Charleston & The Fight Against Domestic Terrorism

The mass murder of nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina is a crime that combines some of our nation's worst collective nightmares. 

"We periodically mourn the deaths of a group of Americans who die at the hands of another armed American," Jelani Cobb wrote for The New Yorker. "We periodically witness racial injustices that inspire anger in the streets. And sometimes we witness both. This is, quite simply, how we now live."

Charleston residents and Emanuel parishioners now have to grapple with an unimaginable dilemma: Where do you go in a time of mourning when your sacred and safe space has been violated?

Members of the Charleston community gathered at the Morris Brown African Methodist Episcopal Church on Thursday night to remember the nine people who lost their lives yesterday: Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, The Honorable Reverend Clementa Pinckney. Tywanza Sanders, The Reverend Daniel Simmons Senior, The Reverend Sharonda Singleton, and Myra Thompson. 

Bakari Sellers, former Democratic South Carolina state representative, explains how the community is responding.

Heidi Beirich, head of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, explains what's being done to prevent domestic terrorism cases like this in the future.

There were very few dry eyes in a visibly shaken crowd gathered at Morris Brown AME Church for a prayer vigil.

(Alex Holt for The Washington Post/Getty)