South Carolina’s governor said racist shooter Dylann Roof, who fatally shot nine Emanuel AME church members, deserves the death penalty. Roof’s uncle, Carson Cowles, agreed with that sentiment and said he’d be happy to pull the plug himself. Remarkably, however, the people who are showing the most sympathy toward Roof aren’t his family and friends, but family members of those who died at the gunman’s hands.

“If he’s found guilty, I’ll be the one to push the button myself. If what I am hearing is true, he needs to pay for it” Cowles told “Good Morning America.”

Many family members of those slain, however, are in a rush to forgive the shooter.

“May God have mercy on your soul,” said Felicia Sanders, whose 26-year-old son, Tywanza Sanders, was the youngest person to die in Wednesday’s massacre, Reuters reports. “You have killed some of the most beautiful people that I know. Every fiber in my body hurts.”

“I will never talk to her ever again. I will never ever hold her again,” said the daughter of slain Ethel Lance, Nadine Collier, who told Roof, “You hurt a lot of people, but God forgives you and I forgive you.”

F. Palmer, whose editorials have appeared on BreakingBrown, called this rush to forgiveness, even while one of the shooter’s own family members calls for the death penalty, an embarrassment.
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“This might be the most embarrassing sh*t in the world…The Negroes are in court throwing themselves at the feet of the mfer who just killed their family members and the killer’s family is talking about snuffing this dude out. Regardless of my feelings about the death penalty per se, it is sad that this man’s own family openly talked about killing him while the Negroes are talking about forgiveness with the smoke still coming from the body where the hot lead went inside…”

A Facebook friend also pointed out that after Americans were killed in 9/11, the U.S. didn’t offer its forgiveness, but its bombs. And families of the 9/11 terror attacks didn’t call for forgiveness:

“I, too, am highly moved watching the family members of victims of the Charleston terror attack forgive the terrorist who perpetrated the attack. But I must point out that I don’t recall seeing victims’ families of the 9/11 event doing the same for the terrorists who perpetrated that attack. Nope. We went to war. We rushed legislation called the Patriot Act to “aid” in the fight. We drew lines in the sand and forced nations to be with us or against us. We launched drones that are still flying over the heads of target nations. We sent Seal Team Six to get the guy at the top. We unleashed the American Sniper on a populace. We changed how we fly and move money. We created an entire federal department for the specific purpose of fighting terrorism. But I don’t recall forgiveness being part of the solution. Perhaps we, as a community of people of color, should adopt a similar stance to combat the ongoing terror being perpetrated against US. Discuss…”

Racists and white supremacists seem to only respect wealth, power and violence, so why are members of the black community so quick to offer forgiveness?