On June 17th 2015, tragedy struck in Charleston, South Carolina when a white supremacist infiltrated a routine bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church to execute a vicious hate crime. Dylan Roof opened fire on the African American churchgoers, killing nine people and injuring several others. Six months later, Roof was convicted and subsequently sentenced to death by lethal injection.
Just three days before the two-year anniversary of the shooting, the Chicago Cubs selected Chris Singleton, son of one of the Charleston Church victims, on Day 3 of the Major League Baseball draft.
One day after the shooting, Singleton stood before a crowd to give a “love is stronger than hate” speech in honor of his mother, on the Charleston Southern baseball diamond, where he played as an outfielder.
“I just say, love is stronger than hate. If we just love the way my mom would, the hate won’t be anywhere close to what love is,” Singleton said at the time.
The Charleston Southern outfielder, who is the oldest of Sharonda Colman-Singleton’s three children, has continued to honor his mother by writing her initials on all his baseball equipment. In addition, to fulfilling the dream his mother helped him pursue, Major League Baseball.
According to reports, Singleton batted .276 with four home runs at Charleston Southern, while acting as the lone parental figure for his younger siblings, Caleb and Camryn.
