On June 17, 2015, Clementa C. 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 murdered by a self-professed white supremacist while they were gathered for Bible study and prayer at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (often referred to as Mother Emanuel) in Charleston, South Carolina. Pastors Pinckney and Simmons were both graduates of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, ELCA; the man who murdered them was raised in an ELCA congregation. As resolved by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in 2019: we commemorate June 17th as a day to venerate these martyrs of the church, and we commit ourselves to personal and congregational repentance for the sin of racism and white supremacy that has since their beginnings infected the ELCA, the Lutheran churches in America, and American society at large. We encourage you to mark this day on your calendar and in your heart with prayer and reflection. – This information is provided by the Racial Justice Ministry Team of Grace Lutheran Church
