澳彩开奖

Warning: The following account contains graphic descriptions that may trigger some readers. Discretion is advised.

Photo courtesy of the Pinckney family

The Rev. Clementa Pinckney, senior pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, came into his office on a balmy Wednesday night, told his wife and daughter, 鈥淚 love you,鈥� and walked out the door to Bible study.

It was the last time they saw him alive.

Jennifer Pinckney, the pastor鈥檚 wife, and their then-6-year-old daughter, Malana, stayed behind in his office. Malana was eating snacks and watching TV. Her mom was doing some work on the computer. After about an hour, they heard the first set of gunshots.

鈥淚 looked up from what I was doing and I thought it was, you know, a generator going off or something like that,鈥� she told the 澳彩开奖. 鈥淭hat was my first immediate thought. Then I ran to the door of the pastor鈥檚 study and I just opened it just slightly. And then it hit me that those were gunshots.鈥�

Clementa Pinckney was among the brutally murdered around 9:05 p.m. on June 17, 2015, by a white supremacist, who sat through 45 minutes of the Bible study at the historic Black church before firing the fatal shots.

On the fifth anniversary of the massacre, America is once again being confronted with its racial inequities. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare , criminal justice and . Protests have erupted across the country following the killings of unarmed Black people by police, with some demonstrators as state officials order others be taken down.

Amidst the unrest, Jennifer Pinckney has a message for America: Respect and love other people.

鈥淐lementa wasn鈥檛 a man that hated,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e was a man of unity. He was a man of love. He was a man of compassion. He was about bringing people together. We didn鈥檛 raise 鈥� and I still don鈥檛 raise 鈥� our daughters to hate. We raised them to respect, to love, to help out those that need to be helped out. 鈥� You can鈥檛 carry that burden of hate and be a true child of God.鈥�

Clementa Pinckney, Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel Lee Simmons, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton and Myra Thompson were killed in the attack. They are known as the Emanuel Nine.

Jennifer and Malana Pinckney were spared due to some quick thinking by Jennifer to lock herself and her daughter behind two doors inside the church secretary鈥檚 office, where they hid beneath a desk. Their older daughter, Eliana, now 16, was not with them at the time of the attack.

Before the massacre, the gunman听told a friend that he intended to kill people at the historic Black church to start a race war. He was convicted of federal hate-crime and obstruction-of-religion charges and .

A 鈥榯ypical鈥� day

June 17, 2015, started out like any other day, Jennifer Pinckney said.

Clementa Pinckney, who was also a South Carolina state senator, was preparing to make the two-hour drive from Columbia to Charleston, where the church is located. The family lived in Columbia, which is also the state capital, and Clementa had spent the day there in legislative session.

Jennifer decided to travel with Clementa to the church so she could help him drive and also spend time with him.

She took Malana with them. But Eliana, the older daughter, opted to stay at home with her grandmother.

鈥淗e was like, 鈥業鈥檝e got to go to the church, then there鈥檚 a business meeting and then we have Bible study,鈥欌�� Jennifer said.

When they arrived at the church, Clementa went into his business meeting and Malana stayed in the pastor鈥檚 study with her mom.

As the meeting ended, and the group of elders and church leaders were leaving, the Bible study group began to arrive.

鈥淗e was at the door greeting people as they were coming, whoever was leaving out and I guess whoever was coming into Bible study,鈥� she said. 鈥淢alana made it to her father and I could see that he was trying to handle some business and so forth. So I was trying to get her away from her father so that he could focus and concentrate on whomever he was talking to.鈥�

Soon after she got Malana back into the pastor鈥檚 study, Clementa walked through from the secretary鈥檚 office into his study. He had a brief conversation with his wife and daughter and went to the Bible study.

About an hour later, Jennifer heard the shots. Slowly and quietly, she closed the door to the study and locked it.

She ran and picked up her daughter. They both ran through the pastor鈥檚 study into the secretary鈥檚 office and closed that door.

She shoved Malana under the secretary鈥檚 desk, and rushed to another door that led to the room where the shooting was underway, and locked it too.

She came back into the secretary鈥檚 office and knelt down under the desk in front of Malana to protect her.

鈥榊ou鈥檝e got to be quiet鈥�

Jennifer鈥檚 first priority was to get Malana to be quiet, because the girl was starting to talk, asking questions about what was going on.

鈥淪o I had to be a little firm with her to get her to be quiet. I told her, 鈥楾here were gunshots. You need to be quiet. And then I told her that I loved her and to tell her sister that I loved her, tell grandmom that I loved her and that I was gonna make a run for it.鈥�

She was planning to run to a door that led to the outside.

鈥淚 told her as soon as the gunshots sounded like they were at the far end of the room, they were at a distance, that鈥檚 when I was going to run. I was going to run and find whomever I could find on the street for help,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 told her just stay put. And before I realized it, that鈥檚 when bullets started coming through the office. And I immediately leaped in under the desk with her.鈥�

Malana asked if her father was going to die.

Jennifer, now in full panic mode, was not in the frame of mind to answer that question. She just wanted to protect her daughter.

鈥淚 just told her, 鈥榊ou鈥檝e got to be quiet,鈥� and I put my hand over her mouth. And she in turn put her hand over my mouth and we just sat there hearing the gunshots. 鈥� Then after a while I could hear someone trying to open the door. And my blood ran cold, the whole nine, and I was just like, 鈥榃e鈥檙e goners.鈥欌��

Jennifer heard the shooter shake the knob a couple of times.

Soon afterward, she heard the chime that sounds whenever someone comes in or out of the church.

鈥淎t the time, I didn鈥檛 know if there was one shooter, or several shooters, but when I heard the chime on the door, I peeked over the desk, praying that the person was gone. And then I just told Malana, 鈥榃hatever happens, you do not come from under this desk.鈥欌��

Then Jennifer crawled completely out from under the desk, making sure no one was there. She crawled into the adjacent pastor鈥檚 study, found her cell phone, and then crawled back into the secretary鈥檚 office.

Now back under the desk with Malana, she .

She told the dispatcher what happened, where the church was and her location within the building. The dispatcher told her to stay calm and not to move from where she was.

After what seemed like eternity, she heard police enter the church.

Still on the phone, she asked the dispatcher if it was OK to come out.

鈥楽tay where you鈥檙e at鈥�

鈥淪he was telling me, 鈥楴o. Stay where you鈥檙e at.鈥� And I realized later, that of course if I had just walked out there, they probably would have just shot me from not knowing.鈥�

The police, she was later told, didn鈥檛 know if the shooter had left or if there might be other shooters still on the site.

She heard police break through the door to the pastor鈥檚 study. As she stayed under the secretary鈥檚 desk with Malana, she could hear them looking around.

They checked the bathroom. They checked Clementa鈥檚 closet. And they opened the door to the secretary鈥檚 office.

The next thing she knew, guns and flashlights were pointed at her, still hiding under the desk, protecting Malana.

A police officer yelled out, 鈥淲e found them!鈥�

Confederate symbols coming down

Prior to the shooting, the murderer听posted pictures of himself with a Confederate flag. The terror attack 鈥� and the gunman's embrace of the symbol 鈥� inspired then-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to call for the flag鈥檚 removal from the state Capitol grounds, a move approved by state lawmakers.

Soon afterward, Alabama鈥檚 then-governor, Robert Bentley, summarily ordered the removal of several versions of the Confederate听flag that flew alongside a towering monument just steps from the Capitol in Montgomery.

Since then, a听total of 100听Confederate symbols, including听58 monuments, have been removed (55) or relocated (3)听from public places across the country, according to the latest count by the 澳彩开奖. In a 2019 update of听its听Whose Heritage?听report, the 澳彩开奖 cataloged nearly 1,800 monuments and other Confederate symbols in public spaces across the country.

The murders of , , Tony McDade, Sean Reed, Yassin Mohamed, and 鈥� most recently 鈥� not only intensified a nationwide call for , they also prompted renewed calls 鈥� from political leaders and their constituents 鈥� to remove all references to the Confederacy from public places.

Protesters in Richmond, Virginia, , about a half-mile from another statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that Gov. Ralph Northam is fighting to remove.

Some military leaders are considering听. And across the nation,听other problematic historical figures, such as Christopher Columbus, are coming down.

from all its races and events after driver Bubba Wallace, who is Black, asked the organization to crack down on fans鈥� use of the offensive symbol.

Jennifer Pinckney agrees that Confederate memorials should be taken out of public spaces.

鈥淚 understand the freedom of speech and so forth,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 how people interpret what鈥檚 out there and what鈥檚 being seen. Of course, African Americans will look at these symbols and say, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 a symbol of hate.鈥欌��

Many people don鈥檛 have a full understanding of Confederate symbols, she said, and putting them in public places without adding the context of their connection to slavery and civil rights suppression actually undermines, rather than enhances history.

鈥淚 just feel that those symbols that are out there 鈥� yes they may be a part of history. But I feel that they should be in a place where you can learn about history, like maybe a museum or other places,鈥� she said.

鈥淚 think that public places need to have symbols of peace, symbols of unity, if we鈥檙e trying to bring everyone together,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd so when you have symbols that represent one race more so than the other, or don鈥檛 even have anything that represents other races, then it becomes a problem. I just think that those symbols would be better in places where you want to learn about history.鈥�

Eliana, Jennifer鈥檚 older daughter, shares the desire for Americans to come together. She believes in fighting injustice with unity.

鈥淲e all need to be on the same page 鈥� in order to make a difference,鈥� she said.
听

Photo courtesy of the Pinckney family

Lead photo by Anadolu Agency /听Getty Images