Steeped in Racial History, Charleston Ponders Its Future
CHARLESTON, S.C. — The force of racial conflict shaped this city’s commerce, inspired a slave revolt and sparked the gunshots that started the Civil War. And this week, on a balmy Wednesday evening, it claimed the lives of nine black churchgoers who had gathered to study the Bible.
Yet despite Charleston’s obsessive focus on how its past shapes its present, there was little clarity here, in these raw days after the massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, about how the next chapter in its history might play out.
Thus far, this storied port city of 128,000 has responded to the crisis with mourning and fellowship, and an understandable sense of shock and confusion. The slayings come at a complicated and vexing historical moment for a nation that elected its first black president seven years ago but has seen tensions rise over black killings at the hands of the police.
Those crosscurrents are particularly complex in a 345-year-old Southern city that has been, by many measures, enjoying a glorious renaissance. Charleston’s population is growing, tourism is booming and its graceful old streets are alive with visitors, restaurants, culture and cafes.
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