Brooklynites Vow To Stand With Charleston Now And Into The Future
As dusk fell over Brooklyn on the longest day of the year, candlelight began to flicker and voices rose in unison, filling the plaza in front of Barclays Center with the refrains of “We Shall Overcome.”
The song capped a 90-minute-long interfaith vigil and name-reading on Sunday, June 21, which drew hundreds of Brooklynites in solidarity with the nine people killed in an attack inside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, South Carolina this past Wednesday, June 17.
#StandWithCharleston and NYC <3 CHARLESTON were the messages — a shared sentiment of solidarity and love in the face of hate — projected on Barclays Center’s oculus and lit in large lights by the NYC Light Brigade as faith and political leaders took turns speaking and encouraging Brooklynites to channel their grief and solidarity into a sustained movement for compassion, collaboration, community, and justice.
“I came because I wanted to let people here and in Charleston know that we’re here with them,” said Carrol Cargill of Fort Greene. “We support then and changes in our society.”
“It is so important that we reach the moment of turning pain into purpose,” said vigil host Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams to the crowd. “That is the moment we are at now: how do we take this discomfort of pain and turn it into a purpose of life, particularly when we face challenges even here in the borough of Brooklyn? There’s a lot of discomfort about the changes that face neighborhoods; people have become afraid. And the only way we dissipate that fear is to allow ourselves to engage in very healthy and meaningful dialogue.”
In addition to dialogue, there were calls for keeping the momentum going.
“Black people have a tradition of forgiveness, but what frustrates me is the response to that forgiveness by much of this country,” said Councilmember Jumaane Williams. “What is loss without mourning? What is crying without change? Join us when we speak for police reform, education reform…”
Councilmember Laurie Cumbo added to the sentiment, stating that “after the mourning is over, the movement continues to segregate schools and eating spaces… There is already the dangerous conversation of putting metal detectors in houses of worship. Is nowhere safe?”
Faith leaders maintained, however, that “the doors of the church are always open.”
That openness is “one of the things that has historically made the Black Church the conscience of America,” said Reverend Clinton M. Miller, pastor at Brown Memorial Baptist Church on Washington Avenue in Fort Greene. “The tragedy in Charleston was a result of those doors being open to everyone regardless of race, status, or circumstance. It was also a reminder of our ongoing gun crisis. This incident was prophetic, in that as long as guns are so readily accessible and available, tragedy will happen anywhere at any time.
“Although there was loss of life, we still believe the sacred scripture that tells us that ‘no weapon formed against us will prosper,'” he continued. “Despite this tragedy, Christians remain faithful, prayerful, and convicted through God’s providence. The doors of the church will always be open.”
Reverend David B. Cousin, Sr., pastor at Bridge Street A.M.E. Church, added that “it is our prayer that this incident will not further racially divide our country. As a community of faith, we believe that love will always conquer hate.”