As someone who grew up in church, I know how being in your home church feels. You’re happy to be surrounded by people you love, you are excited and grateful for another opportunity to devote yourself totally to God, and you feel at peace in a safe place. Recently, these feelings were ripped from you.

A domestic terrorist came into your church with the intent of killing African American members. You probably thought he was just another visitor, someone exploring the Christian religion or possibly looking for a new church home. He did not intend to worship with you; instead, he wanted to hurt you.

Dylann Roof let his hatred for a race of people get the better of him. Because he decided to judge individuals on skin color instead of character, as Dr. King so wisely asked us not to do, he felt he could justify taking those nine innocent lives. I wish I could say his belief of the inferiority of people of color is rare, but anyone who has seen the news recently knows this is untrue.

While I watched news coverage last week, I saw profiles on some of the church members you lost. I saw a recent college graduate. I saw an assistant pastor. I saw a speech pathologist. I saw people who dedicated decades of their lives to your church.

I’m sorry that you lost these people, people you saw every week and knew personally. I am also sorry that the world lost them. Each of the faces I saw represented a life that impacted those around them in the best of ways.

I’m sorry that Dylann Roof saw race when he looked at your congregation instead of your purpose for gathering. Apparently your skin color alone was reason enough for him to attack you. Being who you are should never be a cause for violence.

I’m sorry your peace was taken from you. I learned that your church used to be a place for free and enslaved black people to come together, regardless of status, to worship. It was considered a basic right then for people to dedicate time for what they believed, and it should be the same now.

Although this terrible hate crime has hit your place of worship, I know that as a congregation you will come together and support one another. You will not suffer alone because church members never do. Not only do you have each other, but you have so many other Americans who support you. Situations like these often show us that despite our differences, people in this country come together when we can help each other.

I ask you to show anyone else who considers this type of pointless violence that it might hurt you, but it will never destroy you. I also believe you have the power to be an example to people all over the world. I believe you can teach us that no matter what has happened to us, we have the power to overcome tragedy, too.