WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On Sunday, thousands of Charleston residents linked arms on the city’s Ravenel Bridge in memory of the nine African Americans killed by Dylann Roof at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17, 2015.
"We would first like to apologize for the disrespect and hurt this action has caused,” the press release said. “We did not plan this action — many groups and individuals were present and the 'space' for protest was open for all.”
During the rally, however, some protesters in the Charleston’s Marion Square lit a United States flag as well as a Confederate flag on fire.
“The name of the event was ‘Burying White Supremacy'. What that means to different people was open for artful interpretation,” Black Lives Matter said.
The advocacy group urged the public to understand the strong emotions among the rally participants in the light of last week’s church massacre.
“Our government does need to be held accountable for harboring white supremacists in office and allowing the societal impact to continue for hundreds of years,” Black Lives Matter said.
Over the past two decades there have been more than a dozen mainly arson attacks on African-American churches, according to multiple media reports.
On Monday, President Barack Obama said that racism is still a major issue in the United States despite hundreds of years of struggle for equality.
