US President Barack Obama sang a song of hope for church members who were gunned down at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.

Mr. President eulogized the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, a state senator, pastor of the church and eight parishioners.

In his eulogy for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Obama sang ‘Amazing Grace’, which was quickly joined by ministers and some of the thousands who packed into the arena at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.

Obama ordered gun control and efforts to eliminate poverty and job discrimination. He alos said that the Confederate battle flag, which is considered to be a symbol of Southern pride, must be removed from places of honor.

According to him, that flag was a reminder of systemic oppression and racial subjugation for many black and white. According to Obama, this act was meant to control, and terrorize and oppress. He said, “An act that he imagined would incite fear, and incrimination, violence and suspicion. An act he presumed would deepen divisions that trace back to our nation's original sin”.

Mr. President also spoke plainly about the ugliness of America's racial history. He noted that minorities have been deprived of equal rights in more recent times.

The church founded by the leader of a failed slave revolt and burned to the ground by angry whites in 1822. After the Civil War, the church led efforts to expand equal rights in the South and hosted Martin Luther King Jr. during campaigns in South Carolina.