Latest news with #EmanuelAMEChurch
Axios
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
1 big thing: 🛥️ Let's go boating
Welcome to Tuesday. It's Katie. 🚘Axios Charlotte members are the driving force behind our newsroom. Join them today. ⛈️ Weather: Low 90s with scattered thunderstorms. 🎂 Happy birthday to our Axios Charlotte member Elizabeth Baker. Situational awareness: Today marks 10 years since a white supremacist murdered nine Black parishioners at a Bible study at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, the oldest Black congregation in the South. Alexis Clinton It's boat season, and local companies recommend you book in advance if you want to spend time on the water this summer. Why it matters: Charlotte may be landlocked, but that doesn't mean a day on the water is out of reach — whether it's a pool, lake or river. We've rounded up a few boat rental companies offering ways for you to keep cool and entertained this summer. Tiki Time Boat Rentals — A company with a tiki-themed boat cruising on Lake Norman with room for 19 passengers. The hourly tiki boat ride starts at $200 and comes with a Bluetooth speaker, grill, seated bar, bathroom, karaoke, water mat, paddleboards and a cooler. Black Boat Club — This company, which operates on Lake Norman and Lake Wylie, sells out every weekend. Reservations are typically needed a month in advance. The operator has a tritoon, pontoon and sports boats. Tega Cay Marina — Rent a 10-passenger pontoon on Lake Wylie starting at $425, including the first full tank of gas. 2. Black Boat Weekend on Lake Norman Alexis Clinton While we're on the topic of boating: More than 100 boats will be on Lake Norman for Black Boat Weekend on Saturday, July 19. Why it matters: The organized boat party is almost sold out but there are still a few ways to experience some of the festivities during the three-day event. Context: Entrepreneur Charisme Dhanani was inspired to start Black Boat Weekend after seeing large boat parties in Florida and Chicago. This year will be the first year at Lake Norman. Dhanani hopes to make it an annual event here. "We're throwing a full-on floating party and this event is open to everyone," Dhanani tells Axios. Details: Black Boat Weekend has a list of scheduled events from July 18-20. Festivities will kick off on Friday with a free meet-and-greet day party at Medusa Lounge in NoDa from 3-9pm. Saturday is the main event with boats and DJs on Lake Norman from 11am-7pm. An after-party at Explicit Bistro and Lounge will be held from 9pm-2am. Tickets are $20-40. On Sunday there will be a brunch at RSVP South End from 1-8pm. It's free to attend and food is available for an additional price. If you go: Bring your own boat and pay a $125 tie-up fee for full access to all water activities at the party. A full weekend VIP ticke t is $2,850 for 10 people. 3. 🍌 The Bananas' Uptown boost Ashley Mahoney Charlotte went bananas earlier this month when a wacky baseball team packed out Bank of America Stadium two nights in a row. The Savannah Bananas drew 148,000 people in Charlotte, a team record. Why it matters: Mecklenburg County hotels were near record capacity when the Bananas came to Charlotte, which is a win for Charlotte's visitor economy, according to Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority (CRVA) CEO Steve Bagwell. Zoom in: While post-pandemic business travel was slow to recover, leisure travel in Uptown has boomed in recent years, bolstering center city's recovery. Major events like the 2023 Beyoncé concert have drawn thousands of visitors Uptown, where they patronize hotels, restaurants and bars. By the numbers: Mecklenburg County hotels had 81.5% occupancy for Friday, June 6, and 90% for Saturday, June 7, according to the CRVA. The average hotel rate was $146.17 for June 6 and $159.03 for June 7. Go deeper 4. A Duke Energy bill and other speed reads 💡 A major energy bill being debated by the Republican-led General Assembly would eliminate an interim goal that mandates Duke Energy reach a 70% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, while keeping in place a longer-term goal of being carbon neutral in 2050. (Axios) 💪 The Club, a new fitness-meets-co-working space in South End, will open its second floor on Saturday, June 21. In addition to the fitness rooms that opened earlier this year, The Club will soon offer a co-working space with 30 seats and a full-service coffee bar featuring drinks from Pertinacious Coffee Co., according to a press release. 🍔 Mooyah Burgers, Fries, and Shakes — a Texas-based fast-casual restaurant known for its hand-cut fries, ice cream shakes and burgers — will open in Uptown at 210 E Trade St. on June 30, a representative confirmed to Axios. 🛍️ CAMP, an immersive store with kid-friendly activities and toys, will open soon at SouthPark mall. (Instagram) 5. 🚲 Welcome to the Jungle Jungle Cycle + Strength Studio is now open in west Charlotte's Lower Tuck Development. Why it matters: The locally owned studio is the newest project by local fitness entrepreneur Liv Morgan, who owns the Dilworth cycling studio, SkyCycle. What to expect: Two types of fitness classes — Power Synthesis and cycling. Each is a rhythm-based workout, taught in a low-light room with energizing music. Power Synthesis is a heated mat workout that combines Pilates movements with strength exercises. It holds about 20 people. Mats and equipment are provided. The cycling class holds up to 32 people and often features themed playlists, like "Rihanna vs. Rufus" and "Tate McRae and Ellie Goulding." 6. 🥵 Steamy summer nights Summer nights have gotten 1.7 degrees warmer in Charlotte over the last five decades, according to a new report from Climate Central, a research and communications group. Average summer nighttime temperatures increased between 1970-2024 in 96% of 241 locations analyzed. Why it matters: Higher overnight temperatures can have health consequences for vulnerable groups, as well as increase demand for air conditioning, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick writes. Between the lines: Charlotte experienced its warmest April on record, dating back to 1878, according to the National Weather Service.
Black America Web
18-06-2025
- Black America Web
Survivors Remember Emanuel AME Church Massacre Victims On 10th Anniversary
Source: Education Images / Getty On June 17, 2015, the lives of parishioners of the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, were forever changed. Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Cynthia Hurd, Ethel Lee Lance, the Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor, the Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., Myra Thompson, Susie Jackson, and Tywanza Sanders were in a bible study with other members of the congregation, led by Rev. Clementa Pinckney. The group welcomed Dylann Roof, a then 21-year-old white man, into the church to join them in fellowship and prayer. Their kindness was met by a horrific act of violence when Roof drew a rifle and opened fire, tragically killing all nine people. Now, a decade later, the survivors are reflecting on the tragedy and remembering the loved ones they lost. Craig Melvin, of NBC's 'Today Show,' interviewed several of the families who were in the church that day and lost loved ones. Malana Pinckney was only six years old when the tragedy took place. Malana's father was Rev. Clementa Pinckney, one of the nine people murdered that day. Malana was in a study room with her mother, Jennifer Pinckney, who credits her daughter as the reason why she's still here with us today. 'By her coming and being with us, [it] kept me in the office,' Jennifer Pinckney told NBC. 'Because I knew, six years old, she was not going to sit in a Bible study. She was just going to be running around and wanting to talk, or wanting to eat a snack, or something. So I knew it was best, 'We're going to say in the pastor's study.' And that's why I'm here today, is because of her.' For the Pinckneys, Clementa has never been far from their thoughts. His memory has loomed large as the family has celebrated several milestones over the last year. 'Malana went to the prom, Eliana [their other daughter] graduated from college. It's just been like, 'Your father should've been here to witness and to be a part of all of this that's going on,'' Jennifer said. Source: Getty / Getty 'It is so hard to go through your life and not just let this tear me down for the rest of my life. I have so much that I have to live for, for my mom and for my dad,' Malana told NBC. Felicia Sanders, Tywanza's mother, told NBC that she still hasn't moved on from the tragedy. 'You don't,' Sanders said. 'You just have to do what you have to do. I feel sometimes like, even though Dylann Roof got sentenced, I feel like we got sentenced also.' Roof chose Emanuel AME Church in particular as it's a historically Black church, and he wanted to start a 'race war.' Roof was arrested the day after the shooting in Charleston and was eventually tried and given the death sentence. Despite the horrific, racially motivated nature of his crime, Roof's attorneys have continually tried to have his death sentence overturned. Sadly, in the ten years since the shooting, white supremacy has only become more pronounced, with the attitudes expressed by Roof making their way into mainstream politics. While there's been a decline in hate groups over the last year, that's largely due to the ideals they espouse being held or, at the very least, tolerated by elected officials and the public at large. We've seen this in the prolonged attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), the attempts to whitewash history at national museums, and a white woman actually raising substantial sums of money for calling a child the N-word. To drive home how much Roof's white supremacist ideals have become normalized, a GOP politician was actually upset with President Biden when he refused to commute Roof's death sentence. A memorial has been in progress at the Charleston Emanuel AME Church to honor the nine victims and is open for visitors to pay respects. It's easy to give in to despair when you look at how much America has given in to its worst impulses over the last decade. Yet, for the sake of those we've lost, we have to do our best to strengthen our sense of community and fight back against the incredibly dangerous and deadly forces of white supremacy. SEE ALSO: Dylann Roof Wants Death Sentence Overturned Emanuel AME Church To Build Victims Memorial SEE ALSO Survivors Remember Emanuel AME Church Massacre Victims On 10th Anniversary was originally published on Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘A powerful legacy': Mother Emanuel's impact on Charleston stretches from past to present
'The legacy of African history and the African presence here in Charleston is extensive. It's expansive, it's resilient. You know, for for most of Charleston's history, and for that matter, for the state of South Carolina, the black population was the majority population here,' says Dr. Bernard Powers. Powers has studied and written about Charleston's history and the church firmly rooted in the city's downtown. He knows all about the history of Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. 'It was simply known as the African church in 1818, and these people wanted to control their own religious destiny, and they wanted to control their own religious heritage,' Powers told Channel 9's Ken Lemon. 'This is tremendous, when you think about it, because these are people who were mainly enslaved in Charleston, the center of slavery, and so they create the African church.' Powers says the early years of Mother Emanuel were rife with threats. 'So this is a powerful legacy of these people's bid for freedom in the midst of slavery in Charleston. So that's one thing about it. Now, the church was persecuted here by the white authorities because they were afraid that this congregation would become the seedbed for insurrection and rebellion,' Powers said. 'The police and other officials, came in. They arrested members of the Church, jailed them, fined them. Some were whipped, but their spirit of religious determination could not be broken and they would continue to meet, that's powerful.' This was at a time when Mother Emanuel's congregation had very little control over any other portion of their lives. 'That's right, absolutely, and people who were themselves considered to be property in the law,' Powers said. Over time, Emanuel AME Church became a centerpiece of Charleston and the heartbeat of the Black community. The church became a home base for civil rights leaders. Booker T. Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are among the national and local leaders to speak to members about inequality. Hundreds of people met at the church and organized support for striking hospital workers. And it was still a driving force in the city in 1963, when future Charlotte city councilman Malcolm Graham was born there. 'Emanuel is home. Every morning, every Sunday morning, around 5:30, my mom would yell, Malcolm, Jackie, Cynthia, get up, we're going to church. And that meant we were going to Emanuel AME church right here on Calhoun Street. And my grandmother went here. My mother went here and sung in the choir, obviously, as a kid, Cynthia, Jackie and my siblings, we all went here, Sunday school, Easter speeches, Sunday choir,' Graham told Ken Lemon. 'It's comfortable, right? It's a familiar space. It's where I first met the Lord and joined the church. It's where I kind of got my morals and my ethics and my work habits, a sense of history of Charleston and the African American community.' Graham played tennis at the courts not far from home, and his relationship with the game took him to Charlotte, where he played at Johnson C. Smith University. After college, Graham stayed in Charlotte; his sister, Cynthia Hurd, remained in Charleston. 'Cynthia was personable, she was sharp, she was candid. She was the first in our family to go to a four year college and university, Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, the first to pledge a fraternity or sorority. Alpha Kappa, alpha, smart as a whip. Penmanship was immaculate, very rich in history and in research. Just loved to read. She was a book nerd. Loved the written word, a librarians, librarian, right?' Graham said. She stayed close to the church, and it was a constant stable in her life, as it had been for generations of family members before. Rev. DePayne Middleton Doctor was a newcomer in 2015, but she quickly became a welcome face and adored her new church family at Mother Emanuel. Her daughter, Kaylin Doctor-Stancil, now lives in Rock Hill, and she recalled the joy her mother had in the church. 'They accepted her with open arms. And I think she really wanted to make it a point that this is going to be my new family. This is where I'm going to be at and establish, you know, who she was there. And I think that's why she wanted to become a reverend there,' Doctor-Stancil said. She and her sisters usually went to bible study with their mother. On the night of June 17, 2015, the siblings didn't want to go. 'I was still on a high from graduating. I was supposed to go get my license that day with her, so me and her were like texting back and forth about what time she was going to come home. You know, it's just like a typical, normal day,' Doctor-Stancil. Graham said he had a phone conversation with his sister just before the shooting, and they were concerned about another sibling. 'It was really about focusing on my other sister, Jackie. Jackie just recently got diagnosed with a breast cancer, and we were making plans for Cynthia to travel from Charleston to Charlotte, jump in the car with me, and that we would ride to Virginia to check when Jackie heard first doctor's appointment, just kind of getting her ready for facing the battle that that she was dealing with,' Graham told Lemon. 'Did you ever get to make that visit?' Lemon asked. 'No, a day later, watching the news, breaking news, shooting at Emmanuel AME Church,' Graham said. Cynthia and DePayne lost their lives in the shooting, along with seven other victims. They're now known as 'The Emanuel Nine.' (VIDEO: North Charleston nonprofit sends response team to assist earthquake survivors in Morocco)
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Advocates to renew calls for closing ‘Charleston Loophouse' at State House rally
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCBD) — Advocates will gather in Columbia on Thursday as part of an ongoing push to encourage lawmakers to pass stronger gun reform laws. State lawmakers will join members of Moms Demand Action and the South Carolina chapter of Students Demand Action for a noon rally on the steps of the State House. The groups are expected to renew their calls to close the so-called Charleston Loophole and push back against what they call 'misguided measures' related to firearms. The Charleston Loophole is a gap in the federal system that allows gun sales to proceed after three business days, even if the background check has not yet been completed. Dylann Roof, the Emanuel AME Church shooter, was able to purchase a gun even though his background check had not cleared. June will mark the 10th anniversary of the tragedy. SC Senate revisits bill to penalize smoking with kids in cars Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician and former Democratic nominee for South Carolina's First Congressional District, is among those scheduled to speak during Thursday's event. 'Gun violence is nonpartisan,' Andrews said in a March 11 press release. 'It is a public health crisis indiscriminately devastating families across our state and our country. As we all stand here once again in deeply red, deeply gerrymandered South Carolina, we are proving that we're not ready to give up on our state yet. We're not backing down. We want a safer future for our kids and our communities. Our lawmakers should too.' Governor Henry McMaster signed a permitless carry bill into law last year that allows anyone over 18 who can legally own a gun to carry the weapon openly and without a permit or training. South Carolina has the 12th-highest rate of gun deaths in the United States, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
