Solidarity in Charleston before church victims' funerals

Area residents repeated messages of solidarity, love and even defiance of evil at the remembrances, hopeful their expressions would drown out the hate embodied in the slayings at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Authorities say a white gunman was welcomed into a bible study last week at the historic black church before making racially offensive remarks and shooting nine people to death.

"Because the doors of Mother Emanuel are open on this Sunday, it sends a message to every demon in hell and on earth," said the Rev. Norvel Goff, who led the first Sunday service since the killings at the church known as "Mother Emanuel" because it is one of the oldest black congregations in the South.

The slayings have renewed calls for the flag to be removed from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds, in part because photographs of suspect Dylann Roof in a purported manifesto showed him holding Confederate flags.

In Atlanta's 1st Iconium Baptist Church, a predominantly black church with a tradition of speaking out for social justice, the Rev. Timothy McDonald told his congregation Sunday that he had met shooting victim the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Emanuel's senior pastor, last April during a visit to Columbia, South Carolina, with a group of ministers.

Lincoln said she was glad visitors who came to Charleston in the days after the shooting took note of how gracious people have been in the face of despair and indignation.