June 17, 2015, is a day that Chris Singleton will never forget. A day that changed his life forever.
Chris Singleton is a former minor league baseball player drafted by the Chicago Cubs.
In 2015, Chris lost his mother in a racially motivated mass shooting at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
"On this night during Bible study, there was a young man who wanted to start a race war in this country," said Singleton. "He walked into my church, and he fired over 70 bullets. When it was all said and done, he took nine lives. One of those nine lives was my mom, my hero."
"I lost her in a very, very, very tragic way."
At the time, his father struggled with alcoholism, so his first thought was, what now?
"I've got a little brother who was 12 at the time, a little sister who was 15. I immediately started thinking, what are we going to do?"
Instead of turning to hate, Chris says this incident sparked something in him.
"I'm a believer, and I think that wholeheartedly God put forgiveness in my heart," said Singleton. "I immediately started thinking, okay, I don't have to hate all young white people because of their skin colour, right? If I forgive this man, I don't have to be on alert and fear for my life?"
"Sometimes we think forgiveness means you don't hold somebody accountable. That's not the case. I don't believe in forgiving and forgetting. That's impossible for me. If it truly hurts you, you're never going to forget it."
Chris is now a nationally-renowned speaker and author with a message of resilience, forgiveness and unity.
His overall mission when speaking is to inspire his audiences with his story of resilience and to unite millions of people with his belief that "Love is Stronger Than Hate."
Today on Connections, Chris shares his story of how he has managed to embrace love over hate.