Chris Singleton, Son of Emanuel AME Shooting Victim, Reveals Why He Knows ‘God Is Real’ By Tré Goins-Phillips for Faith Wire
There are few moments in recent memory that truly captured the affections of the entire nation, but the horrific shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in June 2015 is one of them.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, an inexplicable forgiveness became an almost instantaneous zeitgeist that baffled onlookers. For Chris Singleton, a former MLB draft pick whose mother, Sharonda, was among those killed by Dylann Roof, it was that very forgiveness — his own supernatural ability to extend grace to the young white supremacist — that proved to him there absolutely is a God.
“This is why I know that God is real,” Singleton told Faithwire. “Because never in a million years could you tell me that I would forgive the man who murdered my mother the day after, or two days after. There was never an instance where I would have thought that before it actually happened.”
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But that’s exactly what did happen. One by one, family members representing those murdered by Roof stood up in the courtroom two days after the hate-filled attack and forgave the gunman as he stood silently in an off-site cell and listened to their statements, words that simultaneously carried the bitter pangs of sorrow and the comforting warmth of hope.
Now, four years later, actor Viola Davis, NBA point guard Stephen Curry, and “Law & Order: SVU” star Mariska Hargitay have produced a brand-new documentary, “Emanuel,” chronicling the breathtaking story of redemption and forgiveness.
The film, distributed by Fathom Events, will be in theaters across the United States for two nights only, June 17 and 19, the anniversary of the deadly shooting that left nine church members dead.
