Charlestonians reflect on their city, community, grief

World Today

Charlestonians reflect on their city,community and grief

The U.S. city of Charleston is known for its warmth and hospitality. And it’s people are now pulling together, even more than usual, in the wake of Wednesday’s church shooting, allegedly at the hands of a white supremacist. Nine people died.

CCTV’s Roee Ruttenberg went out and spoke with people of Charleston about their city, their sense of community, and their grief.

“Charleston is a friendly city. We welcome people from all over the world. Obviously the tourist destination.”
“This is where I bring my kids. This is where we play. This is where we have our family time. We’re all black and white. It’s an all American city. That’s what it is.”

Roee: Do you think there’s racism in here?

“Not at all, no. I’ve never encountered any racism here, or problems with racists here.”
“We’re like every other part of the country., And the world too. There are awful things happening to people because the color of their skin or where they came from.”
“I don’t want everybody to think of Charleston as a racist town, but yes, we do have our problems just like everybody else in the country.”

Roee: How did what happened on Wednesday make you feel?

“It hurts. We just drove past the church. And I get so mad I wanted to cry. I wanted to fight. And I wasn’t raised that way.”
“It’s heartbreaking to know that people definitely still hold that hatred feeling.”
“I was so saddened to see this happen to our town.”
“I could understand better if he just walked in there and (gestures shooting) killed everyone. But to sit there and talk about God and worship for about an hour, I can’t get my head around it.”
“This is not representative of the city at all.”

Roee: What do you think it’s going to take for Charleston to heal?

“It’s going to take a little time, but we always bounce back.”
“We don’t really deal with that on a day-to-day basis, all of the racism that happened so suddenly. Probably just time, and each other.
“This is not going to get us down. He will be down for a moment. We will all stand up. We will learn to work together again, and we love each other.”
“Even though this terrible thing happened, Charleston is still going to be a beautiful city that everyone loves.”
“I wish that more people would come together, in love and peace, and try to be more respectful to one another.”
“In my mind, the best way to handle this is to take the positive out of the negative. You know, trying to find a silver lining in it. This is going to make us a closer and tighter community.”