CHARLESTON, S.C.—The first black president of the United States is coming to Charleston to eulogize the victims of a mass shooting at a historic African-American church — a tragedy that one civil rights activist said was a sign of “how far yet” the nation has to go to put racial tensions behind it.
Thousands of mourners were expected to gather Friday to hear President Barack Obama pay tribute to the pastor and eight parishioners of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. The nine were slain at the church during a Bible study session last week in what authorities are investigating as a racially motivated attack.
Friday’s service for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was also a state senator, promised to be another wrenching but cathartic occasion for the community to say goodbye to the victims.
Police planned to close several streets around the college arena in downtown Charleston, and said they expect anyone who wants one of the more than 5,000 seats to be there by 9 a.m. The funeral was scheduled to start two hours after.
The first two funerals, for Ethel Lance and Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, were held Thursday, with tight security and emotional responses to the eulogies and hymns.
Attendees included South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Sharpton noted that on the day of the shootings, he was in Washington watching Loretta Lynch being sworn in as the nation’s first black female attorney general. “That morning, I saw how far we have come,” Sharpton said. “That night,” after the shooting, “I saw how far yet we have to go.”
