A memorial bell-ringing and a prayer vigil will be held today at Duluth’s African Methodist Episcopal church to honor the victims of a Charleston, S.C., church shooting.
The bell-ringing ceremony will begin at noon at St. Mark’s AME Church, 530 N. Fifth Ave. E., in Duluth. Local clergy members will speak and a bell will be rung in memory of the nine parishioners killed by a gunman Wednesday at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
A prayer vigil will follow at the church at 6:30 p.m.
Organizer Joan Peterson noted that June is national Gun Violence Awareness Month.
“The shooting at the Charleston church calls attention to not only the epidemic of gun violence in our communities but to the racial and hate-based nature of the shooting,” she said. “We must have an open and honest dialogue about race, racial injustice and the role of guns and gun violence in our communities.”
