Show your support for Charleston victims

A couple weeks before celebrating the nation’s most patriotic holiday, it’s not red, white and blue products that are selling out in Columbia – it’s all about the blue and white.

In the days since the June 17 massacre at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church, there has been an outpouring of support for the nine families of those killed – from $100,000 donations from organizations like the Carolina Panthers to prayer gatherings at churches across the state.

Among the largest shows of support is one that grew out of a Facebook “Blue and White Friday” campaign, which by Thursday had garnered more than 36,000 people – from South Carolina and around the nation –planning to “attend” or participate by wearing or showing blue and white, the colors in the state flag.

At The South Carolina Shop on Rosewood Drive, where an array of palmetto-themed products fill the shelves and line the walls, it’s been difficult to keep stocked several items with South Carolina’s signature palmetto-and-crescent emblem. The store sold out of navy-and-white state flags this week had to stock a new shipment of blue-and-white T-shirts Thursday because they’ve been so popular all week, general manager Chris Pinner said.

“The whole week we’ve had people come in, they’re just like ‘I need a blue and white shirt or blue and white hat,’” Pinner said. “Basically everything we’ve sold over the past two days have been T-shirts and hats.”

Although the Blue and White Friday event doesn’t have a centralized location, a description on the page requests that participants:

▪ Display the state flag in a prominent place to be seen.

▪ Tie blue and white ribbons on trees, lamp posts, cars and mailboxes.

▪ Wear blue and white clothing.

▪ Turn your profile picture to the South Carolina flag.

▪ Anything else you can think of to show off the blue and white.

Some participants are planning to get together for a bigger show of blue and white support, among them Winthrop University, where there will be an informal gathering at 9 a.m. on campus at the Little Chapel building. About 50 people plan to hold blue and white placards Friday to form the shape of the Palmetto tree South Carolina flag, and nine chimes will sound at 9:09 a.m. to remember the nine shooting victims.

A description on the Facebook page said the rally is an effort to “come together united in one front and show the world the best we are. We can not undo what has been done, but we can use it as a foundation to move forward in peace and love.”

“With everything else happening in the world, the fact that South Carolina’s coming together, showing support, it’s really good for the state,” Pinner said.

Blue and White Friday is being held a little more than a week after the shootings of nine participants in a Bible study group at Emanuel AME Church the night of June 17 – Sen. Clementa Pinckney, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Cynthia Hurd, Tywanza Sanders, Myra Thompson, Ethel Lance, Daniel Simmons, Sen. Clementa Pinckney, DePayne Middleton-Doctor and Susie Jackson.

Many of their funerals will start Friday, and run through next week.

This story was originally published June 25, 2015 at 8:46 PM.