Jelani Cobb, contributor for The New Yorker, challenges the power of conversation and the benevolence of White Americans in this excerpt from AMERICA AFTER CHARLESTON (Mon, Sept 21 at 9/8C).

Polly Sheppard was spared by Dylann Roof, the Emanuel AME shooter, when he found her praying. He instructed her to ""tell the story." She is one of three survivors.

Black Lives Matter – a popular refrain for some, a discordant one for others. Nearly two-thirds of African-Americans polled as part of the PBS NewsHour Marist poll consider it a movement, while 39 percent of Americans overall say it’s only a slogan. Panelists discuss Black Lives Matter in the special town hall AMERICA AFTER CHARLESTON (Mon, Sept 21 at 9/8C).

Two audience members speak up during the town hall to express their views of how African-Americans are portrayed in the media, and how that affects their own lives.

What will it take to bridge America's racial divide? Join a special town hall meeting moderated by Gwen Ifill (PBS NewsHour) to explore the many issues propelled into public discourse after a white gunman shot and killed nine African-American parishioners in Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June. Premieres Monday, Sept 21 at 9/8C.

Shaun Harper and Margaret Simms describe the cascading effect of racial inequalities on the lives of young African-Americans. AMERICA AFTER CHARLESTON premieres Monday, September 21 at 9/8C.

Arielle Newton of Black Lives Matter and Reverend Cornell William Brooks of the NAACP discuss how differing viewpoints and solutions affect their causes. AMERICA AFTER CHARLESTON premieres Monday, September 21 at 9/8C.

Moderator Gwen Ifill converses with Presiding Reverend Norvel Goff, the interm paster at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, parishioner Willie Glee, and Malcolm Graham, whose sister died in the shootings that took place at the church in June 2015. AMERICA AFTER CHARLESTON premieres Monday, September 21 at 9/8C on PBS.

Join a town hall meeting to explore the many issues propelled into public discourse after a white gunman shot and killed nine African-American parishioners in Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June. Gwen Ifill moderates.

The Charleston shootings and the emotional havoc that they wreaked were only one of several incidents that have managed to keep the conversation about race going. This exclusive data provided by Facebook shows spikes in conversations on Facebook about race starting in April when Walter Scott was killed by a policeman in North Charleston, and in June, a week after the Charleston shootings.

Exclusive data from Facebook shows conversations about guns spiked in the wake of the June 2015 shootings in Charleston, South Carolina, and other recent shootings.