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