Tears and Support
By Marvella Lambright
Charleston, South Carolina, is my hometown. I became Presbyterian when my husband and I compromised between his denomination of Baptist and mine, African Methodist Episcopal (AME). I have been Presbyterian for 40 years. Our three children were born Presbyterian and remain in the denomination today. Most of my family remains in the AME denomination in Charleston, South Carolina.
But even with this strong foundation in faith, I feel a hole in my heart about the Emanuel AME Church shootings. I can’t stop crying. Emanuel was a Civil Rights church, offered Vacation Bible School and a pulpit where my father, Lonnie Hamilton, an AME itinerant elder preached. Also, I played for weddings and funerals at the church in the 1960s. It is a pillar in the community and a meeting place for smaller churches several times a year.
Many in my family—including my half brother, Lonnie Hamilton III, who served as chairman of the Charleston County Council, and the Hamiltons—are very active in the Charleston community. In April, I was troubled when a white police officer in Charleston Heights, South Carolina, shot Michael Scott in the back. But now this!
It was very comforting to me to hear Rhashell Hunter speak to PW during plenary on Thursday night about continuing our antiracism work, particularly in light of this tragedy. She urged us to be in “One Body, One Spirit” with Emanuel and Christians everywhere. I cried and cried during Peggy Brewer’s exceptional singing of “We Are One in the Spirit.” During plenary, Jane McGookey, my CCT Synod Rep, and Hardie Frankel, my USAME coparticipant, hugged me and held my hands on each side. I know that God is with me, my family and this cause of antiracism. I am so proud to be a PW! Thank you all for your loving concern, prayers and antiracism work.
