The first black president of the United States was coming to Charleston on Friday to eulogize the victims of a mass shooting at a historic African-American church, a tragedy that one civil rights activist said was a sign of “how far yet” the nation has to go to put racial tensions behind it.
Thousands of mourners were expected to gather to hear President Barack Obama pay tribute to the Rev. Clementa Pinckney and eight parishioners of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. The nine were shot dead at the church during a Bible study session last week in what authorities are investigating as a racially motivated attack.
The first two funerals for victims were held on Thursday amid tight security, with attendees including national civil rights leaders and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
The funerals began as the debate over the Confederate flag and other Old South symbols continued around the region. A growing number of leading politicians said Civil War symbols should be removed from places of honour, despite their role as elements of Southern identity.
Some authorities have worried openly about a backlash as people take matters into their own hands.
“Black Lives Matter” was spray-painted on a monument to Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia, on Thursday, only the latest statue to be defaced.
The shooting suspect, 21-year-old Dylann Storm Roof, appeared in photos with a Confederate license plate, waving a Confederate flag, burning and desecrating U.S. flags on a website created in his name months before the attacks.
Attorney Boyd Young, who represents Roof’s family, issued a statement saying they will answer questions later, but want to allow the victims’ families to grieve. “We feel it would be inappropriate to say anything at this time other than that we are truly sorry for their loss,” the statement said.
