I don't care about Dylan Roof (who agreed to plead guilty if he could be assured of not getting the death penalty). I do care that he got a gun so easily. I care that this wasn't just an isolated case of one mentally ill person who raged against another race. Sadly he is a symbol of something much greater. Racism exists and has existed since white people came to this continent. This will not end it - even with the Confederate flag coming down. Some people are obviously angry about it. One over-the-top Ku Klux Klan woman ranted something about, "Well if they can take our flag down, we should TAKE DOWN THEIRS!" (?)
There have been churches and conservative pundits who don't want to admit that there are race issues in our country that, "This isn't a race problem. It's a SIN problem!"
No, it is a race problem. I'd like to think that the killer of the Charleston 9 was a single deranged mind who accidentally got a gun that he wasn't supposed to by law. But to me, the killer is a symbol of a hatred that has existed for centuries. Anyone who thinks that we are beyond race issues is blind.
At first I OVER-wrote this song. It was about 9 minutes long, then 7 1/2 minutes long (after leaving out many of the emotions and thoughts I had about it). With some coaching from Heidi I got it down to about 5 minutes. Still too long maybe. But I can't say/sing all that I feel in fewer words.
Thanks to my friend James Woods for inspiring me to get off my reading butt and get into writing again. Some day I'll get on Sound Cloud or get a recording on Youtube. For now here are the lyrics.
The Nine – Tim O’Keefe 7-15
Charleston
in the month of June Am C
At
Mother Emmanuel G Am
Good
people met to share their prayers
But
one man came to kill
They
invited him to share their time F C
To
pray, to learn, to teach G Am
They
welcomed him with open arms
But
his heart was out of reach
(CHORUS)
Maybe some
good will happen Am C
Maybe some
kind of spark G Am
Maybe we’ll
move a little closer to the light
Maybe come in
from the dark
Maybe we’ll
seek some honest answers F C
That would be
so fine G Am
Maybe we’ll
speak some truth to power
We owe so much
to The Nine E* Am
He
shot and killed those precious ones
To
start some kind of war
He
thought his hate would conquer their love
But
he’ll get no reward
‘Cause
when the families of the victims spoke
Their
strength came from their faith
Forgiveness
was the message they shared,
“There’s
no room in my heart to hate.”
(CHORUS)
Maybe some good will happen Am C
Maybe some kind of spark G Am
Maybe we’ll move a little closer to the light
Maybe come in from the dark
Maybe we’ll seek some honest answers F C
That would be so fine G Am
Maybe we’ll speak some truth to power
We owe so much to The Nine E* Am
It
was no trouble for that young man
To
get himself a gun
Like
chains and whips and ropes of old
He
carried a Glock .41
They
prayed and talked that mid June night
A
young stranger in their midst
Singing
those old Halleluiah songs
They
couldn’t know what to expect
BRIDGE
We
met this evil man before F C F C G
His
face was there on Africa’s shore Am F C G
In the
Dark Middle Passage and Hate’s awful course Am F C G
We’re
familiar with his terrible face
His
gun and his rope and his hanging place
His
Jim Crow laws, his higher race
We
know this wretched man all right
His
tired flag, his speeches trite
His
endless battle against Civil Rights
His
chains, his whip, his hate, his gun
He’s
been in this land since we’ve begun
Now
let us pray that his time is done
Along
with the Birmingham girls
Mississippi
and young Emmett Till
The
Freedom Riders back in ‘61
We
remember their stories well
“Come
Ye That Love The Lord,” they sang
And,
“We are marching to beautiful Zion”
We
sing their songs, we raise our voices
To
the memory of The Nine
