nine African Americans attending a Bible study at Mother
Emanuel AME Church would be murdered. Murdered for the simple reason
that they were Black. No other reason.
Invited into a Bible study was the murderer. With open arms, they
welcomed him in. And for 90 minutes or so he sat through a Bible study
listening and watching as these Christian souls talked about and then
prayed, including him.
This atrocity that was carried out in an attempt to start a race war,
a second race war, at the birthplace of the Civil War, changed the
landscape and, frankly, the hearts, not only of Charleston, SC and
those members of the Mother Emanuel Church but our entire State and
Nation.
But even in the face of such an atrocity, in the face of such grief,
36 hours after this horrific shooting, representatives from every
single family looked into the eyes of the murderer and simply said what
needed to be said:
I forgive you.
Thinking back on the power of our scriptures, Matthew 5:44 reminds us
to love those who persecute us--to pray for those who persecute us, and
to love our enemies, and to think about the capacity of love of nine
family members to turn away from the grief and the pain and the misery
and turn towards love.
To say to the person who just executed the person they loved dearly:
We forgive you, the power of that moment started healing our Nation
caught up in racial tension and violence, healed our Nation in a way
that nothing else can do.
Sometimes fire can't meet fire. Sometimes hate can't meet hate.
Sometimes the only thing that brings healing and restoration--or at
least begins it--is meeting hate with love.
I won't ever forget the Wednesday, one week later. I was coming to
this floor to give a speech, and I was talking to Daniel Simmons, Jr.,
whose father was one who was executed on that fateful day, his father
Daniel Simmons, Sr. And I asked Daniel Simmons, Jr.: What would you
want me to say to the Nation if they are listening as I go out and
talk?
He said: Please remind them of Romans 8:28; that somehow, some way,
all things work for good for those who love God and are called
according to His purpose.
I have got to tell you, had I been in his shoes, I do not believe I
would have had the strength, the conviction, the clarity of mind to
find good in the midst of that tragedy. But it is the message of hope
that we needed then, and I believe it is the message of hope we need
now.
I am personally forever grateful to those family members, the family
members of the nine, who simply chose forgiveness in the face of
something I pray none of us has to experience.
Their example of a faith-filled hope in the wake of tragedy and loss
not only inspires me still, it inspired our Nation, and I pray that it
continues to lead us in the direction of reconciliation. As we honor
those who are no longer with us, we must never be driven by our pain,
our division, or our fear.
I would like to have a moment of silence for the Emanuel nine and
their families.
Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Cynthia Hurd, Rev. Sharonda Coleman-
Singleton, Tywanza Sanders, Ethel Lance, Susie Jackson, Rev. DePayne
Middleton-Doctor, Rev. Daniel Simmons, Sr., and Myra Thompson.
May America, the greatest Nation on the planet, always strive to live
up to our highest ideal, the ideal that we are all created equal; that
we all share the same bloodline; that we are all a part of the same
family, the family of God.
Mr. President, therefore, as if in legislative session and
notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed
to the consideration of S. Res. 282, submitted earlier today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 282) commemorating June 17, 2025, as
the tenth anniversary of the Mother Emanuel AME Church
shooting.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. I ask unanimous consent that the
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the
motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with
no intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 282) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
(The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in today's Record
under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')
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