*President Barack Obama was moved to sing while eulogizing the Rev. Clementa Pinckney on Friday, suddenly breaking out in the hymn “Amazing Grace.”
Rev. Pinckney, the South Carolina state senator and pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston, was among nine people gunned down during the church’s Bible study session last week.
“Grace” was the central theme of the president’s message, but he also touched on racism, gun violence and the importance of removing the Confederate flag from South Carolina’s stategrounds.
He called it – not an act of political correctness but “a modest but meaningful balm for so many unhealed wounds.”
“It would not be an insult to the valor of Confederate soldiers,” he said. “It would simply be an acknowledgment that the cause for which they fought the cause of slavery, was wrong.”
“By taking down that flag,” he said, “we express God’s grace.”
The president also used the speech to call attention to bias in the criminal justice system, better training of police and a greater awareness of hiring discrimination. “Guard against the subtle impulse to call Johnny back for a job interview, but not Jamal,” the president said, to rousing applause.
Obama called attention to “the unique mayhem that gun violence inflicts upon this nation,” and said the country needs action on gun control, not just talk.
Then, out of the blue, he began singing the chorus of “Amazing Grace,” sending the clergy seated behind him and the thousands in attendance at College of Charleston’s arena to their feet to sing along.
Watch below:
Pinckney, 41, was a father of two and was at one time the youngest member of the South Carolina House.
In the eulogy, Obama called him “a man of God who lived by faith. A man who believed in things not seen. A man who believed there were better days ahead, off in the distance. A man of service who persevered.”
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