Summary

Chapter 9 opens with June 17, 2015. Bakari was attending a fundraiser in Charleston, South Carolina for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Coincidentally, this was the same day in which an armed white man entered a black church in Charleston and killed nine people there with a gun. Bakari was devastated. He was friends with several of the victims, including Reverend Clementa “Clem” Pinckney. Bakari went to the church to grieve with the congregation. The perpetrator was somewhat who espoused extremist white supremacist views. Bakari became even more intent on vocally addressing issues of race. He made appearances on many news networks to discuss the attack and its relationship to America’s history of racism. CNN soon asked him to be a regular commentator. About a month after the shooting, protesters and elected officials in South Carolina pushed for the removal of the Confederate flag from...