Dylann Roof burns an American flag. (Photo: Imugr)
Before Dylann Roof allegedly went on a shooting rampage at the historically Black Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., in which 9 people, including the pastor and state senator, were killed, someone uploaded a racist manifesto to lastrhodesian.com. The last Rhodesian is, of course, a reference to Rhodesia, a white minority regime who ruled what is present day Zimbabwe in the late 1960 and 70s.
In a the rambling screed, that seems to have been written by Roof, segregation is praised, slavery is dismissed as not that bad and Blacks are not only stupid and violent but also “slick.” And then there is a plea for Whites to take up arms against Blacks.
“I hate with a passion the whole idea of the suburbs. To me it represents nothing but scared White people running. Running because they are too weak, scared, and brainwashed to fight. Why should we have to flee the cities we created for the security of the suburbs?
…what about the White people that are left behind? …Who is fighting for these White people forced by economic circumstances to live among negroes? No one, but someone has to.”
Roof embraced the Confederate flag, a treasonous artifact of the losing side that is still venerated in places like South Carolina and, sadly, Maryland, by posing with it and having it on his license plate. As the American flag, which Roof enjoyed burning, flew at half-mast over the South Carolina Capitol this weekend to mark the death of nine innocent people the symbol of the modern racist flew mere feet away at full mast.
While some have called for Roof to not be labeled a terrorist, it is clear in his actions and his intent that he meant to terrorize Blacks and encourage Whites to engage in a race war. He is no different than the ISIS and Al Qaeda terrorists who encourage Muslims to attack American targets, like Nidal Malik Hasan, who shot 13 people at the Fort Hood military base in Texas in 2009. If Roof had his way the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, in which whites rampaged through a Black neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, would become common modern occurrences. That his actions were motivated by hate is a given. Last week the Justice Department announced it was considering whether to consider it a crime of domestic terrorism in addition to a hate crime. It’s time they moved from considering to charging: Dylann Roof is a terrorist and should be treated like one.