charleston_church_memorial_2_after_attack

<div class="at-above-post-homepage addthis_tool" data-url="https://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/essays/finding-mercy-merciless-times/"></div><p>By <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/contributor/david-kyuman-kim/">David Kyuman Kim</a></p>
<p>“We forgive him.” “I have no animosity in my heart for him.” This is what the family of Robert Godwin Sr. said to Anderson Cooper on <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/18/us/cleveland-victims-family-we-forgive-killer-cnntv/">CNN two days</a> after Steve Stephens murdered their father on Easter and broadcasted the awful act on <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2017/04/man_accused_of_broadcasting_ea.html">Facebook</a>. The shock of seeing a murder on social media was only surpassed by the moral witness of a grieving family saying “We forgive.” The expressions of forgiveness and mercy would be astonishing arguably at any time, but in this American moment, one rife with animosity, hatred, and the dramatic resurgence in racially-motivated crimes, forgiveness comes as a shock to an unforgiving system. <a href="https://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/essays/finding-mercy-merciless-times/#more-3927" class="more-link">Read more</a></p>
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Finding Mercy in Merciless Times

David Kyuman Kim is a Professor of Religious Studies and American Studies at Connecticut College, and is a Public Voices Fellow.