On June 17, 2015, nine people were shot and killed inside the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. The church was founded in 1816 and is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church in the Southern United States. Often referred to as Mother Emanuel, the church has one of the oldest black congregations south of Baltimore.
This Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in the Rozsa, Reverend Sharon Washington Risher was here at Tech, sharing her experiences since she was catapulted into the limelight in the aftermath of the shooting. Her mother, Ethel Lee Lance, who served as the sexton of the church, was killed in the shooting, along with eight others: Clementa Pinckney, Cynthia Hurd, Depayne Middleton-Doctor, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Susie Jackson, Myra Thompson, Tywanza Sanders, and Daniel Simmons. Among the deceased were two of Rev. Risher’s cousins and a childhood friend.
Since the shooting, Rev. Risher has been an outspoken advocate of the nation’s gun laws, as well as issues concerning the racial conflict in the US, and has become a spokesperson for two grassroots advocacy groups, Everytown and Moms Demand Gun Sense. Rev. Risher worked in hospital chaplaincy for several years, serving most recently as a staff chaplain and trauma specialist with Parkland Hospital of Dallas, TX before beginning to travel around the country speaking on racial justice and gun laws and working on writing her book. Her talks have been described as extremely powerful, riveting and emotional.
This event was part of the Social Justice Lecture Series, created by the Center for Diversity and Inclusion. All events in the series are free to the public, but tickets are required. To reserve your seat, contact Ticketing Operations at (906) 487-2873 or go to https://tickets.mtu.edu/Online/default.asp. The final lecture of this series will be by Mr. Zak Ebrahim, author of the novel “The Terrorist’s Son” and will take place on April 3rd at 7:30 p.m. in the Rozsa.
