Amid murder trials, a call for healing

Churches across South Carolina rang bells, held vigils and even led prayers on Twitter on Tuesday in response to Gov. Nikki Haley’s call for unity amid two racially charged criminal trials in a state still recovering from Hurricane Matthew’s devastation.

Haley took part in an event at “Mother Emanuel,” the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. White supremacist Dylann Roof is accused of killing nine church members in a shooting rampage at a prayer service there last year. Emanuel is the oldest and one of the largest AME churches in the South.

Less than a mile away, a competency hearing was underway behind closed doors to determine whether Roof is fit to stand trial on murder charges in the case. Also in Charleston, the trial of former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager pressed on. The defense tried to show that Slager, who is white, shot Walter Scott, who is black, in self-defense in April 2015.

“The blood of the Emanuel Nine and Walter Scott are calling out for justice,” Bishop Samuel Green told worshipers,

The Post and Courier reported.

The trials force residents to relive details of those tragedies while still recovering from Hurricane Matthew, which brought death and destruction to much of the South. The storm killed four people in the state, left hundreds of thousands without power and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.

Haley said the confluence of the trials and storm recovery made it imperative that the state’s residents “count our blessings and remember that we are one state, one people.” She suggested everyone — re- gardless of faith — pray for continued strength and healing.

“I just felt it was a very important time that we all come together and ... think about what brought us together in the first place,” Haley said in a statement Monday, adding that the expression would allow “the rest of the country and the world to notice the grace of South Carolinians.”

The Episcopal Church in South Carolina, the diocese serving the eastern part of the state, held a prayer service on Twitter.

POOL PHOTO FROM GETTY IMAGES Former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager faces a murder charge in the death of Walter Scott, who was gunned down after he fled from a traffic stop.