‘My gift to my mom’: Son of Charleston church massacre victim writes children’s book

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Chris Singleton has always tried to spread the message that “love is stronger than hate” since his mother, Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, was killed along with eight others in a mass shooting at a Charleston, South Carolina church on June 17, 2015.

Singleton, a former professional baseball player, even forgave Dylann Roof, the man who killed Coleman-Singleton when he opened fired during a prayer session at Mother Emanuel AME.

Five years since the tragedy, Singleton continues to spread that message through his latest project, a children’s book titled “Different,” which he hopes will teach children to love each other, despite their differences.

“I’m really just trying to teach kids to love people of different races and different religions, to stop bullying, all that good stuff is in the book.”
Chris Singleton, Author

Chris said that he had a conversation about the book a few years ago with his sister and put the project in motion a few months ago.

Despite being unsure of its success, he says the book gets him excited because he sees it as a gift to his mom.

Five years ago my mom’s life was taken away from us by a man that wanted to start a race war.
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Five years later my gift to my mom and to the world is my first children’s book teaching our youth to love others, no matter their race, religion, or skin color.
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June 17th, 2020… pic.twitter.com/NYAE3SbwOp
— Chris Singleton (@csingleton__2) May 11, 2020

He added that the book includes some Nigerian roots, which gave him the opportunity to learn more about where he and his family come from.

“I love to learn about the Nigerian culture. I have a buddy of mine…we actually use his name in the book, Obinna is our main character’s name from Nigeria, which is super amazing….I definitely went back to the roots and did some research while writing this book.”
Chris Singleton, Author

Obinna is not the only character that Chris used from his life, he says his mother will also be featured as a character.

“I think this is a phenomenal testament to what my mom was as a person, as a lady, as a servant leader. I’m so glad that I was able to produce this book and she’s actually in the book. She’s a teacher in the book and I’m so excited for people to read it and see my mom in it.”
Chris Singleton, Author

“Different” will be released on June 17, 2020, with pre-orders available on June 1.

Click here if you would like to pre-order the book next month.

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