The Campaign to TAKE ON HATE, led by the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), a program of ACCESS, mourns the terrible and tragic massacre of nine churchgoers at the hands of a brutal shooter Wednesday, June 17 in Charleston, S.C.

We are deeply saddened by the terrible and tragic killing of nine churchgoers, including the church’s pastor and state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, by this murderer. Our sincere condolences go out to the families and community of the victims at Charleston's historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. This senseless tragedy at a place of worship is appalling and devastating.

This is clearly a crime of hate. We stand in solidarity with the Charleston community and ask that the FBI open a full hate crime investigation into the murders. We will remain vigilant, while the local police and FBI investigate this hate crime and bring the shooter to justice.