On June 26, eight days after the shooting in the Carleston, South Carolina Mother Emanuel church were nine people were gunned down, President Obama appeared before a grief-filled but energetic crowd to give a eulogy.
This was more than just a presidential speech. What he gave was a sermon and a stirring reflection of the Rev. Clementa Pinckney’s life, which was responded to with applause, cheers, and chords from a church organ. The 37 minute speech was powerful.
He followed after many eulogies and gospel numbers at the filled arena in the College of Charleston, but his own words weren’t drowned out by theirs as he praised Pinckney as a man who was “wise beyond his years” and turned to sharing his own experiences and impressions of Pinckney to the mourning crowd. He even shared sentiment about gun violence and racism.
But it’s not his sermon or talks about the Rev. Clementa Pinckney that is the most remembered take-away, but his rendition of “Amazing Grace” that will stick in our minds. It started after a moment of silence, where the president just started to sing a cappella on his own, but soon the church band and entire audience joined him.