Church Shooting Strikes at the Heart of Black Culture

If the killings had happened anywhere else they still would have been horrendous. The shock, outrage and fear would not be diminished.
But coming as they did inside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the gunshots are echoing through black communities in a particularly painful way. The soaring, historic structure in Charleston, South Carolina, is not just a building. It's not even just a place of worship.
Alton Pollard said, dean at the Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, D.C., said Emanuel has sent a message for generations of black citizens marginalized in the halls of politics, business, education, and even other churches, adding, "The black church has always been our freedom house."