Once again, an act of senseless violence has
pierced our nation’s consciousness.
Based upon a tally by CBS News reporter and unofficial White House
historian, Mark Knoller, last Thursday marked the fourteenth time President
Obama issued a statement on a shooting attack.
In his seven-and-a-half minute statement, the President was visibly
frustrated, and in fact he admitted a range of emotions, including, heart-ach,
sadness, and anger.
President Obama’s sense of frustration is
undoubtedly heightened due to his fruitless efforts to move Congress to enact
legislation to limit access to firearms, which many people believe is a key
arbiter to how easy it is to facilitate an attack, such as the one carried out
at (Mother) Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. As many of his supporters ruefully note,
forget gun control, Congress has refused to even adopt new gun registration
laws. Moreover, despite the recent
tragedy in Charleston, the prospects of new firearms’ legislation seems no
brighter today than at any point in the last six-and-a-half years.
That stark reality moved President Obama to
say:
“Now
is a time for mourning and for healing, but let’s be clear: at some point, we
as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence
doesn’t happen in other advanced countries.”
As he reflected upon the
nine live taken last Wednesday, the President noted:
“Their death says to us that
we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American
dream.” And so we must!
Unlike most of the preceding
acts of gun violence during the President’s tenure, this one, by almost all
accounts, unless you view this matter through a Fox News-like lens, has a
racial catalyst and component. While
there is a segment of our society dedicated to refusing to admit that any white
person’s action, no matter how much compelling residual evidence exists, is
predicated upon racial animus, this is one of those instances in which, there
is no clear reasonable option.
Last Wednesday night, Dylann
Roof, 21, entered historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. Wednesday evening is traditionally Prayer
Meeting or Bible Study night in the Black Church, and so it was last week at
Mother Emanuel.
Near the end of a 2,000-word
Manifesto, titled “An Explanation,” Mr. Roof reveals what authorities may
eventually deem to be the impetus for his actions:
"I
have no choice. I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and
fight. I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at
one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. We have no
skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the Internet. Well
someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that
has to be me."
The text which
appeared on a website, called "The Last Rhodesian," is registered to Mr.
Roof and lists him as its administrator. In an image tweeted by South Carolina
authorities this week, Roof is seen wearing a jacket with the flags of
apartheid-era South Africa and nearby Rhodesia, a former British colony that a
white minority ruled until it became independent in 1980 and its name was
changed to Zimbabwe. His Social Media
also portray him brandishing a Confederate Flag, and burning an American Flag.
According to
Police Chief Greg Mullen, Mr. Roof spent about an hour at the Bible
Study/Prayer Meeting before rising to open fire. Witnesses told investigators the gunman stood
up and said he was there "to shoot black people," a law enforcement
official said.
He answered
one man's plea to stop by shooting him, said Sylvia Johnson, a cousin of the
church's slain pastor who has talked to a survivor.
"'No,
you've raped our women, and you are taking over the country," he said,
according to Johnson. "... I have to do what I have to do."
All the
victims were shot multiple times, according to Roof's arrest warrant.
"Prior
to leaving the Bible Study room he stood over a witness ... and uttered a racially
inflammatory statement," the warrant said.
He told one witness, whom he spared, “I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to spare you so you can tell them
what happened.”
Roof shot and
killed six females, and three males, including:
·
The
Rev. Clementa Pinckney, 41, the Church’s Pastor
·
Mr. Tywanza Sanders, 26
·
Ms. Cynthia Hurd, 54
·
The
Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45
·
Ms.
Myra Thompson, 59
·
Ethel
Lee Lance, 70
·
The
Rev. Daniel Simmons, 74
·
The
Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, 49
·
Ms.
Susie Jackson, 87.
Approximately
fourteen hours after the shootings, police caught Roof in Shelby, North
Carolina, about 245 miles away from the carnage in Charleston. He was armed, but surrendered without
offering resistance.
Roof confessed
to the shootings in interviews with the Charleston police and FBI, two law
enforcement officials told Evan Perez and Wesley Bruer of CNN, the first
network to report this development. He also told investigators he wanted to
start a race war, one of those officials said.
Investigators
are looking into whether Roof had links to white supremacist or other hate
groups, a law enforcement official said. There's no indication, so far, that law
enforcement officials who focus on hate groups knew of him. Roof is being held under one million dollars
bond.
A peculiar
thing happened as the case of Dylann Roof has unfolded. Mr. Roof has been connected to a number of
racist symbols, prominent among them, the Confederate Battle Flag. While President Obama has lifted the mantle
of firearms access when discussing this horrendous event, the rest of the
political spectrum, especially conservatives seem engrossed in an inexplicable
about face on the efficacy of what is casually known as the Confederate
Flag. As a symbol, the flag has been
considered virtually sacrosanct among Southern Conservatives for…well
forever…since the virulent initiatives to put down the Civil Rights Movement of
the 1960’s.
The shameless
song and dance routine that so many Southerners contorted themselves through
while attempting to explain the supposed innocuousness of this venal symbol is
at once laughable and sickening. The
words heritage and history are most frequently used to defend and /or explain
why the flag should fly over a Statehouse, or adorn one’s vehicle, or front
door, or desk, or whatever.
Of course none
of that explains the perfect storm coincidental nature of the symbol emerging
virtually simultaneously to the rise of the Civil Rights movement, and the apex
of efforts of Klansmen and other hateful and bad actors to diffuse and defeat
that movement.
The cynic in
me is compelled to recognize that this sudden infectious spread of good will
seem a lot like a case of making a sacrificial lamb of the flag, in a effort to
sidestep another serious battle over new gun laws. I see you!
Don’t get me wrong;
I have no level of disappointment about the potential dislodging of the
hate-infused symbol that is the Confederate Battle Flag. I would love to see it go away. However, I am also mindful that any prospects
of even moving the flag to less prominent stations, on any large scale, is
still quite an iffy proposition, despite the Pomp and Circumstance generated by
the Governor of South Carolina, and politicos in other places. In South Carolina, for example, any measure
to remove the flag still requires a two-thirds vote in the Legislature, which I
am certain, will be no mean feat.
Indeed, it may be easier than enacting any enhanced gun laws. I’m just not sure the issue is nearly as
important. Meanwhile, we are left to
contemplate “Carnage in a CharlestonChurch: Another Mass Murder!”
I’m done; holla
back!
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