President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will visit Charleston, S.C. this Friday for Mother Emanuel AME Church pastor Rev. Clementa Pinckney‘s funeral. President Obama, who will also be joined by Vice President Joe Biden, will deliver the eulogy and expects to visit with the mourning family.
Rev. Pinckney was one of nine people shot and killed by suspect 21-year-old Dylann Roof on June 17 at Mother Emanuel. The president addressed the shooting in an impromptu press conference last week, making mention of his friendship with the Pinckney family and other members of the church. Obama was especially terse in his delivery as he decried Roof’s violent and racially-fueled act.
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Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said the visit was great news.
“We see this locally as the huge, heartbreaking tragedy it is for us, but I think we don’t understand fully what a heartbreaking tragedy it is for our country,” he said. “This is a heartbreaking for the United States of America, and we’ve got a president and a first lady and a vice president who are big-hearted people, and they know that their country is grieving.”
Obama has not visited Charleston since he was seeking the Democratic nomination for president. His only other visit to South Carolina as president came earlier this year, when he spoke to a sold-out crowd at Benedict College in Columbia in March.
While Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton visited Charleston while in office, neither spoke at a gathering as large as Pinckney’s service is expected to be.
Rev. Pinckney’s funeral will be held this coming Friday at TD Arena at the College of Charleston at 11 a.m. ET.
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Photo: WhiteHouse.gov/YouTube
