Desert Hot Springs church plans vigil for South Carolina shooting victims
The First Community Baptist Church in Desert Hot Springs plans to hold its own vigil for the victims in the South Carolina shooting Saturday at 6 p.m.
The pastor at the church said the only way to stop these horrific crimes from continuing is to address racism head-on.
“These lives were taken for no other reason than the color of their skin,” Pastor Tahlib McMicheaux said.
For McMicheaux and his wife, Patricia, the horrific in South Carolina hit close to home.
“There were those that were killed that were the age of my mother, the age of my children and my husband. As someone just reminded me — doing the same work as my husband,” Patricia McMicheaux said.
Which is why they’ve decided to hold a vigil to honor the victims.
“I invited people out to come out and to express their condolences for the victims of this heinous crime and to make an outward statement as a valley and as a community that we’re serving racism in America notice,” Pastor McMicheaux said.
The pastor is working with other religious leaders to spread the word about the service.
“I just think we need to have compassion as people of all races; this is all of our concern. Here in this valley, thank God, we have not had these kinds of incidents. But once it hits anybody, it should hit us,” said Pastor Bill Godwin with the Peace Christian Fellowship.
The First Community Baptist church has nine candles, one in honor of each victim.
While both pastors agree it will be hard to forgive the gunman for what he has done, they don’t think the death penalty is the right choice.
“If they’re still alive and we’re still remembering, then it helps us to maybe say we can stop this senseless killing and maybe do something to stop this epidemic of killing people,” Godwin said.
Pastor McMicheaux said the only way to prevent future crimes is to address racism head-on.
“The only way a wound can heal is if it’s exposed, then treated and then you wrap it up. Well for too long we’ve been wrapping it up and pretending like it doesn’t exist. And these incidents are going to continue to happen when we wrap it up,” Pastor McMicheaux said.
Both pastors said they hope people never forget what happened in South Carolina.
They are inviting people of all races and religions to share in their call to action at Saturday’s vigil.
