PHOTO/TROY HULL

Gracyn (left) and Kaylin Doctor share a hug before the start of the Johnson C. Smith-Johnson & Wales volleyball match Thursday at Brayboy Gym. The Purple Game of Honor was played in memory of the victims of the Emanuel AME Church shooting in June. Gracyn and Kaylin's mother, the Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, was killed in the attack.

Gracyn and Kaylin Doctor’s biggest supporter didn’t get to see them play volleyball against each other Thursday at Johnson C. Smith.

The Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, who encouraged her daughters to play volleyball, was one of nine people killed in the Emanuel AME Church massacre June 17. Her kids – Gracyn, a senior at Johnson C. Smith  and Kaylin, a freshman at Johnson & Wales – squared off against each other in the Purple Game of Honor for the Emanuel 9 to promote non-violence. JCSU earned a 3-0 win.

“This event was extremely important to me,” Gracyn said. “It touched my heart so much. I could feel the love.”

Team T.R.U B.L.U.E, a non-profit organization that promotes non-violence, helped organize the event.

“A lot of people came to support,” said Will Adams, president of Team T.R.U B.L.U.E. “We would have loved to see a lot more but the event turned out great.”
Everyone who attended was asked to wear purple and purple ribbons were pinned on everyone who came. Supporters in the crowd also held signs that read “Hate is weak” and “We have no room for hate.”  

“People are coming together for a cause,” said Marcus Walker, a JCSU alumnus.  “It’s a very serious incident that happened and it’s making everybody aware that we do actually recognize what happened.”

The sisters created an emotional scene as they hugedg and shed tears before the match.

“We had our tearful moments,” said Bethane Middleton-Brown, the players’ aunt and Middleton-Doctor’s younger sister. “I thought it was beautiful and I’m proud of them. They’re doing what they do best and what their mother taught them best.”

Middleton-Doctor, 49, encouraged her daughters to play volleyball when Gracyn was in middle school.

“A high school coach watched me playing basketball and wanted me [for the volleyball team] immediately,” Gracyn said. “My mom encouraged me to do it and I started playing in eighth grade for the high school.”

It opened the door and eyes of young Kaylin as well.

“I started playing volleyball after going to a tryout with my sister and the coach asked my mom if I can play as well,” she said.

The event touched those who have known Gracyn and Kaylin before the church shooting.

“Gracyn and I were roommates our freshman year so I know how much her mother means to her and how much she values her family,” said Kya Banmeke , a JCSU junior and Gracyn’s best friend.  “Dr. DePayne’s death affected Gracyn in an unexplainable way but being the strong confident person I know Gracyn is, she got back up and still took care of her responsibilities and her sisters.”

 Since Middleton-Doctor’s passing, Gracyn has taken a mother figure role for her sisters.

“She has been the closest thing to a mother figure,” Kaylin said.

As the eldest sibling, Gracyn had to stand up and help her younger sisters get through their difficult loss.

“The biggest thing I can do is love them, spend time with them, talk to and listen to them, encourage them and support them in all that they do” Gracyn said. “That’s what I have been doing and what I will continue to do.”

Middleton-Brown believes the sisters’ close bond growing up also helped them cope.

“They’re very close,” she said. “They always have been. That’s how they were raised. Gracyn’s sisters look up to her. She provides them with that motherly nurturing.”  

Although Gracyn has to be there for her sisters, she takes time out for her to get through the life-changing event.

“I’ve just been taking time for myself to get myself back to normal,” she said. “I know it will take some time. That is why I pray, write and talk to [my mother] often.

Even though [Dylann Roof] took the most important person in my life, my best friend, my cheerleader and my support system, I will still have joy in my heart. I know now that she is protecting me and rooting for me from above and that makes me happy. ”

Said Middleton-Brown: “This event was basically another opportunity to show how wonderful my sister is,” Middleton-Brown said. “It shows the strength that she gave both of them and it means a lot to me because she was a single parent and she raised them alone but she taught them well.”

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