Ten years after a white supremacist killed nine parishioners of Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, the community is still coping with the loss and navigating the impact of the racial attack.
Marcus Amaker, the first poet laureate of Charleston, South Carolina, said many Black residents of South Carolina became afraid to go to church, a fear that lingers to this day.
“Going to church, especially for people in the south, especially for Black people in the south, has always been a safe haven,” Amaker said. “So for that to be sort of laced and infused with anxiety is a really hard thing for a lot of people to deal with, and I don’t really feel like a lot of us talk about it that much.”
As a poet, how did you choose to address and honor the 10-year anniversary of the shooting?
“For me, one of the first things that I do when I start writing is just putting up a mirror to a city or a situation and just writing about what I see without much judgment. And even coming from that place, the truth will come out.
“As a poet laureate, I also live with the paradox of realizing that this tragedy, this massacre, opened up a lot of doors for me as a poet because one of the family members actually told me that I was one of the voices of the nine, which is a heavy, heavy thing to hear.”
What does it mean to be considered a voice for the nine people killed?
“I think from her standpoint, it was giving voice to them from a faith standpoint, since their voices have been silenced. There is this understanding that they died worshiping God. So being able to speak from a higher place through the poetry, I think, is speaking from that voice.
“For me to write from that standpoint, I think hopefully comes from an honest standpoint and definitely a real place to stand from because wherever we stand, it hurts.
“But also realizing that as Black people, we have found joy. After every single situation that has happened in this country, we have still been able to find joy. So I think that she really appreciated the fact that joy has also spoken.”
How do you get to a place of positivity in the wake of this tragedy?
“For me, it’s being aware of those moments where joy does find you. You know, even in the hardest situations, if you find yourself laughing or you find yourself walking in a forest or whatever. It could be eating a really good meal. There is always this little sort of glimmer of hope in the middle of sadness, and I had to really train myself to notice those things as much as I notice the sadness.
“For me that side of life has to be looked at, or we will drown. If I spend too much time in sadness, it’s not honoring all sides of life. If I spend too much time in joy, it’s not looking at the reality of what a lot of us are facing. So, I think that that balance is very important.”
This interview was edited for clarity.
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Samantha Raphelson produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Catherine Welch. Grace Griffin adapted it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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