The UICC (Unified Interfaith Community Coalition of Beaufort) was formed in response to the 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston. A concerned group of Beaufort clergy began gathering to reflect on how faith communities in Beaufort might come together in such a way as to build relationships across historic divisions, in hopes that this might reduce the chance of such violent and hateful acts occurring in our community. This gathering evolved into the Unified Interfaith Community Coalition (UICC), a group of faith community leaders of different races and religions whose purpose is to foster interracial and interreligious harmony in our community.

Since that time the UICC has evolved and has developed a number of events and programs for the interfaith community of Beaufort County, South Carolina. A number of those events have been highlighted in these pages. Today I’d like to report on our 2019 remembrance of the mother Emanuel nine, which was held June 17, as it was on its second occasion, held at the historic Grace Chapel AME on Charles Street in Beaufort. As has been the case throughout these years the Rev. Jeannine R. Smalls, who is pastor at Grace AME Church on Lady’s Island and who is the founder of UICC, offered the welcome and introduced the various guests as the evening progressed. To view the video of this event visit here: vimeo.com/348051013

This year the Rev. Kenneth F Hodges, pastor, Tabernacle Baptist Church offered the opening prayer. Tabernacle Baptist is just across the street and a reception was held there following the service. On the grounds of Tabernacle Baptist is a very fine sculpture of Robert Smalls, who made a daring sea escape during the Civil War as a slave (bringing a number of others as well) and went on to serve five terms in Congress as a Representative from South Carolina. Since 2016 Rev. Hodges has been working toward building a monument for Harriet Tubman which will be installed on those same grounds. To learn more about this project and how you can contribute visit https://www.harriettubmanmonument.com/the-tabernacle-baptist-church.

Our keynote speaker was the Rev. Joseph A. Darby Sr., Pastor at Nichols Chapel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Rev. Darby also serves as vice president of the Charleston NAACP. In introducing him Rev. Jeannine also shared that he has been a mentor to her over the years. Rev. Darby’s talk was succinct and to the point, emphasizing the need to continue our reaching across all the lines of division and promoting harmony. The grace and quiet authority of this minister’s voice moved all who were present.

There was a candle lighting service conducted by Liz Santagati and Westley Byrne, and a Sharing of Intentions activity conducted by Rabbi TZiPi, all knit together with music flowing from the keyboard of Bishop Jack L. Bomar, presiding prelate, United Church as well as mother Cleo and Dawn Peebles of United Church.

The solid presence of very Jewish brothers and sisters was evidenced by Rabbi TZiPi Radonsky opening the evening with the blowing of the shofar and the beautiful singing by Gail Touger of Lo Yisa Goy in a duet with Bishop Jack. And also by the short address of the Hon. Billy Keyserling, Mayor of the city of Beaufort, who is Jewish. The Muslim community was represented and I’m sad to say that I do not have the names of those who attended to share with you. A roll call of the various churches that were represented revealed a number of Christian churches, as well as Unitarian Universalists and members of the Baha’i faith.

Since this beautiful event we’ve had a UICC board meeting and I can assure you that there are plans in the works for a number of events and we’ll keep you posted as they evolve.

On the evening of June 17, 2015 Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white supremacist, assassinated nine African Americans, including the senior pastor, state senator Clementa C. Pinckney, during a prayer service at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. I use the word "assassinated" as opposed to the more common term "murdered" because Roof confessed to committing the shooting in the hope of igniting a race war. The shooting targeted one of the United States' oldest black churches, which has long been a site for community organization around civil rights.

In June of 2016 I attended the first annual memorial service held at Grace Chapel A. M. E. in Beaufort, SC. with my friend Rev. Nat Carter and was so moved that I immediately became involved with the organization now known as UICC, Unified Interfaith Community Coalition of Beaufort. Founded by Rev. Jeannine Smalls, this is our fourth year producing the event, this year returning to the Historic Grace Chapel, sister church to Mother Imanuel.

Out of that response to the 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, a concerned group of Beaufort clergy and community leaders began gathering to reflect on how faith communities in Beaufort might come together in such a way as to build relationships across historic divisions, in hopes that this might reduce the chance of such violent and hateful acts occurring in our community. Although this annual memorial is our best known event we also have an annual New Years Interfaith gathering in alignment with the annual Governor's proclamation of January as South Carolina's Interfaith Harmony Month, and a number of other activities throughout the year.

UICC (Unified Interfaith Community Coalition of Beaufort) began in response to the Mother Emmanuel 9 assassination June 17, 2015. We work to ease tensions and promote harmony in the Beaufort County region of SC's Lowcountry. Founded by Rev. Jeannine Smalls, Pastor Grace AME Church, sister church to Mother Emmanuel. This is our third January/New Year celebration.

“So that we might be illuminated, to be called to significant action so that what may seem to be a tragedy to some can become a triumph to the rest of the world”.

These were the closing words of Rev. Dr. Kylon Middleton, Pastor, Mt. Zion AME Chapel, Charleston, SC and keynote speaker at Unified Interfaith Community Coalition of Beaufort’s third annual Mother Emanuel Nine Memorial on June 15th, 2018. His rousing sermon in this interfaith event at the historic Brick Baptist Church, adjacent to Penn Center, honored those nine slain souls, and very personally that of Rev. Clementa Pinckney, his lifelong friend and pastoral colleague. To see his sermon click on the image above. Rev. Middleton went well beyond that though, furthering UICC’s goal of transcending the pain, of not being bound by the past, with a fervent desire to give meaning to the suffering we have sustained in the loss of so many to violence.

UICC was founded by Rev. Jeannine Smalls, Pastor Grace Chapel AME Church, in response to that tragic event in 2015 at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. From the beginning she felt that it was important that this tragedy unite us, transcending the barriers among denominations and between faiths, knowing that our faith communities share a common humanity, a desire for justice and a hunger for peace. Her longtime friend and spiritual brother Rev. Middleton spoke of this very eloquently “We are stronger together because of our faith, we are stronger when we stand as Baptists, and we are stronger when we stand as AME, we are stronger when we stand as Jews, we are stronger when we stand in the Baha’i faith, we are strong when we acknowledge our Unitarian Universalism, we are strong when we’re Islamic, we are strong when we stand up to be Episcopalians, especially in South Carolina in 2018, we are strong when we are Lutheran, we’re strong in our Presbyterianism, we are strong as non-denominationalists, we are strong as Catholics, so we are stronger in our faith together! It is larger than one church, it is larger than one denomination, is larger than one faith, it is about our human community.”

Rev. Smalls in her introduction for Rev. Middleton quoted Martin Luther King “…the most segregated hour in Christian America is 11 AM on a Sunday morning”. The interfaith work of UICC has as a key goal of the change to this “appalling” situation. It is common for events like these to be held on a Friday evening when many people are able to come, and appropriate venues are available. We are deeply grateful to Rev. Dr. Abraham Murray, pastor of the Brick Baptist Church for hosting this important event and for his gracious welcome in his opening remarks. Several of the most dedicated and hardworking members of our organization are members of the Jewish faith and we recognize that it is a hardship, and somewhat insensitive of us to hold these events on their Shabbat. In keeping with who we are and what we are about, it was the first time a Shabbat candle was lit in this august sanctuary. Rabbi TZiPi Radonsky of Watering the Tree Outside the Fence Foundation lit the candle and offered a prayer, closing with a reading from Numbers 6:23-27.

A number of segments of the evening were beautifully woven together with the music of choirs and Emma Stevenson of Rev. Murray’s congregation as soloist. “Aunt Emma” is the aunt of both Rev. Pinckney and Rev. Middleton. Rev. Penny Rahm of Waters Edge United Methodist, had written words reflecting our theme to go with the tune “we shall overcome” which she led a jubilant congregation through. Mostly behind the scenes though absolutely essential to the success of this event was Rev. Shannon Mullen, Pastor of St. John’s Lutheran. There was a slideshow honoring The Mother Emanuel Nine which was shown while one by one individuals in the congregation stood and spoke loudly the name of one of those nine followed by a hallowed chime from Rev. Lori Hlaban, of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Beaufort, as she conducted the remembrance portion. Theresa White of the Pan-African Family Empowerment and Land Preservation Network spoke to us about the history of Juneteenth and related a number of stories from her family history that brought it home to us all. Members of IPSC, Interfaith Partners of South Carolina, traveled down Columbia to attend including Dr. Adrian Bird, Carey Murphy, and Ethel Crawford. Rev. Roy Tripp of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church offered the closing Benediction.  

Our second keynote speaker was Victoria Smalls who currently serves as Commissioner, Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor and program director for the International African American Museum being built in Charleston South Carolina. Ms. Smalls served a number of years as director of History, Art an Culture programs at Penn Center and also serves everywhere she lives on Baha’i Local Spiritual Assemblies. As Ms. Smalls grew up on St. Helena Island and still had a lot of family living there she was able to offer a unique perspective. Her talk was informative, as she is an historian at heart, inspiring, and she ended with relevant quotes from her Baha’i scriptures. One point in particular that she made is that Penn Center was one of the very few places that Dr. Martin Luther King felt safe, and perhaps the only place where blacks and whites were able to sit down, speak and plan together, during the very segregated 1960s. Many of his most famous speeches were written here and shared with those who accompanied him. At the time of his death plans were in the works to build him a cottage on the marsh on the eastern edge of Penn Center where he could rest and find peace.

Our theme, “We Remember and We Do Not Forget” was suggested by Rabbi TZiPi Radonsky at one of our early planning meetings for this event. She shared with us that in her Jewish faith this phrase “We Remember and We Do Not Forget” is part of her weekly spiritual practice. That it is important to review and remember the blessings and challenges of the past week on the Sabbath and to remind one of the blessings and opportunities to come in the following week. She had a vision that this practice could be extended further back in time and further into the future in the context of this memorial service. One component of the evening was a slideshow where this phrase appeared and was followed by an image reminding us of many of the painful tragedies that somehow unite us. The images included scenes from more than a dozen of the mass shootings of the past few decades, atrocities committed at Jewish concentration camps, numerous slain martyrs to beloved causes, Dr. Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Harvey Milk, and others, slaughters of Native Americans at Wounded Knee, the Cherokee Trail of tears, the Japanese internment camps and most especially the assassinated Mother Emanuel Nine. It ended with these words “We Remember Those We Have Lost To Violence, And We Do Not Forget Our Commitment To Peace”.
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Rev. Smalls has carried the conviction that these tragedies might unite us and give us hope for the future, that our shared understanding and efforts will eventually make such things impossible. Just this morning as I was thinking through all of this in order to write this blog post a friend of mine shared with me this quote from the Talmud “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.” People become martyrs when they are assassinated to prevent them from bringing to completion their life work, and though their deaths are a sadness to us they are most clearly a call to complete their labors.

Recently I was in Beaufort for a meeting of the Unified Interfaith Community Coalition of Beaufort where Rabbi TZiPi Radonsky was also in attendance.  She and I work together with Interfaith Partners of South Carolina. Afterwards as I often do, I wandered the gracious city of Beaufort; this time out on the north eastern edge towards Pidgeon Point. As I was photographing the marsh and simultaneously trespassing (I can often pull off two things at once) I was called to by a man who asked if I “needed help”. After confirming that I was on private property we began a conversation that within a couple minutes brought us to the friendship between his grandfather Warren Mosby Seay, ThD (Doctor of Theology), pastor of the Beaufort Baptist Church, and Rabbi Julius S. Fisher PhD of the Beaufort Synagogue. After another few minutes I’m invited into the home of my host Andy Kinghorn and his charming wife Betsy, where he played the tape of Rabbi Fisher delivering his eulogy. After which Andy consented to allow me to capture this story on video. Not having my video equipment the sound suffered, I had no tripod and this was not the right lens, but I'm pleased to have the record nonetheless. Here’s the LINK TO VIDEO which is under 2 minutes. Below I've posted the Eulogy that Rabbi Fisher gave, although much is missed in the text as the Rabbi's deep, sonorous voice carries both love and gravitas so beautifully. As it was raining and I had walked several miles from where I had parked under the majestic oaks which line Newcastle Street at the east entrance to the Parish Church of St Helena, Andy offered to drive me back to my truck. We stopped a block away at the Baptist Church of Beaufort to visit Rev. Seay’s grave. Both sets of Mr. Kinghorn’s grandparents, as well as six uncles and aunts are also buried there. All in all a rather unexpected turn of events for me that day for which I am very grateful. This is certainly a fine example of the accord that Judaism and Christianity have reached in South Carolina as well as an inspiring personal testament to the friendships which can arise out of genuine interest in our neighbor’s faith paths.

Yesterday I traveled to Beaufort, SC to attend a meeting with the Unified Interfaith Community Coalition of Beaufort. I approached them about becoming involved after attending the Mother Emmanuel Nine Annual Memorial Service which they had produced so beautifully. See my earlier post for more about that event.

I parked in the shade next to the beautiful Parish Church of St. Helena which is in fact in historic Beaufort on Church Street. Getting out of my truck I saw Mayor Billy Keyserling walking my way and had a chance to chat for a few minutes on the way to our meeting which was being hosted this month at First Presbyterian. I had worked with Billy in 2001 as a computer consultant but had not seen him since his election as mayor. He has always seemed to me to be a well inattentioned, soft spoken and very capable gentleman, who has deep roots in the city of Beaufort. Entering the church we were joined by Rabbi TZiPi Radonsky, who has also been active in Interfaith Partners of South Carolina.

The meeting lasted several hours with a group composed of various Ministers, Rabbis, the honorable mayor Billy Keyserling, the Chief of Police, his Sargent in charge of community relations as well as a few others with stakes in the community. I had hoped that the organization might expand into Beaufort County but it became obvious that there were deep issues specific to the city of Beaufort which needed to be addressed before they can expand their scope. Rev. Smalls of Grace Chapel AME who heads up the group, did make it clear that I would be welcome and encouraged me to attend in August.

The vast majority of the time was spent discussing the problems that exist between our black citizens and various law enforcement agencies. While it should be noted that the Beaufort Police Department was recently commended by the Department of Justice for the way in which its employees match the demographics of the community, it is obvious that there have been incidents and ongoing conflicts from the past which are not easily forgotten. All in attendance were anxious to develop approaches and programs to address these concerns. Rev. Smalls announced that their new church building will soon be completed and they intend to repurpose their historic chapel on Charles Street as a Center for Social Justice.

Later in the afternoon I met with Dimitri Cherny for dinner, he is running for Congress in the first district. I discussed this meeting with him to compare his perceptions with mine, in the context of his work along similar lines in Charleston. Dimitri has been involved with the 'Black Lives Matter' movement for the past few years in Charleston, has worked with the Chief of the Charleston Police Department in related matters, and with the Charleston Area Justice Ministry (CAJM), which currently has the participation of twenty congregations. It was a very fruitful discussion. I can assure you that good work is being done by people of all races in these two cities at least, although there IS much left to be done yet.

There is some controversy over the use of the words “Ecumenical”, “Interreligious” and “Interfaith”. Some might say that what I am addressing here is not strictly “Interfaith”, but the work I am involved has elements of all and I choose to use Interfaith as an umbrella word placing the emphasis on the highest level of dialogue. I wanted to share this because you’ll find that although I am quite enamored of and committed to the spiritual ideals of the Interfaith movement in general, for me this is a spiritual practice and discipline; nevertheless I do see profoundly practical needs finding remedy in dialogues just like the one I attended earlier that day.

In these times, with the tragedies our nation is experiencing all too often and with the increased intensity and focus we’ve seen this summer, it is essential that differences are resolved. To my way of thinking no one is better equipped to facilitate this than we in the Interfaith movement. Faith leaders can initiate these conversations from the pulpit and facilitate the hard talks that are necessary within their communities. They can then come together in organizations such as The Unified Interfaith Community Coalition of Beaufort to share these findings amongst themselves and arrange forums to communicate their concerns and propose solutions to the various authorities that can then implement policies, programs and procedures that will make a difference.