TIME focuses on Emanuel AME, how to forgive a killer

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — The Nov. 23 edition of TIME will feature a cover story on the members of Emanuel AME Church and how forgiveness is possible. TIME’s Editor-at-Large David Von Drehle, with Jay Newton-Small and Maya Rhodan conducted more than 150 interviews with the adult survivors and the family members of victims in an attempt to understand what was different about Charleston and Emanuel AME in the aftermath of tragedy. “At a time when the violent deaths of African Americans were triggering protests and even rioting from Missouri to Maryland—and a national movement sprang up to proclaim that Black Lives Matter—here was a cold-blooded attack by an avowed white supremacist intending to provoke a race war in the heart of the old Confederacy. But instead of war, Charleston erupted in grace, led by the survivors of the Emanuel Nine,” Von Drehle writes in the piece. Through the interviews, TIME’s journalists find that each person affected by the shooting is taking their own path to forgiveness and peace. For Sharon Risher, whose mother was killed in the June 17 shooting, she’s not forgiven the accused shooter, 21-year-old Dylann Roof yet. “Some people with their beliefs can automatically forgive, but I‘m not there yet. And I know that God is not going to look at me any different because I have not forgiven Dylann Roof yet,” Risher said. Malcolm Graham, Cythia Hurd’s brother, said he was still “miles, miles, miles away” from forgiveness. For Felicia Sanders, one of the people who survived the attack, forgiveness had to come immediately, she told TIME’s reporters. “Time is going to help me in some kind of way. I need time. Other than that, I don‘t know what will help. I‘m searching and seeking … I forgave right away. If you don‘t, you‘re letting evil into your heart. You‘re the one suffering. You‘re the one hating. You have to forgive. For you,” she said. The TIME story looks at the mystery of mercy and how the emotions surrounding the case and the five months since the shooting are complex and deep-rooted in the culture of Charleston and the South. Despite the racist overtones of the act itself and the materials that have been released about the accused killer since then, there’s still a hope for at least one person that Roof will repent. “I believe there‘s a day that will come, if he has to spend the rest of his life in prison, where he will have an opportunity for repentance. So that he can change other people‘s lives,” said Rose Simmons, whose father Rev. Daniel Simmons was killed by Roof and is convinced her father would forgive Roof. “And what a great ending to this story that would be—for him to know beyond a shadow of a doubt the impact of what he did, and to know and see God himself.” PLUS: Listen to audio clips of several interviews with families and survivors: http://ti.me/1L6yJQ9 Newton-Small previews the legal battle over Dylann Roof’s fate: http://ti.me/1NsWTpK Rhodan looks at the future of Mother Emanuel: http://ti.me/1Y6psRo See portraits of survivors and families by photographer Deana Lawson for TIME: http://ti.me/1Y6pNnl. The Nov. 23, 2015 issue of TIME goes on sale on Friday, Nov. 13. Photo courtesy of WCIV