A young man came to a house of prayer
They did not ask what brought him there
He was not friend, he was not kin
but they opened the door and let him in
And for an hour the stranger stayed
He sat with them and seemed to pray
But then the young man drew a gun
and killed nine people, old and young
In Charleston in the month of June
the mourners gathered in a room
The President came to speak some words
and the cameras rolled and the nation heard
But no words could say what must be said
for all the living and the dead
so on that day and in that place
the President sang Amazing Grace
The President sang Amazing Grace
We argued where to lay the blame
On one man's hate or our nation's shame
Some sickness of the mind or soul
and how the wounds might be made whole
But no words could say what must be said
for all the living and the dead
So on that day and in that place
the President sang Amazing Grace
My President sang Amazing Grace
They did not ask what brought him there
He was not friend, he was not kin
but they opened the door and let him in
And for an hour the stranger stayed
He sat with them and seemed to pray
But then the young man drew a gun
and killed nine people, old and young
In Charleston in the month of June
the mourners gathered in a room
The President came to speak some words
and the cameras rolled and the nation heard
But no words could say what must be said
for all the living and the dead
so on that day and in that place
the President sang Amazing Grace
The President sang Amazing Grace
We argued where to lay the blame
On one man's hate or our nation's shame
Some sickness of the mind or soul
and how the wounds might be made whole
But no words could say what must be said
for all the living and the dead
So on that day and in that place
the President sang Amazing Grace
My President sang Amazing Grace
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dall'album Small Brown Birds (2017)
Interpretata da Joan Baez nel suo album Whistle Down the Wind in uscita nel 2018.
Il 17 giugno 2015, alle 21:05 circa, Dylann Roof, suprematista bianco di 21 anni, si introdusse all'interno della Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, una chiesa gospel di Charleston, nella Carolina del Sud,e si sedette vicino al reverendo Clementa Pinckney. Pickney, senatore democratico in South Carolina, era considerato uno dei simboli della cosiddetta veglia per Walter Scott, un ragazzo afroamericano disarmato ucciso da un poliziotto bianco il 4 aprile dello stesso anno, suscitando dure proteste contro la polizia.
Ad un certo punto, Roof si alzò ed estrasse una pistola dal suo marsupio per poi iniziare a sparare. Stando a quanto riferito dai sopravvissuti al massacro, il killer, durante la sparatoria, si rivolse alle vittime con queste parole:
Tra le nove vittime, sei donne e tre uomini, tutti afroamericani, ci fu anche il reverendo Pinckney.