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REMEMBERING THE EMMANUEL NINE

Jul 05, 2015 Editorial, Features / Columnists

Almost every day in Guyana we experienced the power of darkness as we are confronted with evil, no matter our colour, creed or ethnicity. Senseless murders and armed robberies—the twin evils—are daily occurrence in Guyana.
However, two weeks ago, the world saw wanton evil in one of America’s historic black churches, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina where several parishioners assembled for weekly Bible study. They welcome a visitor into their midst, seemingly eager to share Christian love.
Although he was of another race and was not a member of the church, yet no one turned him away. For almost an hour, he sat next to the pastor who explained the Word of God to him. After, the visitor, Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white youth, stood up, took out his pistol and shot those around him. He fired, reloaded and fired again and again.
When he was finished, nine parishioners, including the 49-year-old Pastor and an 87-year-old great grandmother lay dead. The visitor walked away. Evil had done its work against the righteous by one of the devil’s most vicious disciples.
The attack was so brutal that it has shocked the conscience of America and the world. Those killed were innocent and their death sparked a new debate about gun control in America and the significance of the display of the Confederate Flag on the State Capitol.
The flag, which represents the States that seceded from the Union in 1861 in defense of slavery, has raised tensions because it embodies how little progress has actually been made on race equality and race relations in the United States. Many, including President Barack Obama have lamented that the massacre shows that racism remains a blight on American soil.
The massacre in a church that is supposed to be a sacred place left nine people dead, families in mourning, a young suspect in custody, and a nation in search for answers. It highlights the public’s insatiable need to make sense out of the tragedy. That this tragedy happened in a place of worship only magnifies the disbelief some are feeling.If anything, this incident ought to remind us that places of worship are not immune to evil acts such as mass murders, calamities and tragedies.
As the dust settles on the South Carolina church massacre, many have sought comfort in the words of the Jamaican poet, the late Claude McKay: “If we must die-oh, let us not be like hogs, Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot, If we must die, O let us nobly die, So that our precious blood may not be shed in vain; then even the monsters we defy, shall be constrained to honor us though dead!”
It is without a doubt that America is a society of contradictions; triggered by its history of slavery, violence, discrimination, a Bill of Rights constitution, and a free press.It is also a society in which evil is strengthened by the rights and freedoms given to the good. But if the good people intend to keep having these rights and freedoms, they should be prepared to tolerate the increasing gun violence these same rights have bestowed on the evil and deranged. It is the price of a degenerating democracy. But America is not alone in its contradictions.
It is not enough for us as Guyanese to express sympathy to the relatives of the slain Emmanuel Nine; we have to take action because we too have a problem with gun violence. So far we have not experienced such hateful attacks, but we must seek to strengthen our bonds with each other to love and co-exist peacefully in Guyana. Let the Emmanuel nine massacre serve as a reminder of the need for us to temper our hatred and prejudices for the sake of the greater good.

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