A racist Rhodesian sympathiser is currently being held by US Police in South Carolina after shooting nine black Christians in Charleston, North Carolina, Wednesday night.
In an unprovoked attack a Lexington, South Carolina native, Dylann Roof (21) shouted racist abuse at Christians gathered at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church before opening fire on the unarmed group.
In an incident that has reignited fractious racial tensions in America, it is alleged Roof shouted “You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go!” at the group of black worshippers during the shooting. It is still unclear what logic the shooter used to determine that the gathered group of women, children and men were “rapists”.
HOW EVENTS UNFOLDED
Roof arrived at the “Mother” Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church at 9pm. Witnesses say Roof sat took a seat like anyone else present and participated in prayers for an hour at the Church before he took out his gun to start shooting. There were 13 people in the church at the time of the shooting. The shooter then escaped from the scene of the crime after shooting dead 9 Christians and leaving the community traumatised. He was arrested without incident at a traffic light, hours later in Shelby North Carolina.
One of the victims of the shooting identified as Reverend Clementa Pinckney personally knew US first lady, Michelle Obama. Pinckney, also a State Senator, was the church’s shepherd in chief at the time of his untimely death.
US President, Barack Obama’s involvement has been hailed as the reason law enforcement agencies in the country co-operated well to bring the fugitive to book in less than 24hours.
The slaying on the eve of the start of Ramadan (Islamic) fasting period saw law enforcement quickly brand the shooting a hate-crime.
HISTORIC CHURCH
The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church was established in 1816 by black members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The church has great significance in the black civil rights movement. It was burned down several times by white supremacist hate group, Ku Klux Klan but was rebuilt by the black community in defiance and sacrificial reverence to God. The Church’s congregation has historically sought to heal a community divided by hate and suspicion. It is today the largest black church in Charleston.
RHODESIAN CONNECTION
On his Facebook page Dylann Roof had a photo of himself wearing a military camouflage jacket with the Rhodesian flag as well as the apartheid South Africa flag. According to his friends he expressed racist sentiments although he had black friends in high school. The flags on his jacket could be red flags for white supremacy and hate groups like the White Confederates and the Ku Klux Klan.
[lightbox link=”http://www.zimeye.com/http://www.zimeye.com/wp-content/live_images/2015/06/2000px-Flag_of_Rhodesia.svg_.png” thumb=”http://www.zimeye.com/http://www.zimeye.com/wp-content/live_images/2015/06/2000px-Flag_of_Rhodesia.svg_-150×150.png” width=”150″ align=”right” title=”Rhodesian Flag” frame=”true” icon=”image” caption=”Rhodesian Flag”]
HISTORY
According to the New York Times, Dylann Storm Roof has a criminal record for drug possession as well as for criminal trespassing. News outlet Gawker reports that Roof dropped out of school at 10th grade (form 3 in Zimbabwe). Roof turned 21years in April 2015. For his coming of age his father gave him a .45 calibre handgun. His uncle, Carson Cowles, described Roof as quiet and lacking in motivation. The picture emerging of the 21 year old gunman is of a reclusive unemployed, socially awkward homebody who stayed in his room most of the time possibly feeding on right-wing racist rhetoric. His Facebook friends told news outlets that Roof had intimated that he was planning a shooting on the social network but they dismissed his musings as part of his dark humour style.
REACTION
Cornell William Brooks, the President of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) said “There is no greater coward than a criminal who enters a house of God and slaughters innocent people engaged in the study of scripture.”
Thursday afternoon at a press conference at the White House, President Obama lamented the rate of gun crime in America saying
“I’ve had to make statements like this too many times. Communities like this have had to endure tragedies like this too many times.
We don’t have all the facts, but we do know that once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hand on a gun.
Now is the 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 does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency.”
Community leaders in Charleston have called for prayer vigils in an effort to quell racial tensions.
Many will also realize that while American people respect their Constitutional second amendment right to bear arms, there has been a lot of controversy by many stakeholders as they complain against abuse of arms. The National Rifle Association, a very influential group in the USA has been loud in defending the right to bear arms. Even presidential campaigns have been careful not to provoke the NRA for fear of losing elections. With that excuse, gun related crimes continue to be on the rise. In 2014, Pierce Morgan, a British newsanchor on CNN had to be shown the door after he openly protested on the relaxed gun laws in the USA. He ended up receiving death threats but left through his open protests. Too many analysts also believe that it’s only in America where people abuse guns like they are in a Banana Republic.
More will still need to be done to control the gun-linked violence where some even keep machine guns under their beds.