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Raven Saunders doing her part for hometown of Charleston, SC at USATF Outdoors - DyeStat

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DyeStat.com   Jun 24th 2015, 3:08pm
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By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Watch the USATF Outdoor Championships live on USATF.tv Thursday through Sunday.

NCAA shot put champion Raven Saunders said she will “do her part” for her grieving hometown of Charleston, S.C. when she competes in the USATF Outdoor Championships this weekend at Hayward Field in Eugene.

 

Saunders grew up in Charleston and was baptized at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the site of last week’s mass shooting that left nine people dead. She was a member of Centenary United Methodist Church, which is three blocks away.

 

“Churches back at home are like families,” Saunders said. “Generations have attended and been part of that same family so they are filled with your cousins and friends. When you go to church, it’s like going to your home.”

 

Saunders, a freshman at Southern Illinois who smashed the high school indoor and outdoor national records in the shot put at Burke High School before winning NCAA indoor and outdoor titles in 2015, is competing this week to make the U.S. team that will compete at the World Championships in Beijing, China this summer.

 

But for the past week, Saunders has been glued to the news of the Charleston shooting on CNN.

 

Saunders’ grandmother is a member of the Emanuel African Methodist Church and received communion on the night before the shooting from Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, one of the three pastors (and also a high school track coach) who were later shot and killed at a Bible study class by a 21-year-old white man with racial motives.

 

“My aunt personally knows seven of the (victims),” Saunders said. “I didn’t really know her well, but one of the people (who died) was the librarian (Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd). I’ve been to that library a lot and have seen her (many times).”

 

Saunders hasn’t been home to Charleston since Christmas break but she has been in touch with family and friends back home. If not for her competition schedule this week, Saunders said she would be attending funerals in Charleston.

 

The incident provoked reactions of disbelief and shock, Saunders said.

 

“When I first found out about it I was heartbroken,” she said. “It’s really upsetting because it was in my hometown. It’s really saddening that someone had this much hate that they could go into a church and do this. It’s mind-boggling.”

 

Saunders said she has felt the ugliness of racism growing up in Charleston and knows that her city still has far to go on the issue.

 

Her hope, she said, is that the shooting causes things to change in a positive way. Less than a week after the incident, calls for removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House and other locations have reached their tipping point.

 

“I think that good things are going to come out of (the tragedy),” Saunders said. “Taking down the Confederate flag from flying is one of them. Growing up in a state with that flag hanging, and then going to history class and learning the stuff behind it, it made you not feel that accepted or wanted … there is so much bloodshed and racism behind it.”

 

Saunders said she believes her part to play in this healing for her city is to compete, succeed, and do something positive.

 

“I’m doing my part and competing and holding up something good for the city in the midst of all this,” Saunders said. “Whatever USA medals I may win, I'm going to place them at the memorial at the church of the victims that were killed.”



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