Alana Simmons didn’t intend to speak to Dylann Roof at his bond
hearing, two days after he shot and killed nine members of Emanuel AME
Church in Charleston, S.C. But as others began to speak forgiveness, she
felt the need to tell about the legacy of love her grandfather, Rev.
Daniel Simmons, 74, left behind. The experience changed the direction of
her life.
Now, a year after the June 17 massacre, Simmons heads a growing
non-profit organization that promotes acts of forgiveness and gives
voice to the message that love is stronger than hate.
“The families [at the bond hearing] were forgiving him for all the
terror he had caused,” Simmons recalled. “I had this humbling epiphany
of how love conquers all, so when I got the chance to speak, I said,
‘Although my grandfather died in the hands of hate, he lived in love and
preached love, so his legacy will be love. And hate won’t win.’”
Cameras were rolling, but Simmons thought they were there to
videoconference the hearing. She didn’t know they were broadcasting
live. Those watching the proceedings quickly picked up on her words and
created a hashtag that went viral.
Tech savvy and well aware of the power social media could wield for
both good and bad, Simmons, 25 at the time, used the impromptu platform
in the interview that followed to issue a challenge: “Use the hashtag.
Go and show someone who is different than you an act of love. If you
really want to help, post that to a social media account. Everyone has
one. Use yours for good.” At the very least, get the imagery out there
that black and white, rich and poor, Christian and atheist can stand
together, she said.
At the funeral of Mother Emanuel senior pastor and state Rep. Clementa
Pinckney, Simmons met President Barack Obama, who asked her what he
could do.
“So I told him the same thing, and I gave him our T-shirt with our
logo, a black hand and a white hand making a heart with the words ‘Hate
Won’t Win’ in the middle,” she said.
Obama told her he had some Twitter followers and offered to help spread
the word. Simmons was skeptical until her brother showed her a tweet
from the president’s account, including a picture of the T-shirt, the
hashtag, and this note: “inspired by the grace shown in Charleston and
the Simmons family.”
Suddenly, Simmons had 20,000 new followers and everyone wanted a T-shirt.
Simmons and her family weren’t selling the shirts at the time, but it
wasn’t long before they were. They used the proceeds to start a
non-profit created to give back to communities and families affected by
hate crimes, discrimination, and bullying.
Since its inception, the Hate Won’t Win Movement has encouraged
building relationships to bridge differences within communities,
focusing on the fields of education, politics, media, family and
community, and religion.
Simmons noted differences among races, religions, social class, and
political viewpoints remain in the wake of the Civil Rights movement.
“From civil rights came just that—the rights,” she said. “We can fight
for our rights and we can have those rights, which of course we should
have as humans, but if we want to stop these systematic differences,
it’s not going to come from fighting, but by fostering relationships.”
Speaking for her own generation, Simmons said the issue of race is not
as emotional as for her father’s and grandfather’s generations. Because
of that, her contemporaries are better equipped to leave conflicts in
the past. She believes the Civil Rights movement should be remembered,
but the grievances of the past should not become hindrances to
reconciling differences.
“It’s not black people who are going to save all black people,” she
said. “It’s going to include white people too. There’s no way we can
make change by ourselves. There has to be a collaborative effort, and
this generation is willing to collaborate. We have the same goal in
mind—to be colorless. There was a time when just walking into a room was
a problem. Now it is a problem when we see disparity, when we see
somebody getting privilege.”
Simmons has spread her message of forgiveness and reconciliation from
the social media platform she birthed to speaking engagements across the
country and on national television.
“Every time I’m interviewed, I pray,” Simmons said. “I don’t want the
words to be my own.” Instead, she wants to testify to the faith of the
Mother Emanuel victims and their families, proclaiming no one has the
power to shake that faith.
“We’re that rooted,” she said.
Courtesy: WORLD News Service
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