119-sres282

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 282 Agreed to Senate

    (ATS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
S. RES. 282

 Commemorating June 17, 2025, as the tenth anniversary of the Mother 
 Emanuel AME Church shooting.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 June 17, 2025

 Mr. Scott of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. Graham, and Mrs. 
Blackburn) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and 
 agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

 RESOLUTION

 Commemorating June 17, 2025, as the tenth anniversary of the Mother 
 Emanuel AME Church shooting.

Whereas, on June 17, 2015, a peaceful Wednesday evening prayer meeting at the 
 Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal

    (AME) Church in Charleston, 
 South Carolina, ended in tragedy as an armed gunman killed 9 African-
 American parishioners;
Whereas the killer, Dylann Roof, a White supremacist, sat in the Mother Emanuel 
 AME Church, the oldest African Methodist church in the South, for more 
 than an hour before opening fire, shooting 12 people and killing 9 
 before escaping;
Whereas the ``Emanuel Nine'' includes the Reverend Clementa Pinckney, Cynthia 
 Hurd, the Reverend Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Tywanza Sanders, Ethel 
 Lance, Susie Jackson, the Reverend DePayne Middleton-Doctor, the 
 Reverend Daniel Simmons, Sr., and Myra Thompson;
Whereas Reverend Clementa Pinckney, elected to the South Carolina General 
 Assembly in 1996 at the age of 23, becoming the youngest African-
 American elected to the South Carolina State Legislature, was a 15-year 
 member of the South Carolina Senate from the 45th District, a beloved 
 husband of Jennifer Benjamin and father of Eliana and Malana, and was a 
 recipient of a bachelor's degree from Allen University in 1995 and a 
 master of public administration degree from the University of South 
 Carolina in 1999;
Whereas Cynthia Hurd served as a librarian in the Charleston, South Carolina 
 library system for 31 years, worked at the St. Andrews Regional Library 
 since 2011, had previously worked as the branch manager of the John L. 
 Dart Library in downtown Charleston, and after her death, was honored by 
 the Charleston County Public Library system, which renamed St. Andrews 
 Library the Cynthia Graham Hurd St. Andrews Regional Library;
Whereas Reverend Sharonda Coleman-Singleton was a member of the ministerial 
 staff at Mother Emanuel AME Church, spent her life making a long-lasting 
 difference in the lives of those around her, was a speech and language 
 pathologist, and was a girls' track and field coach for Goose Creek High 
 School;
Whereas Tywanza Sanders, who was only 26 years old when his young life was 
 taken, earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Allen 
 University, played instruments such as the keyboard and was in the 
 process of writing his own book of poetry, and in his last moment, 
 stepped in front of Susie Jackson, giving his life in an attempt to save 
 his great-aunt;
Whereas both Tywanza Sanders and Susie Jackson were celebrated in a joint 
 funeral attended by hundreds of mourners;
Whereas Ethel Lance, whose favorite gospel song was ``One Day at a Time'', was 
 born in Charleston, where she and her husband, Nathaniel Lance, raised 
 their family, and she was a lifelong member of Mother Emanuel AME 
 Church, where she worked as a custodian to help keep the facilities 
 clean for 5 years;
Whereas Susie Jackson, a longtime member of the Mother Emanuel AME Church, 
 served as a trustee and an usher at her church, sang in the adult choir 
 for many years, and was 87 years old when she was killed on that tragic 
 day;
Whereas Reverend DePayne Middleton-Doctor earned a bachelor's degree in biology 
 from Columbia College in 1989, and a master's degree in organizational 
 management from Southern Wesleyan University in 1994, served as a 
 minister at Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston 
 before joining Mother Emanuel AME as a minister in March 2015, and was 
 the loving mother of 4 daughters--Gracyn, Kaylin, Hali, and Czana;
Whereas Reverend Daniel Simmons, Sr. was a fourth-generation preacher who 
 assisted Reverend Pinckney with pastoral duties, was nicknamed ``Super 
 Simmons from the Super Seventh'', earned a bachelor's degree in 
 education administration from Allen University, a master's degree in 
 social work from the University of South Carolina, and a master of 
 divinity degree with a concentration in leadership and theology from the 
 Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, was a loving husband 
 to his wife, Annie Graham Simmons, and was a devoted father to his 2 
 children, Daniel L. Simmons, Jr. and Rose Ann Simmons;
Whereas Myra Thompson was a Charleston native and longtime member of the Mother 
 Emanuel AME Church, earned a bachelor's degree in English education from 
 Benedict College, received a master of education degree in reading and a 
 second degree of master of education in school counseling from the 
 Citadel Military College of Charleston, was married to Reverend Anthony 
 B. Thompson, Vicar of Holy Trinity Reformed Episcopal Church in 
 Charleston, and was a loving mother to her 2 children, Kevin and Denise, 
 and her 2 grandchildren;
Whereas, on December 15, 2016, Roof was convicted in Federal court of all 33 
 Federal charges against him (including hate crimes) that stemmed from 
 the shooting;
Whereas, on January 11, 2017, he was sentenced to death for those crimes;
Whereas, on March 31, 2017, Roof agreed to plead guilty in South Carolina State 
 court to all state charges pending against him--9 counts of murder, 3 
 counts of attempted murder, and possession of a firearm during the 
 commission of a felony--to avoid a second death sentence;
Whereas, as part of the plea agreement, Roof accepted a sentence of life in 
 prison without the possibility of parole;
Whereas, on April 10, 2017, Roof was sentenced to 9 consecutive sentences of 
 life without the possibility of parole after formally pleading guilty to 
 the state charges; and
Whereas Roof is currently on death row at United States Penitentiary, Terre 
 Haute, awaiting execution for the Federal convictions: Now, therefore, 
 be it
 Resolved, That the Senate--

    (1) commemorates June 17, 2025, as the tenth anniversary of 
 the Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting;

    (2) remembers that in the face of unimaginable pain, the 
 church stood firm in faith, a living reminder that--
        (A) as Romans 8:28 says, ``in all things God works 
 for the good of those who love him''; and
        (B) as Matthew 18:21-22 teaches, ``Peter came up 
 and said to him, `Lord, how often will my brother sin 
 against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?' 
 [and] Jesus said to him, `I do not say to you seven 
 times, but seventy-seven times''';

    (3) honors the victims' memory, their legacy, and the 
 enduring hope that evil never has the final word; and

    (4) remembers each victim of the shooting--
        (A) Reverend Clementa Pinckney;
        (B) Reverend Sharonda Coleman-Singleton;
            (C) Cynthia Hurd;
            (D) Susie Jackson;
        (E) Ethel Lance;
        (F) Reverend DePayne Middleton-Doctor;
        (G) Tywanza Sanders;
        (H) Reverend Daniel Simmons Sr.;
            (I) Myra Thompson;
        (J) Polly Sheppard;
        (K) Jennifer Pinckney;
            (L) Felicia Sanders; and
            (M) two minor children.
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