{"id":572,"date":"2024-12-05T15:05:42","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T15:05:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/rhetoric\/?p=572"},"modified":"2025-04-23T13:31:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T13:31:16","slug":"572","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/rhetoric\/572\/","title":{"rendered":"A Mustard Seed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On June 17th<\/sup>, 2015, there was a Bible Study being held at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. After someone began praying, Dylan Roof pulled out a gun, aiming it at Susie Jackson. Her nephew, 26-year-old Tywana Sanders, tried to calm him down and asked why he was attacking the churchgoers. Roof replied, \u201cI have to do it. You rape our women and you\u2019re taking over our country. And you have to go.\u201d Once Roof said he intended to shoot them all, Sanders dove in front of Jackson and was the first person shot. Roof began firing at other members of church, reloading his gun 5 times. Sanders\u2019s mother and his five-year-old niece, who also attended the study, survived the shooting by pretending to being dead on the floor. The victims say he spared one woman (aside from the two he didn\u2019t know survived). Her name was Polly Sheppard. He asked her, \u201cDid I shoot you?\u201d She said, \u201cNo.\u201d He replied, \u201cGood, \u2018cause we need someone to survive, because I\u2019m gonna shoot myself, and you\u2019ll be the only survivor. He put the gun to his own head, pulled the trigger, but discovered he was out of ammunition. Before leaving the church, he made another racially inflammatory statement over the victims bodies.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               I found myself outside of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. It was a church founded by free and enslaved Blacks in 1816. It\u2019s the oldest AME church in the south. There were two other violent attacks performed here. In 1818, white officials raided the church and arrested 140 members and subjected them to fines and lashings. In 1822, the church was burned down, and 35 men were executed for their involvement in a slave revolt plot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               Right here, right now, there was nothing going on. There was so much peace. So much acceptance of what the blacks are doing to our people. And I must do something about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               I pushed the church door open and it creaked as I did so. There were 11 members who sat across the pews. I knew the guy up front in center. Clementa C. Pinckney was the pastor of the church. I\u2019d seen him before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cWelcome young man. What\u2019s your name?\u201d Pastor Pinckney asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cDylan. Dylan Roof.\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell welcome. We were just reading Matthew 17 if you wanted to find your way there. We\u2019re-\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to sit next to you.\u201d I interrupted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSure, why not.\u201d He said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I made my way up front next to him, he continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at verse 20, right after Jesus casts out a demon after the disciples could not. It reads, \u2018So Jesus said to them, \u2018Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, \u2018Move from here to there,\u2019 and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However-\u2019\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cThat\u2019s simply untrue.\u201d I stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               Pastor Pinckney glanced over at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cWhat?\u201d He asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cI said that\u2019s simply untrue. No one can move a mountain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cWell sure, but also no. Jesus is saying that with faith, anything is possible. So, if you have faith even the size of a mustard seed, you can have such a powerful impact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cSo, you can move a mountain if you believe you can?\u201d I crossed my arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cI don\u2019t see why not. All it takes is faith.\u201d This older lady in the crowd said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               I flopped back in my chair, annoyed. Of course, they believe that stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cBefore we go into a deeper meaning of the scripture, let us pray. Sister Jackson, will you pray over this Bible Study please?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cOf course, Pastor. Let us all bow our heads.\u201d The older lady said.

               Everyone did as she said, but I didn\u2019t. I wanted to see them, each person before I shot them all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cDear Heavenly Father, I pray that you would bless this Bible Study. Allow for us to hear from you and to have a clear understanding of your word. Thank you for bringing us here safely to fellowship with you Lord God. I pray that you would give us safe travels on our way home later. Th- \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cJames 4:14.\u201d I interrupted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               Everyone opened their eyes to look at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cExcuse me?\u201d Ms. Jackson asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cJames 4:14 is saying tomorrow isn\u2019t promised. What if the next 5 minutes aren\u2019t promised?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cThey aren\u2019t.\u201d Pastor Pinckney said. \u201cNothing is promised to us. But we sure are believing in God to give us that time. And if he doesn\u2019t, then it is well with my soul.\u201d
               I reached down in my boot and pulled a handgun out. At first, I just looked at it, flipping it around in my hands. I looked up at the pastor, then the members of the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cHow much faith do you have that I won\u2019t shoot all of you right now? Do you have faith the size of a mustard seed in that?\u201d I mocked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cI do.\u201d Ms. Jackson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               And she sounded confident in her answer too. It made me laugh. She\u2019s so ignorant. They all are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cWell, you can be first then.\u201d
               \u201cWait.\u201d This guy quickly stood up. \u201cDon\u2019t shoot her please. This is my 87-year-old auntie. Why would you want to hurt her?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cI don\u2019t just want to hurt her; I want to hurt all of you. If I could, I would hurt every black person in the world.\u201d
               \u201cBut why? We haven\u2019t done anything wrong.\u201d
               \u201cBlack people are killing white people every day on the street, and they are raping white women. What I\u2019m gonna do is so minuscule to what they\u2019re doing to white people every day all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cBut we haven\u2019t done any of that. Why attack our church?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               \u201cDon\u2019t you get it? This is such an important place in black history. So many black \u2018legends\u2019 walked these grounds. This will shake the world. It might even start a race war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               The guy shook his head which only made me angrier. Does he think he can stop me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               I placed my finger over the trigger and right before I pulled it, I heard speaking. Well not exactly speaking, but prayer. And I had no clue what he was saying, but I knew what he was doing. Pastor Pinckney was speaking in tongues. And people consider this a form of intercessory prayer. These people genuinely think they can stop me. That their faith in a fake God can stop me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have lost your mind.\u201d I laughed. \u201cYou all have lost your minds. You want something to pray about? I\u2019ll give you something to pray about.\u201d
               Pointing the gun back at Ms. Sanders, I pulled the trigger. But she didn\u2019t flinch, and a bullet didn\u2019t come out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I pointed the gun at Pastor Pinckney (who was still praying) and pulled the trigger. Still, no bullet came out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And standing right here right now, I had a revelation. God is real. Because I know this gun was loaded. And I know they both should\u2019ve gotten shot. But they didn\u2019t. And I believe it was because of that prayer and because of that lady\u2019s faith. Maybe it was the size of a mustard seed. But hey, it was enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the church doors burst open and five cops came rushing in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverybody get down!\u201d The officer shouted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I dropped my gun. And I realized what the officers would now think. That I was the suspect. But in reality, I\u2019m just trying to save my people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The officers made their way up to me and slammed me to the ground. I felt their knees in my back as they pinned my arms behind me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It felt hard to breathe, but I didn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOscar Grant.\u201d I struggled to get out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One cop closed the left handcuff around my wrist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re under arrest. Everything you say can and will be held against you in the court of law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMichael Brown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They closed the right handcuff tightly around my other wrist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKill them. Keep killing black people. Take them off the streets.\u201d I told the cops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what I didn\u2019t expect was to be charged with a hate crime. And then attempted manslaughter. Technically the bullet didn\u2019t even come out, so it wasn\u2019t fair. All I wanted to do was keep our white women safe. But they don\u2019t care. Which was weird, because we all know they don\u2019t care about blacks either. But this is what they\u2019ll do to stop them from rioting. They know the danger that comes with their kind. I just happened to be the sacrifice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Works Consulted<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cCharleston church shooting.\u201d Wikipedia<\/em>,       https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Charleston_church_shooting. Accessed 30 September 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cEmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.\u201d Civil Rights Trail<\/em>, 20 October 2017, https:\/\/civilrightstrail.com\/attraction\/emanuel-ame-church\/. Accessed 11 October 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Kauffman, Gretel. \u201cWhat motivated Dylann Roof? Confession offers clues.\u201d The Christian Science Monitor<\/em>, 12 December 2016, https:\/\/www.csmonitor.com\/USA\/2016\/1211\/What-motivated-Dylann-Roof-Confession-offers-clues. Accessed 11 October 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Return to Homepage<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On June 17th, 2015, there was a Bible Study being held at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. After someone began praying, Dylan Roof pulled out a gun, aiming it at Susie Jackson. Her nephew, 26-year-old Tywana Sanders, tried to calm him down and asked why he was attacking the churchgoers. Roof replied, \u201cI have to do it. You rape our women and you\u2019re taking over our country. And you have to go.\u201d Once Roof said he intended to shoot them all, Sanders dove in front of Jackson and was the first person shot. Roof began firing at other members of church, reloading his gun 5 times. Sanders\u2019s mother and his five-year-old niece, who also attended the study, survived the shooting by pretending to being dead on the floor. The victims say he spared one woman (aside from the two he didn\u2019t know survived). Her name was Polly Sheppard. He asked her, \u201cDid I shoot you?\u201d She said, \u201cNo.\u201d He replied, \u201cGood, \u2018cause we need someone to survive, because I\u2019m gonna shoot myself, and you\u2019ll be the only survivor. He put the gun to his own head, pulled the trigger, but discovered he was out of ammunition. Before leaving the church, he made another racially inflammatory statement over the victims bodies.                I found myself outside of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. It was a church founded by free and enslaved Blacks in 1816. It\u2019s the oldest AME church in the south. There were two other violent attacks performed here. In 1818, white officials raided the church and arrested 140 members and subjected them to fines and lashings. In 1822, the church was burned down, and 35 men were executed for their involvement in a slave revolt plot.                Right here, right now, there was nothing going on. There was so much peace. So much acceptance of what the blacks are doing to our people. And I must do something about it.                I pushed the church door open and it creaked as I did so. There were 11 members who sat across the pews. I knew the guy up front in center. Clementa C. Pinckney was the pastor of the church. I\u2019d seen him before.                \u201cWelcome young man. What\u2019s your name?\u201d Pastor Pinckney asked.                \u201cDylan. Dylan Roof.\u201d I replied. \u201cWell welcome. We were just reading Matthew 17 if you wanted to find your way there. We\u2019re-\u201d \u201cI\u2019d like to sit next to you.\u201d I interrupted. \u201cSure, why not.\u201d He said. While I made my way up front next to him, he continued. \u201cWe\u2019re at verse 20, right after Jesus casts out a demon after the disciples could not. It reads, \u2018So Jesus said to them, \u2018Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, \u2018Move from here to there,\u2019 and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However-\u2019\u2019\u201d                \u201cThat\u2019s simply untrue.\u201d I stated.                Pastor Pinckney glanced over at me.                \u201cWhat?\u201d He asked.                \u201cI said that\u2019s simply untrue. No one can move a mountain.\u201d                \u201cWell sure, but also no. Jesus is saying that with faith, anything is possible. So, if you have faith even the size of a mustard seed, you can have such a powerful impact.\u201d                \u201cSo, you can move a mountain if you believe you can?\u201d I crossed my arms.                \u201cI don\u2019t see why not. All it takes is faith.\u201d This older lady in the crowd said.                I flopped back in my chair, annoyed. Of course, they believe that stuff.                \u201cBefore we go into a deeper meaning of the scripture, let us pray. Sister Jackson, will you pray over this Bible Study please?\u201d                \u201cOf course, Pastor. Let us all bow our heads.\u201d The older lady said.                Everyone did as she said, but I didn\u2019t. I wanted to see them, each person before I shot them all.                \u201cDear Heavenly Father, I pray that you would bless this Bible Study. Allow for us to hear from you and to have a clear understanding of your word. Thank you for bringing us here safely to fellowship with you Lord God. I pray that you would give us safe travels on our way home later. Th- \u201c                \u201cJames 4:14.\u201d I interrupted.                Everyone opened their eyes to look at me.                \u201cExcuse me?\u201d Ms. Jackson asked.                \u201cJames 4:14 is saying tomorrow isn\u2019t promised. What if the next 5 minutes aren\u2019t promised?\u201d                \u201cThey aren\u2019t.\u201d Pastor Pinckney said. \u201cNothing is promised to us. But we sure are believing in God to give us that time. And if he doesn\u2019t, then it is well with my soul.\u201d               I reached down in my boot and pulled a handgun out. At first, I just looked at it, flipping it around in my hands. I looked up at the pastor, then the members of the church.                \u201cHow much faith do you have that I won\u2019t shoot all of you right now? Do you have faith the size of a mustard seed in that?\u201d I mocked.                \u201cI do.\u201d Ms. Jackson said.                And she sounded confident in her answer too. It made me laugh. She\u2019s so ignorant. They all are.                \u201cWell, you can be first then.\u201d               \u201cWait.\u201d This guy quickly stood up. \u201cDon\u2019t shoot her please. This is my 87-year-old auntie. Why would you want to hurt her?\u201d                \u201cI don\u2019t just want to hurt her; I want to hurt all of you. If I could, I would hurt every black person in the world.\u201d               \u201cBut why? We haven\u2019t done anything wrong.\u201d               \u201cBlack people are killing white people every day on the street, and they are raping white women. What I\u2019m gonna do is so minuscule to what they\u2019re doing to white people every day all the time.\u201d                \u201cBut we haven\u2019t done any of that. Why attack our church?\u201d                \u201cDon\u2019t you get it? This is such an important place in black history. So many black \u2018legends\u2019 walked these grounds. This will shake the world. It might even start a race war.\u201d                The guy shook his head which only made me angrier. Does he think he can stop me?                I placed my finger over the trigger and right before I pulled it, I heard speaking. Well not exactly speaking, but prayer. And I had no clue what he was saying, but I knew what he was doing. Pastor Pinckney was speaking in tongues. And people consider this a form of intercessory prayer. These people genuinely think they can stop me. That their faith in a fake God can stop me. \u201cYou have lost your mind.\u201d I laughed. \u201cYou all have lost your minds. You want something to pray about? I\u2019ll give you something to pray about.\u201d               Pointing the gun back at Ms. Sanders, I pulled the trigger. But she didn\u2019t flinch, and a bullet didn\u2019t come out. So, I pointed the gun at Pastor Pinckney (who was still praying) and pulled the trigger. Still, no bullet came out. And standing right here right now, I had a revelation. God is real. Because I know this gun was loaded. And I know they both should\u2019ve gotten shot. But they didn\u2019t. And I believe it was because of that prayer and because of that lady\u2019s faith. Maybe it was the size of a mustard seed. But hey, it was enough. Then the church doors burst open and five cops came rushing in. \u201cEverybody get down!\u201d The officer shouted. So I dropped my gun. And I realized what the officers would now think. That I was the suspect. But in reality, I\u2019m just trying to save my people. The officers made their way up to me and slammed me to the ground. I felt their knees in my back as they pinned my arms behind me. It felt hard to breathe, but I didn\u2019t care. \u201cOscar Grant.\u201d I struggled to get out. One cop closed the left handcuff around my wrist. \u201cYou\u2019re under arrest. Everything you say can and will be held against you in the court of law.\u201d \u201cMichael Brown.\u201d They closed the right handcuff tightly around my other wrist. \u201cKill them. Keep killing black people. Take them off the streets.\u201d I told the cops. But what I didn\u2019t expect was to be charged with a hate crime. And then attempted manslaughter. Technically the bullet didn\u2019t even come out, so it wasn\u2019t fair. All I wanted to do was keep our white women safe. But they don\u2019t care. Which was weird, because we all know they don\u2019t care about blacks either. But this is what they\u2019ll do to stop them from rioting. They know the danger that comes with their kind. I just happened to be the sacrifice. Works Consulted \u201cCharleston church shooting.\u201d Wikipedia,       https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Charleston_church_shooting. Accessed 30 September 2024. \u201cEmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.\u201d Civil Rights Trail, 20 October 2017, https:\/\/civilrightstrail.com\/attraction\/emanuel-ame-church\/. Accessed 11 October 2024. Kauffman, Gretel. \u201cWhat motivated Dylann Roof? Confession offers clues.\u201d The Christian Science Monitor, 12 December 2016, https:\/\/www.csmonitor.com\/USA\/2016\/1211\/What-motivated-Dylann-Roof-Confession-offers-clues. Accessed 11 October 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":738,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sb_is_suggestion_mode":false,"_sb_show_suggestion_boards":false,"_sb_show_comment_boards":false,"_sb_suggestion_history":"","_sb_update_block_changes":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/rhetoric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/rhetoric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/rhetoric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/rhetoric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/738"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/rhetoric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/rhetoric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":921,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/rhetoric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572\/revisions\/921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/rhetoric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/rhetoric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/rhetoric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}