Unheeded lessons of divided past store up trouble for future

Peniel E Joseph sets last week’s massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston in the context of a climate of denial in America over national issues of racial inequality

AMERICA’S latest incident of racial violence, the massacre of nine people at the historically black Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, echoes some of the horrific scenes out of the civil-rights era.

A young white shooter allegedly committed mass murder at a sacred space of black activism, spiritual renewal, and educational commitment. The slaughter provides a stark reminder of the way in which racial violence has been used to limit the hopes and aspirations of the black freedom struggle.