Charleston, S.C. Church Massacre Hits Home For Mount Vernon Family
MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, left many African-Americans in the Tri-State Area and around the country feeling shocked and vulnerable.
As CBS2's Lou Young reported, Emanuel A.M.E. is the mother church for many black Christians in America. It is a touchstone in particular for the Young family from Mount Vernon, Westchester County.
The ties run deep in the Young family home in Mount Vernon, where a framed photo of the revered South Carolina church built by freed slaves hangs on the wall. Anne Young-Berkley received a frantic phone call this week from a friend who delivered the awful news.
"She was screaming, and I couldn't understand, and I kept saying: 'What are you saying? What are you saying?'' Young-Berkley said. "She said, 'Mother Emanuel, Mother Emanuel -- Someone went into Mother Emanuel and killed people."
Emanuel A.M.E. is a touchstone for the Young family.
"My siblings were christened in that church. My parents were married; had gotten married in that church," said Mary Graves.
The massacre at the church Wednesday night cut close to the heart. More than a mass killing in another state, it is considered an example of enduring racial hatred and the persistence of evil.
There's a name for it, the family said.
"His mind was made up, so as far as I'm concerned, he was a terrorist," Young-Berkley said.
"This was the true act of a racist inflicting violence upon black people in a church," said Clinton Young, the former mayor of Mount Vernon. "That's the bottom line.
Former mayor Young said alleged gunman Dylann Storm Roof was "absolutely a terrorist."
Clinton Young knew the Rev. Clementa Pinckney well. Pinckney, the pastor of the church and also a South Carolina state senator, was among those killed in the massacre.
The former mayor said he believes the pastor of Mother Emanuel went to his death without fear – sure that his legacy would outlive him.
Members of the Young family said they are not thirsty for the vengeance that a death sentence for Roof might bring. But they are anxious to end South Carolina's embrace of a racist past, symbolized for them with the officially sanctioned Confederate battle flag on the state's capitol grounds.
"I think it should come down," said family matriarch Evelyn Young. "I would love to see the end of it."
Evelyn Young is 93 years old, and the flag has flown in South Carolina all her life. She and her family said the massacre should be enough to change that.
In addition to Pinckney, 41, also killed were Cynthia Hurd, 54; Tywanza Sanders, 26; Myra Thompson, 59; Ethel Lance, 70; Susie Jackson, 87; and the reverends DePayne Middleton Doctor, 49; Sharonda Singleton, 45; and Daniel Simmons Sr., 74.
CBS NEWS: More About The Victims
Alleged gunman Roof was charged Friday with nine counts of murder and one of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
