Five years ago to the day five clergy and four church members at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church were gunned down by a white supremacist.
Communities around the country gathered this evening to honor those who were killed. Plant City held its memorial at Courier Park. Associate Minister Maurice Wilson from Greater St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church led the short, but powerful service from the white gazebo. It was an intimate gathering. Four adults and three children listened intently as Wilson reminded them of the message from Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
“Protesting is good, but prayer changes things,” Wilson said. “When we kneel, kneeling is good, but what do we do while we are kneeling and when we get up? It doesn’t make sense to kneel if you’re not kneeling in prayer. Kneeling and protesting, I am for it 100 percent. I’m also for kneeling in prayer.”
Each attendee was handed a pamphlet that summarized the reason so many in this country are mourning. On the cover are the names of many who have died at the hands of the police. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Jamar Clark, Darrell Banks, Yolanda Thomas, Xavier Tyrell, the list fills the entire page. Wilson asked those gathered to take the list home and pray over their names and their families.
Inside was an in-depth timeline of the the events that occurred at Mother Emmanuel. It recounts the six minutes it took for the 21-year-old male to take the lives of nine worshipers within, who were there for a Bible study.
Wilson also wove statistics into his message. Pulling data from the Gun Violence Archive he discussed the number of deaths, suicides by gun, mass shootings and other injuries and casualties due to gun violence. He also quoted the Washington Post on their 2019 data analysis of victims killed by police by race/ethnicity in comparison to the population of the United States. He wrapped it up with an infographic from statista.com of the number of people who had been shot to death by the police in the U.S. from 2017 to June 2020.
Once those gathered had an understanding of the facts behind the shootings that have caused thousands to pour into the streets across the country he asked them to join him around his Bible, which had been placed on a table in the center of the brick courtyard.
He began to read from Psalm 90. The prayer comes from Moses and says that through all generations God has been their dwelling place.
“From everlasting to everlasting you are God,” he read.
He said that God was Moses’s secret place and that those who turn to God and dwell within him can enter that sanctuary as well. Everyone gathered was handed a candle and Wilson proceeded to light each one before taking a moment of silence for those who had suffered from senseless gun violence. He then asked them to join him in prayer.
It’s time for unity if the community wants to see change, Wilson said.
“I’m home grown, home born in Plant City,” he said. “I’ve spent almost all of my life here. Although we are small, Plant City is very significant in many way. Especially on this particular anniversary of the Emanuel Nine. Especially with us leading up to Juneteenth.”
Wilson sent a letter or email to all 142 churches in Plant City encouraging them to come together for this common goal. He said it’s time they unite and joked that churches here may have their differences, but that they can certainly come together outside of the Strawberry Festival.
Wilson ended the event by encouraging all the attendees to join the community on June 19 for the Juneteenth Celebrating Freedom event at the court house, 301 N. Michigan Ave. at 6 p.m.