MLK Lecture: Reverend Sharon Risher

Rev. Sharon Washington Risher was catapulted into the limelight after the Charleston, S.C. shooting at the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17th, 2015. Her beloved mother and the church’s sexton, Mrs. Ethel Lee Lance, was killed along with eight others, including two cousins and a childhood friend. Since that horrific tragedy, Sharon has been very outspoken about the nation’s gun laws and is one of the national spokespersons for the grassroots advocacy groups Everytown and Moms Demand Gun Sense. She has appeared on CNN on several occasions and was interviewed by Time Magazine, Maire-Claire magazine, Guardian- BCC radio, among others. She also has visited President Barak Obama at the White House on several occasions, and she has been a guest speaker for several Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial events.