The Manifesto
It appears that someone has found Dylann Roof’s manifesto.
Racism this strong and misguided does not develop in a vacuum or merely on the internet.
This is hatred carefully constructed and bountifully planted.
I had to look away several times while reading it. It is the keystone. Most modern day racists have been given the code to speak without saying these actual words. They say the same thing, but they use code.
Also, I just want to say this personally because it send me into spasms. The judge at yesterday’s bond hearing did something I have never seen before — he started the hearing with a statement to make sure that everybody understood that the cold blooded killer had a family, too, and we should be mindful of them. Here’s how it sounded: “Y’all, be real careful because some white people might get their feeling hurt.” Wrong time, wrong place, wrong words.
Goober was originally gonna shoot up the College of Charleston.
1His own failure as a ninth grade dropout caused him to look for something to blame. He came across some vile websites while researching “black on white violence” and began to see himself as the savior of his race. Of course, he did not seek out drug dealers, gang bangers or criminals. No, the coward shot the life out of peaceful, loving and respected people. Mr. White Supremacist came up with his own final solution. Their families are better Christians than I if they can forgive him.
2I, too, had a visceral reaction to the judge’s statement about Roof’s family and how they are also victims in this horrific slaying of nine black churchgoers in their church, during Bible Study.
I’m sorry, but I have no sympathy for Roof’s family at all. They are all alive and well. May be a bit embarrassed by their family member, but they are NOT victims of his actions!
Roof does appear to be enjoying his continued white privilege even while in jail and waiting to answer for his hate-filled massacre of these innocent people. May they rest in peace. I cannot find it in me to forgive him for his horrific actions.
3Susan, Can the Judge say that? Is it legal? What does you husband say about this? Those people at the church had families also. Who gives a rats patoot if that POS family is upset?
4The seed was already growing: he sought out sites that supported the views he already had.
Those sites added fertilizer and water and sprays to kill any doubts he might have, any lingering memory of times when he and a black kid may have gotten along…but the seed was already there, already sprouted.
It may have blown in on the wind of casual racism that’s, basically, everywhere now–a Fox News broadcast overheard in a hospital waiting room or some adult he thought reliable saying something at a meal, at a football game, whatever. Or it may have been planted deliberately in this fertile soil by someone we don’t know yet–a family member, family friend, church member, teacher, coach, friend of his or their parents–someone who was preaching racism and saw him as a potential convert.
Many people, when they go looking, as they think and say, for information, are actually looking for support for their existing beliefs. Learning to look for contradictory data runs against our biology, but it’s possible…if we are taught how to do it and the importance of it. In an environment where lies are widely believed, where there is far more approval to be gained by believing them…someone like this will take the easy route. Behind him are vast, shadowy groups quite willing to have the cannon fodder go out in front to start trouble, so they can test the reactions before they risk themselves.
5Even if the Judge “Didn’t” say those exact words, does it negate the intent of the meaning?
6“this prompted me to type in the words “black on White crime” into Google, and I have never been the same since that day.”
-Dylann Roof
That’s because he didn’t bother to type in “white on black crime” to see what those search results would show.
As Elizabeth Moon said, “he sought out sites that supported the views he already had.”
And unfortunately there are as many racist sites on the internet, as there are stars printed on Confederate flags across the South, if you were to start counting on the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol, and worked your way across Dixie.
7The judge has his head where only fecal matter should be.
8@Corrine, he was reloading 🙁
9http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/19/racist-talk-from-dylann-roof-s-judge.html
10There’s been mention of this magistrate being sanctioned for his ill-timed comments, as well as having commented inappropriately from the bench on prior occasions. Fortunately for all concerned he will not be the trial judge. The last thing the families and Charleston need is a reversal on error because the judge is a clod. A steady hand will be needed to guide the judicial process and ensure the families are not subjected to more emotional trauma than this trial will inflict upon them.
In the “what if” department (paraphrasing) from the killer’s own mouth, it pains me to know he had a lucid moment of pause when he recognized how accepting and kind he was treated by the prayer group. He hesitated; if only he would have held that thought and not gone with “but I had to do it.”
What a crock! He didn’t ‘have’ to be there, he didn’t ‘have’ to do what he did. Only in his ‘mind’ and the like filth pits of Faux not the News and Stormfront is that kind of ‘thinking’ mistaken for actual thought.
Maybe now we can push our elected representatives to do what 90% of us want done regarding gun purchases. After Sandy Hook some told us, “now is not the time.” They lied; it wasn’t the timing of the discussion but a discussion they’d prefer to avoid.
Places of worship should be free of violence, but so should our schools, workplaces, streets, movie theaters, shopping malls and homes. The statistics are staggering. My messages to my elected representation will be a simple citation of the facts with only one editorial comment, “enough is enough.”
11Gentle readers, google Gosnell, your heart will stop.www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/06/dylann-roof-judge
That one article is but the tip of the iceberg.
12Sounds like the Federal Government needs to file terrorism charges and get this case the hell out of South Carolina.
This kid had no worries there would be any consequences for what he did….. not if he went to trial in Charleston.
This all gets more and more sickening.
13New: Gosnell has been removed from the case. NBC does not clarify if it is because Gosnell is a racist or some other reason.
14Gone is good enough for me right now.
Oscar Hammerststein wrote these words for South Pacific in 1949 and nothing has changed.
You’ve got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught
From year to year,
It’s got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff’rent shade,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
15Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
I think this is the most fear and horror I have felt for our country in many years. These wackadoodle “I’m victimized” subcultures are extremely dangerous for any would-be civilized society.
We sane Americans have got to find a way to pull together and call a halt to this pernicious nonsense.
16Now, is anyone stupid enough in this country to even suggest that racism is dead? I would like to meet that person so I can kick them in the crotch so hard they’ll have three Adam’s apples!
17I guarantee that he had a bottle in the bottom drawer of his judicial desk and used that drawer so often it never squeaked. I’ve actually seen judges do this while on duty. Justice may be blind but she can still smell John Barleycorn when necessary. Good thing this old coot got the boot.
18Roof’s family
Dylann was busted on felony drug charges in February.
Two months later, his father gave him an automatic pistol for a birthday gift.
is anyone stupid enough in this country to even suggest that racism is dead?
Oh, yes. Many many many people.
19And we should be glad that they are still willing to say that out loud, because it allows the rest of us to identify them.
I do not believe the shooter acted alone. Someone took the recent pictures of him and someone helped him write his manifesto. The language and style do not match that of a 9th grade drop out.
20No what’s sad is that we have politicians who have attended events sponsored by the group cited in Dylann Rooy’s manifesto, Council of Conservative Citizens…listen to talk radio here in Alabama and they ape some of those same comments found in Root’s manifesto
21There is a white supremacist organization called ‘Stormfront’. Do you suppose that’s how he got his middle name? Thanks, Mom and Dad.
22JAKVirginia-check with activist chief wingnut Roberts of the Scotus whether racism is dead.
23And now FBI director James Comey doesn’t think this meets the criteria for a terrorist act? The way I look at it, using the definition he quoted, it fits like one of my custom hand-knit socks on my foot–perfectly: The official FBI definition of terrorism defines it as “the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”
The shooter unlawfully used violence to murder nine people with the intent of intimidating (black people) and coercing “the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of starting a race war (or civil war–he seems to have said both at various times) and destroying the United States, which he hates.
How is that not a political objective? How is that not terrorism? Or is it just that we can’t say a blue-eyed white boy is a full-blown, home-grown terrorist?
24You can’t reason with the willfully ignorant:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/our-humanity-naturally/201506/anti-intellectualism-is-killing-america
25Yep. I am just seeing this today, but yesterday I heard about this judge. Widely reported that he has used the N word form the bench.
And, for the record, I agree with whoever posted that they don’t feel sorry for Dylann Roof’s family. I may feel something about them, but it ain’t sorry.
This stuff is deep, y’all, and we white folks (I speak for myself) need to talk and talk and talk about this. All day long.
26One day a few years back I was walking down a sidewalk in Boston and saw an attractive young black woman talking with her friend. In that moment, above and beyond blacks I have met that are amongst the smartest people I’ve met (including MIT & Harvard Profs), I was struck with the HILARITY that skin color has ANYTHING to do with lack of intelligence.
This young fool has been taken in by the same kind of brainwashing that allows children to be hijacked into ISIL, except that this time it was for the “White Race”. Despite plenty of examples of discrimination against white nationalities like the Irish & Italians, also wildly wrong headed, the “White Race” somehow is unified under the ability to blush and be prone to skin cancer. And somehow more intelligent for that lack of melanin.
I became aware of my race during the age of MLK Jr., space travel, and Lt. Uhura. If asked, I identify as a nerd. I clearly remember being deeply ashamed as an American and as a person when a Black man was attacked by a White using an American flagpole during the period of bussing in Boston. And being proud of wounded soldiers of many colors caring for each other in Vietnam. And Iraq, etc.
I think, ultimately, the addiction of needing to be better than “others” lies at the heart of our problems with race & religion(s). And like other sicknesses of mind and body, it needs recognition to be cured.
27I have a German friend who wants to see Charleston and Savannah on her next US trip. I took a trip to both places a few years ago, my first and final foray into the “deep south”, and that was after a lot of thought about going there. My friend of course wants me to go with her, but I would never again set foot in the south and have told her why, but of course she doesn’t understand the complexity of race in the US. I’ve tried to describe southern “culture”, and though she talks to me about American racism, her understanding of American history is slim, and I don’t have words to the pervasive sick hate, and the insanity that was unleashed when a black man was elected POTUS.
So if you want a fine vacation, come to Minnesota, a blue state with lots of lakes, smaller mosquitos than Texas, refreshing cooler air, and lots of Democrats. Last presidential election I saw an Obama sign in the wilderness, just before reaching the Canadian border. We’re not blue because we’re cold.
28Right about MN! I love it here!
29I love the Southwest, but have never been to the southeast. I’ve considered it, but feel very conflicted about it. I’d love to see the land, eat the food, hear the music, meet ‘some’ of the people and avoid the racism.
I don’t know if all that is compatible. I don’t know if the liberal bumper stickers on my car would compromise my safety. I also feel repelled by the thought that any of my money might go to the regressive policies of a Republican state government.
Guess I won’t go.
30First, the State of South Carolina needs to take the confederate battle flag down, fold it up, and either store it somewhere or destroy it. There have been more atrocities, terroristic acts, and hate crimes committed under that flag than ISIL ever even thought of.
31Rereading the comments, kudos to PKM, who, as usual writes eloquently and to the point.
32As a White, I guess I should say there’s nothing “wrong” with being White. Then, just the same, there is nothing “wrong” with NOT being White (forgetting religion, language, and birthplace). I just want to treat EVERYONE with dignity and respect so that (I hope) they’ll treat me the same in kind.
Even having to state such a platitude means that racists and segregationists win, just a little, by forcing us to respond. But, dignified non-responses just aren’t doing it; we can’t afford to be passive in this.
33I read his manifesto and unless he thought about this day and night since the Trevon martin case, he had some help along the way while he was growing up learning his racist ways.
He is very methodical and rational. I don’t think he is mentally ill or on drugs. This is a kid who did his research and came to his own conclusions.
The republicans, Fox news and many others have the blood of these 9 people on their hands.
And so does the NRA, who blames the victims because They were not armed.
We should be ashamed of our country right now. If we think that we are looked upon with admiration and envy, we are truly delusional.
34Myrnatoo and Debbo-let me say I’m proud to belong in the beautiful south of Minnesota-Northwest iowa. 🙂
35I couldn’t finish the manifesto; I’m not going to upset myself more.
36I’m proud to have been born, raised, and lived all my life in Texas. In many respects, Texas is different from the rest of the south, but I’ve traveled to all the southern states (except Kentucky) on vacations here and there. My Inlaws live in Louisiana. I want to say this as succinctly and calmly as possible. We are not all a bunch of inbred hicks and I resent the notion that racism and bigotry is somehow a problem isolated to the south. That in of itself is an example of bigotry. Having traveled to some northern cities (Philadelphia in particular) I’ve found people in the south to be much nicer and more accommodating.
All that being said, seeing Faux News doing the mental gymnastics to say this wasn’t racially motivated was sickening. What the judge said was sickening. That flag still flying is sickening. However, if we keep our eye on the prize we will remember that this is about racist attitudes in America and gun culture in America and not just isolated to the south.
37@37 Scott,
If you read my @27 post, racism is most assuredly not restricted to the US South. The but is that, as per my @33 post, we can’t tacitly just let the nagging little things slide anymore.
The battle flag of the CSA is a part of OUR shared history. Just like selling rum for slaves, the trail of tears, and Japanese American internment camps. But just because it was a part of our past doesn’t mean it has to be a part of our collective futures (except as cautionary tales).
As for Texas, even the best can still try to be better 😉
38@Debbo: I lived in FL from 2001 – 2012. I was born there in ’52. Always wanted to live in the state where Iwas born. FL broke my heart. I’m never going back. Also, I choose where my money gets spent. I refuse to reward negative behavior so I’ll spend it in some other state. Maybe it’s the only power I have to change things, but it’s the power I will use.
39I recently posted my opinion on this whole thing…..
http://dailyhurricane.com/2015/06/lets-keep-our-eye-on-the-ball.html
40@Old Fart,
Duly noted. My ire was more directed at the reflexive “I will never travel to the south….we are so enlightened up here in ______ (insert northern state here).” That in of itself is a form of bigotry. I get tired of the “they’re just a bunch of inbred hicks” mantra. It’s easy to be tolerant of people that you aren’t surrounded with.
This isn’t to say that the south is without it’s issues. Obviously, the flag is a significant one. Naming roads after Confederate generals is a significant one. Obviously, since we have more diverse populations in many of the larger cities in the south, we will have more problems in relations between those various segments in the population.
That kid could have grown up anywhere. South Carolina happened to be where he was from. His place of berth is a fact, but if we harp on it we are as guilty as the Fox News idiots that focused on the victims being Christian. They are all facts, but facts that distract from the truth. There needs to be a NATIONAL conversation on race and a NATIONAL conversation on gun culture and gun culture. It’s not a southern problem. It’s not a South Carolina problem. It’s a NATIONAL problem.
41I spent three years in Charleston, SC, from 1963 until 1966. I went to school there, and then lived in the community with my husband.
I was astounded by the level of prejudice in the entire society; “The War of Northern Aggression”, filthy “colored” water fountains and bathroom facilities that I wouldn’t allow a dog to enter, a large statue of J.C. Calhoun in the town center, proud history tours of the assault on the fort in the middle of Charleston harbor. One thing after another after another, degrading to the human spirit of both the giver and the receiver. I enjoyed learning about so much of the history of this city, but was not sad to be gone from the prejudiced attitudes of the population.
I had hoped that this might have changed over the last fifty years. Apparently not.
I know there are good people in Charleston, but it sure seems like they have to keep their heads down and go along to get along.
42@Scott
43I have a brother who ventured into the world from 1970s Texas winding up in Memphis many years. He and I peat and re-peat this exact same argument. So here we are. Because an apparent preponderance of the population in the states that rebelled in 1861 and were brought to heel in 1865 tacitly reject the terms of surrender in 1865 and the terms of Reconstruction, something has to be done. Now. Nothing has changed in Dixie in all those years. Since invasion and occupation is out of the question, then ejecting Dixie from the Union is the only answer. Separating them from the civilized remainder of the USA will allow them to build the racist nasty banana republic they want. And in 20 years when their racist nasty Confederation implodes the US can pick up the real estate at bargain basement prices and establish colonies to repopulate without the racist nasty genes that dominate today.
Having not lived in South Carolina (only visited on a day trip) I can’t honestly offer an educated opinion on their prevailing attitudes as compared to the rest of the nation. That being said, my screed was not meant as a denial of the existence of racism in that region. That much is obvious. What is also obvious to me is that racism is everywhere and that we shouldn’t ignore that fact. If we choose to simply pidgeonhole racism to the south then we are as guilty as those that want to make this a war on Christianity.
You have someone choked out after selling loose cigarettes in New York. You have an African American killed in police custody in Baltimore. You have an unarmed black teen shot down in Missouri. School children are shot down in Connecticut. Movie viewers are shot down in a theater in Colorado. A representative and others are shot down in front of a grocery store in Arizona. Folks, anyone see a pattern here? The scary thing is that there really isn’t one except for the presence of racism and gun fanatics.
I’m glad everyone wants to see the confederate flag taken down, but why does it take the deaths of nine people in church to get that happen? Wasn’t it offensive before? Now the mayor wants to do it. Great. Let’s keep our eye on the prize here people. We want the violence to stop. We want it to stop everywhere. We want to ratchet down racist attitudes everywhere and DARN IT WE NEED FEWER GUNS IN SOCIETY, NOT MORE.
44