Nearly 100 people gathered on June 24 below the steps of the old Jackson County courthouse in Sylva for a vigil organized by the Jackson County Branch of the NAACP.

The vigil was to to honor those who died June 17 when Dylann Roof entered the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and killed nine African-Americans. The case is being investigated as a racially motivated hate crime. The NAACP’s position is that this act of terrorism was directed at the African-American community. 

After Rev. Porter Barringer, associate from Liberty Baptist Church, opened with prayer, Dr. Enrique Gómez, president of the NAACP area branch, presented the main address. 

Branch members from Franklin, Selma Sparks and Dan Kowel, read short biographies honoring the lives of each person — among whom were religious leaders, service members, teachers, librarians, recent college graduates — each a member of Mother Emanuel church and a cornerstone of their community. 

Participants then kept a 20-minute, candlelit and silent vigil to reflect on the meaning of the event.  

Gómez stressed afterward that a vigil is not sufficient to address the racism and violence in our society. “We have just begun,” he continued, “to overcome the legacy of centuries of slavery and racism. Each of us has an obligation to go back to our institutions, workplaces, friends and families and confront racism wherever it shows up.”

A video of the vigil can be seen at www.jacksonncnaacp.org/2015/06/just-begun/.