Brooklyn, N.Y. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement on the massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in which nine people were killed and other members of the church were injured. Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen has described the shooting as a racially-motivated hate crime.

“My prayers and the prayers of the people of the Ninth Congressional District of New York are with the members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church who were killed or injured, their families, and the entire community of faith. For such an act of evil to have been committed in the church established by Denmark Vesey, the revolutionary abolitionist who fought to liberate his people from the bondage of slavery, recalls the worst racial violence of our nation’s history. This violent attack on the members of an historically African American church who were attending Wednesday night bible study was an act of terrorism for which we must hold the perpetrator accountable to the full extent of the law. The victims included the Honorable Reverend Clementa Pinckney, the youngest African American elected to the South Carolina State Senate, a devoted husband and the father of two children, a man of high purpose and unlimited promise. Let us pray that the family of the Honorable Reverend Clementa Pinckney and the families of all the victims find comfort in their abiding faith in God.” 

Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke is a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the House of Representatives, a member of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, as well as the Committee on Ethics and the Committee of Small Business. She represents many neighborhoods in central and southern Brooklyn, NY which include Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, parts of Park Slope and Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.