‘Evil, pure evil': Hatred, forgiveness, and honoring the victims of the Charleston church attack
Dylann Roof was on the run and easily the most wanted man anywhere after the events on June 17, 2015.
Roof covered 245 miles from Charleston to Shelby after he killed nine people at Mother Emanuel church. It was thanks to a tip from a florist in Gastonia that he eventually saw police lights in his rear-view mirror. He was arrested without a fight, handcuffed, and taken into custody in a place known as the City of Pleasant Living
'I think everybody in Charleston was somewhat on edge because we didn't know,' said Herb Frazier, a historian in Charleston. 'So the capture of the shooter sort of released that tension and that anxiety, yeah, I did. I think Charleston took a collective exhale when that news broke."
By the time he left the Shelby Police Department, there were cameras all over.
'We were watching the news and all of us were excited that he got caught,' said Kaylin Doctor-Stancil.
Doctor-Stancil's mother, Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, was one of the nine victims killed in Mother Emanuel church that night.
Roof was loaded onto a plane back to South Carolina.
Charlotte city councilmember Malcolm Graham said he was glad someone was now charged with murdering his sister, Cynthia Hurd, and eight others. But that wasn't his primary focus.
'It was really not about him, right? It was really about, how do I bury my sister with a sense of grace and dignity? How do I be a voice for her? How do I make sure that my family is okay, right? How do I make sure that justice was served?' Graham said.
As the world got a first look at the shooter, they began to learn why he opened fire at a Black church, a place where he had been welcomed. He had put in writing his wishes to drive people of different races apart -- to preserve his own race.
'All I could think of was evil, pure evil,' Doctor-Stancil said when she saw Roof's writings.
'The thing that surprised us about the suspect was that he was so young and and so we wondered, we, we, we wondered what could have motivated such a young man, and what experience might he have had to have filled him with that kind of murderous hatred?' said Dr. Bernard Powers, a historian in Charleston.
More details emerged about Roof's extreme white supremacist views, yet family members of some victims said they could forgive him. They spoke just off camera during his hearing.
'I will never talk to her ever again. I will never, ever hold her again. But I forgive you,' said Ethel Lance's daughter.
" I am a work in progress and I acknowledge I am very angry. But one thing is DePayne has always joined in, in our family with is that she taught me that we are the family that love built. We have no room for hate, so we have to forgive. And I pray God on your soul," said Bethene Middleton Brown.
'These statements of forgiveness were given, and of course, that took on a whole new round of how would I respond if that was one of my family members who was tragically, tragically gunned down in a church? Could I have the capacity to forgive?' said Frazier.
Doctor-Stancil says she's still not forgiving Roof.
'That ruined our lives. My mom was our sole care provider. We didn't have anybody after that,' Doctor-Stancil said.
'So while the thing coming out of Charleston is that the families forgave; my family didn't. I didn't. I didn't then and I don't forgive today. How could you forgive 400 years of racism, of discrimination, of hatred? How could you forgive someone who asked for no forgiveness? How could you forgive the terror that he imposed upon those who were there that night, the terror that he was trying to impose against a race of people,' Graham said.
They waited years for guilty verdicts in state and federal court. Roof received the death penalty.
'Was that a healing sentence for you?' Lemon asked.
'Yes, you know, it sucks that the death penalty will take a while before it is actually, you know, executed. But to know that that will be, you know, his future, it is a little healing to know that, like you know, to know you're not going to get out because you had a pardon,' Graham said.
Graham says faith and healing go hand in hand, and in his view, justice only comes from eliminating the hate that causes so much pain.
'We're all in this together, right? It has to be. I mean, one is to accepting the changing demographics of our country. Our country is not about white men anymore. It's a quote, right? In Charleston, that's what we do. They got great quotes all over the city, right? There's patches, there's Black patches, there's white patches, Hispanic patches, Mexican practices, rich patches, there's poor patches, there's young, there's old. We're all in this together, and we will only succeed as a country unless we acknowledge that our strength is our diversity. Our strength is what moves us forward. And so yes, we all have to embrace that. If we don't, then we continue to run in this well-worn circle of trying to figuring out or having a puppeteer appear and say, hey, the magic answer is building a wall. The magic answer is kicking people out of the country. The magic answer is not talking about our past. The magic answer is getting rid of black and brown folks, right, erasing them from history, that dog just won't hunt. There's a better way forward by embracing our differences and encouraging people to talk about it and solve problems together,' Graham said.
We asked the victims' loved ones one more question: knowing what you know now, what would you have told yourself in 2015?
Malcolm Graham: 'Dear Malcolm, I am running to you from a place of understanding and compassion ... You've learned that while the pain never fully disappears. It could be transformed into a powerful force for change. You have discovered the strength that comes from community and the unyielding power of love and faith. These have been your anchors, guiding you through the darkest moments. He tried to demoralize, kill, extinct a race of people. He didn't do anything other than uplift those same individuals, right? Made sure that internationally and nationally, people knew who they were. Your voice matters and your actions can ignite change. Stand firm in your truth and continue to challenge the country to be better for us. Keep the faith, do the work. Malcolm.'
Kaylin Doctor-Stancil: 'All right, dear Caitlin, You're about to get your driver's license, and you're anticipating your graduation gift from your mom. This joy and happiness, though it only lasts with you only a week before you get the news that your mother was killed. : I have found a support system with my lovely husband, Eric, who I met nine years ago. He's helped me through my rough days and my good days. He's helped me through all of those for the past nine years. And my children, Colby and Audrey, they give me joy and a reason to still seek happiness. Being able to tell them about her and share videos of her singing still brings me joy.'
(VIDEO: Progress underway on memorial for victims of Charleston church shooting)
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For almost 60 minutes, he denies having any contact with Vickie, and then he admits to what the prosecutors will call 'actions that amounted to rape.' 'I had sex with her to quiet her down. She was nicely dressed with nice expensive shoes. I remember those shoes. Dressed like she worked in an office or something.' He deadpans, 'She was alive when I was done with her.' In the closing argument, the prosecutor connects the dots. There was no Mikey. All the evidence points to the fact that Vickie was abducted, taken to the woods a few miles from where Taylor lived, sexually assaulted and murdered. The DNA implicates Taylor and Taylor alone. It takes the jury two hours to come back with a verdict: guilty. As they file out of the courtroom, several of them make eye contact. I silently mouth 'thank you.' :: A month later, I return to the courtroom for Taylor's sentencing. Family members are given the opportunity to make statements. We are instructed to direct our comments to the judge, not Taylor. Vickie's son speaks first. I keep my remarks short, reminding the court of the brutality of the crime, how scared Vickie must have been, and how Taylor had shown no remorse for his actions. When it is my youngest sister's turn, she first apologizes to the judge for ignoring his instructions, then turns to Taylor, and says what I wish I had had the nerve to say: ' You are a piece of trash.' She accepts the judge's reprimand and leaves the courtroom. Taylor is sentenced to life in prison. 'My actions today won't bring Vickie back,' the judge says. 'It probably won't even provide closure. But I hope it will bring you some sense of justice and peace.' Maybe one day it will. But not this day. I leave the courtroom feeling the loss of a sister — no justice, no peace. Judy Belk, former president and chief executive of the California Wellness Foundation, is a frequent contributor to The Times. She is at work on a book of personal essays about racial justice and social change.
