On June 17th, 2015, a mass shooting happened at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. It got high attention; the shooting was all over the news' headlines. Nine people were murdered by a 21-year-old Dylann Roof. A white man killed African-Americans during church time which was an attack of racism and faith. On June 23rd, 2015, the New York Times posted an article, written by Roxane Gay, with the headline "Why I Can't Forgive the Killer in Charleston" (Gay). Roxane Gay points out her perspectives of the shooting in Charleston and why she can't give her forgiveness to Dylann Roof for the crime he committed.  Another text discussed about the same topic, forgiveness. It is a speech that Desmond Tutu gave at the University of Toronto in the story of Nelson Mandela. As shown in the story of Nelson Mandela, forgiveness is important for building peace; however, as gay argues we must allow people the choice to forgive. Further, as Gay points out people who commit acts terrorism must choose to confess and ask for forgiveness.

On the text of Roxane Gay, she refers to Dylann Roof as "a racist terrorist whose name I hate saying or knowing" (Gay). Some people think to use the word terrorist to describe Dylann Roof is overstated.  The United States Department of Defense defines terrorism as "the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological" (Department of Defense). The Charleston shooting is a planned crime of racial attack, and causes chaos and panic of society. The video shows Dylann Roof had the gun with him while he entered the church and felt calm. Before he started mass shooting, he spent an hour sitting in the church with other Africa-American prayers. The shooting was organized with plan and in result of choosing chaos, fears, and the conflicts between Africa-Americans and the white Americans. Therefore, Dylann Roof should be considered as a terrorist. Now, is a terrorist needed to be forgiven? Nelson Mandela, the world's most famous prisoner was imprisoned for twenty-seven years on charges of terrorism (Marshall). Desmond Tutu gave a speech at the University of Toronto with title "Let South Africa Show the World How to Forgive". He said, " ...there were those who said, ' ... these blacks who have suffered so grievously in the past will engaged in the most fearful orgy of revenge and retribution against the whites'(Tutu), and he said about Nelson Mandela, " ... most expected that when he emerged, he would be riddled with a lust for retribution. But the world has been amazed; instead of spewing calls for revenge, he urged his own people to work for reconciliation" (Tutu). Although his wrongful imprisonment could be considered an act of terrorism, Nelson Mandela chose forgiveness over revenge. Desmond Tutu believed that is the reason "a miracle" happened in South Africa, that Nelson Mandela being inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of South Africa lead to "the transition from injustice and oppression to freedom and democracy" (Tutu). 

Roxane Gay said, "Over the weekend, newspaper across the country shared headlines of forgiveness from the families of the nine slain. The dominant media narrative vigorously embraced that notion of forgiveness ... the power of whiteness ... " (Gay). It is one of the reasons why Roxane Gay couldn't forgive Dylann Roof. Instead of showing grief toward the families of the nine victims, media tried to draw attention to forgive Dylann Roof. It is an inappropriate action to exploit a tragedy with news coverage. The families of the victims need time to process stages of grief, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. It is so unfair for them and tried to force them to accept and forgive the perpetrator so quickly. The narrative of forgiveness perpetuated by the media shows a lack of respect for the people affected by this violence.

Another reason that Roxane Gay mentioned why she can't forgive Dylann Roof, is " ... I learned that forgiveness requires reconciliation by way of confession and penance ...  unwilling to forgive those who show no remorse, who don't demonstrate any interest in reconciliation" (Gay). Roxane Gay believes that people who did wrong things should confess themselves for their behaviors so others will be able to forgive them. Desmond Tutu also mentioned Nelson Mandela's decision regarding reconciliation, " ... he urged his own people to work for reconciliation -- and invited his former jailer to attend his presidential inauguration as a VIP guest" (Tutu). People think about reconciliation as something initiated by the side. However, Nelson Mandela chose reconciliation first not because he was the one with a lack of excuses. Before he released, as a prisoner ad under apartheid, he could not make choice. The importance of this moment was in his act of forgiveness, but rather in his ability to make a choice.

As Desmond Tutu said, " ...  human beings have remarkable capacity for evil -- we have refined ways of being mean and nasty to one another ...  genocides, holocausts, slavery, racism, wars, oppression and injustice ... wonderfully...we have this extraordinary capacity for good; we are made for love, for compassion, for caring, for sharing, for peace and reconciliation ... "(Tutu). Roxane Gay talked about, "What white people are really asking for when they demand forgiveness from a traumatized community is absolution ... want absolution from the racism that infects us all even though forgiveness cannot reconcile America's racist sins" (Gay). Desmond Tutu talked about people as human beings, who kill, and discriminate as well as show kindness, heal, and forgive regardless of color. Roxane Gay's text showed a lot of aspects people of color and saw people with titles who have bad characteristics. She has hatred toward white people and unwilling to forgive the white who did terrible things to the black people. There is a picture of Dylann Roof who wore South African apartheid flag and shows he was unapologetic about racist history of whites. Gay argues that in order to enact kindness and healing, white people must confront their history of violence and oppression. That is, in order to forgive white people must confess.

 There are people chose to forgive Dylann Roof over hatred, the families of the nine victims. As Roxane Gay said, "I deeply respect the families of the nine slain who are able to forgive this terrorist and his murderous racism. I cannot fathom how they are capable of such eloquent mercy, such grace under such duress" (Gay). As it once stated, "Forgiveness is the best form of love, it takes a strong person to say sorry and an even stronger person to forgive" (16 quotes). Many people are familiar with the phrase in the Bible, "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." As children, they were told to be nice to others and forgive others' wrong behaviors. However, forgiveness is a choice of everyone. It's a multiple-choice question, yes or no, without correct answer, not a true- false question. Sometimes, it is too hard to forgive something or someone that hurt people the most. It is understandable, and it's ok to be unwilling to forgive someone. The Bible teaches that even others have done things that are terrible, everyone makes mistakes and they all deserve forgiveness. However, Gay argued with the point of forgiveness. In her point of view, she respected that family of nine victims chose to forgive Dylann Roof with such strong courage, but she, herself, couldn't be able to forgive what Dylann Roof had done because of the effect of his attitude, social media's responds, and treatment toward the white suspect.  

            As the journalist Marshall said, "It has always been one of the most remarkable features of the life and times of Nelson Mandela that children adored him. It was as remarkable how this man, once reviled as a terrorist and nearly hanged for his actions, and who went onto become the colossus of South African politics, in turn loved children"(Marshall). The influence of a passed movement or event will be recorded as a history lesson or marked as a part of culture for future generations to learn. Roxane Gay described Dylann Roof's racism, "was blunt and raggedly formed. It was bred by a culture" (Gay). None of us are willing to see another Dylann Roof who was influenced and grown under the effect of a negative part of culture. It is a long way of fighting for freedom, respect, race, and forgiveness. For future generations, we should teach them forgiveness over revenger and hatred. However, in order to create a more peaceful society, we must also teach future generations to respect the choices of all people which include the choice to forgive.

