The Charleston Church Tragedy and the Hard Inspiring Journey to Forgiveness. On June 17, 2015, twelve members of the historically black Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, welcomed a young white man to their evening Bible study. He arrived with a pistol, 88 bullets, and hopes of starting a race war. Dylann Roofs massacre of nine innocents during their closing prayer horrified the nation. Two days later, some relatives of the dead stood at Roofs hearing and said, I forgive you. That grace offered the country a hopeful ending to an awful story. But for the survivors and victims families, the journey had just begun. In