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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Tragedy Strikes by Joshua Liao

Tragedy Strikes

                Imagine for a moment that you are in the safest place on earth. Not necessarily a building with maximum security measures, but just somewhere where you feel safe. Maybe its home on a Christmas morning where you’re opening presents or a summer afternoon where the sun is shining and everything is peaceful. Then imagine that something so crazy and unthinkable occurred that you never thought could be possible completely destroyed every ounce of serenity left in your safe place. For a group of citizens, that unthinkable was Dylann Roof. On Wednesday 17, 2015, about a dozen African Americans congregated at the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, North Carolina for a prayer session. A predominately black group, one of the new attendees was 21 year old white man named Dylann Roof. For about an hour, he joined in conversation, talked, and prayed with the group. Then everything changed. Roof suddenly stood up and started shooting, killing nine of the twelve people in the group before running off into the night. He was later apprehended by the police during his getaway. For many, including me, the question is why. How could anyone hate others so much that they would do such a thing? Roof was an individual who held the belief of “white supremacy”. His hatred for African Americans was evident to those who knew him growing up. Roof later confessed after being caught that he hoped his actions would cause a “race war”. All of these reasons are totally unacceptable. It is hard to believe that one individual was so selfish that he felt the need to ruin the lives and families of 9 individuals just in order to show his opinion. As Roof stands on trial for what he did, my prayers extend to both Roof that God can reach him and the grieving families.

Joshua Liao

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