Hours following the historical SCOTUS ruling on same-sex marriage, Obama presented his eulogy for Sen. Clementa Pinckney in Charleston, SC, saying “We are here today to remember a man of God who lived by faith. A man who believed in things not seen.”
“What a good man,” Obama said of Pinckney, one of the nine people gunned down last week during a prayer meeting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. White supremacist Dylann Roof, 21, has been charged with the murders.
In addition to honoring Pinckney, Obama praised the removal of the Confederate battle flag and similar relics from state grounds across the south. A symbol Roof often posed with. “That the cause for which [Confederate soldiers] fought, the cause of slavery, was wrong,” Obama said.
In closing, PLOTUS warned against slipping into a “comfortable silence” following the funeral and broke into song. “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me,” Obama sang over the podium as the crowd stood to their feet and joined in. Obama’s eulogy was not just a beautiful remembrance of Pinckney’s life, but a call for long lasting change across of nation.
Just in case you missed it, we’ve pulled 12 of Obama’s most powerful quotes from his eulogy honoring Rev. Clementa Pinckney.
