BOOK REVIEW
Broad book covers
Charleston Massacre
and racial divide
BY TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER
POR THE CHRONICLE
The Word is what you crave.
It's where you find your comfort,
strength, the peace you need to get through
the day. Reading it is like hearing God's
voice; studying it is feeling His power, and
in the new book, "We Are Charleston," by
Herb Frazier, Bernard Edward Powers Jr.,
PhD, and Marjory Wentworth, knowing it
could mean offering forgiveness.
There are, say the authors, two
Charlestons in South Carolina.
Tourists see lovely horse-drawn car
riages, fine dining, and historic homes. But
there's a flip-side Charleston, too. It's
where slavery began, where Jim Crow
laws once ruled, and where racism is still
an issue. That's where Mother Emanuel
AME Church has stood for generations,
welcoming people of faith.
Wednesdays are Bible study nights at
Mother Emanuel, although on June 17,
2015, that was pushed back a bit for a
business meeting. By 8 o'clock, however.
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"a dozen of the most devout parishioners"
were ready for the Word of God.
Exactly sixteen minutes later, "a skin
ny young white man" entered the door and
joined the group, sitting next to the
church's pastor. The young man was a
stranger there, but they welcomed him just
the same. And after prayerful fellowship
and Bible study, "as eyes were closed and
heads were bowed" for a final benediction,
he took out a gun and started shooting.
But why did Dylann Roof scream
racial sentiments, reload his gun five
times, and kill nine strangers in a house of
God? The answer, say the authors, lies in
the past, aboard slave ships, on wharfs
where people were once sold, and on a
flag. It goes back some 200 years, to
another time when that church was a "tar
get of hate." And yes, it lies in the story of
a "young man who purchased a weapon to
kill human beings."
But surprisingly, what resulted from
that night more than a year ago wasn't just
a history lesson. It wasn't merely grief,
either. What happened in the days after
that night was forgiveness, over and over
and over...
There is, of course, more to this story
than just what hap
pened in June 2015 in South Carolina -
and that's where I struggled with "We Are
Charleston." There's too much inside this
book, and it veers too much off course.
I see where the authors are trying to
take readers: the book's opening and end
ing are about the shooting and aftermath,
while the middle part consists of African
American history and that of the AME
church, with an attempt to tie them togeth
er. These subjects are very interesting, but
the tie here is too broad and too deep. I'd
have been happier with two different
books.
And yet, it's easy to brush aside book
gripes when presented with a powerful
message like the one you'll see; specifical
ly, one of foigiveness, strength, and for
ward movement. That alone left me satis
fied after all. ?
Photo by lack Altennao
Bernard Edward
Powers Jr., PhD,
left; Marjory
Wentworth; and
Herb Frazier
wrote "We Are
Charleston
"We Are Charleston" by Hert> Frazter,
Bernard Edward Powers Jr., PhD, and Mar
jory Wentworth
$24.99
256 pages
Second Harvest Food Bank's Chuck Harmon goes the extra mile
SPECIAL TO
THE CHRONICLE
On a day when many of
us gathered with family
and neighbors around
tables piled high with food
in celebration of the July
4th holiday. Second
Harvest Food Bank of
Northwest NC's Chuck
Harmon set off on a 250
mile-long "Hike to End
Summer Hunger." Harmon
trained for several weeks at
walk events hosted by
school groups, apartment
communities, local busi
nesses and others. Along
the way, Harmon collected
thousands of pounds of
i
food and thousands of dol
lars to support Second
Harvest Food Bank and its
partners working to fill the
summer meal gap for kids.
And he's just getting start
ed.
Harmon set a goal to
raise $3 from 100,000 peo
ple. He wants community
members to know that their
gifts of any size to support
his efforts will be put to use
immediately to help local
children.
With school out for
summer, Second Harvest
Food Bank and its partner
food assistance agencies
are working to make sure
that local kids have the
food they need to enjoy
their summer break and
start back to school in the
fall ready to learn.
"During the school
year, thousands of children
in our area can rely on free
or reduced priced school
meals to help them stay
focused on learning, but
the summer months are a
different story," explains
Harmon, who serves as the
Food Drive and Retail
Donor Relations Manager
for Second Harvest Food
Bank. "I remember what
those school meals meant
to me as a kid, and 1
remember the generosity of
neighbors when those
meals weren't available.
Now, I'm the guy at
Second Harvest Food Bank
who is always asking folks
to go the extra mile to help
families in our community.
This July, I aim to "walk
my talk." I'm going to go
the extra mile, and I am
going to ask others to do
the same, knowing that
each and every gift of sup
port will make a difference
to a child in need."
Harmon's month-long
journey along the North
Carolina Mountains to Sea
trail spans the width of
Second Harvest Food
Bank's 18-county service
area, beginning at Mile
Post 290.3 on the Blue
Ridge Parkway in Watauga
County and concluding at
Burlington's City Park in
Alamance County. Harmon
is walking a minimum of
15 miles each day to honor
15 years of partnership and
feeding community with
WXII 12 News. The news
outlet is covering
Harmon's journey through
out the month of July and
hosting community dona
tion events on Wednesday,
July 20, at Ingles Shopping
Center, Main Street,
Walnut Cove, and
Wednesday, July 27, at
Speas Elementary School,
Polo Road, Winston-Salem
Throughout July, com
munity members will be
able to follow Harmon's
journey by tuning in to
WXH 12 News broadcasts
and on Facebook at
https://wwwiacebook.com
/Summermealsmatter/.
Donations to support
Harmon and Second
Harvest Food Bank's
efforts to provide summer
meals for kids can be made
online at hungernwnc.org
or mailed to Second
Harvest Food Bank at 3655
Reed Street, Winston
Salem, NC 27107.
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