White Terrorism in South Carolina

Let’s be honest, we do not live in a post racial society.

It was Wednesday, June 17 when Dylann Roof drove over 200 miles in South Carolina to attend church service at the historic Emanuel A.M.E. black church in Charleston. Within an hour of worshiping with them, he opened fired and killed nine churchgoers. Witnesses alleged Dylann said his motive for killing the members of the congregation was due to black people raping white women and taking over society.

Dylann’s act of murder was unlawfulness, yet the media cannot help themselves but to deflect that his actions were not just a hate crime, but also was terrorism. Instead members in the media hint around the verbiage of domestic terrorism.

Never mind that Dylann’s actions were despicable, murderous, deliberate, well-throughout, a planned crime performed by a culprit of white supremacy, and perpetrated by hate. Never mind Dylann is a cold-blooded killer with an empty soul.

Like all white supremacy members he has divined his very self and the white race as victims of integration that must protect themselves from the seeds of dark skin, whom dare to live and breathe beyond second class citizenship. In his sick mind, he had no choice but to shoot and kill nine black innocent people that were in the mist of worshiping God.

Unfortunately the media has given Dylann, a self-described racist, the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it was the medication that he was on, they question. Maybe it’s a case of mental illness, they ponder? Or maybe the media is divined by deflection from personal responsibility and truism because the mass murder is white and not a brown skin radical Muslim.

Why is it that members of the media have such difficulty reporting the truth: White people are just as vulnerable to committing acts of terror? As Anthea Butler of The Washington Post writes, “Shooters of color are called ‘terrorists’ and ‘thugs.’ Why are white shooters called ‘mentally ill’?”

Peter Bergan of CNN reminds us of the domestic terrorism committed by white people that the media never once defined as such, although the facts bear witness. Frazier Glenn Cross shot multiple people in the Jewish Community. Jarad and Amanda killed two police officers before committing suicide.

Let’s not forget James Holmes the Colorado shooter who killed 12 people in a movie theater and injured 58 others. Also, the Chapel Hill killings of 3 Muslims by Craig Stephen Hicks and the Wisconsin Sikh Temple massacre where Frank Silva Roque murdered people he thought were Muslim.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has reported lone wolf domestic terrorism is on the rise in this country, and mostly from white supremacy groups. Why is this not reported in the news on a regular basis or at least on the same rate as neoconservative pundits that are constantly in the news inciting fear of radical Islamists?

Ignoring and making excuses for white people that are terrorists justifies their action.

This is the white privilege black people have been complaining about. This is the white privilege that nonwhite Muslims have been frustrated about. In American media, the rules are not the same; it’s dependent on one’s race and religion on what the spin will be.

Republicans Senator Lindsey Graham, former Governor Rick Perry, former Senator Rick Santorum, and Senator Rand Paul attributed the Charleston shooting as Christians being under attack in America. There is no evidence to support this, but plenty to support black churches being bombed and mass shootings in them that are almost exclusively involve white supremacy groups — whom are often associated with the political right.

For Republicans to exclude the possibility of terrorism is predicable, because they always participate in this false narrative that involves far-right radicalism. All this does is remind people of color that their communities do not matter and will never be safe, much less protected. And the GOP wonders why black people, Hispanics, and Muslims continue to overwhelming support the political left, because unlike the right, the left does not deflect from the ills in society that affect vulnerable communities.

More frustratingly than the GOP is Fox News desperate tactic to immediately whitewash the entire despicable affair to mental illness, and that he acted out because he was a reported introvert with few friends. So that’s the excuse for nine people’s death? Wow. How about acknowledging that his action were indicative of a hate crime and was terrorism? It’s really not that hard to define based on the facts. Regretfully, Fox News prefers playing the white villain is the real victim narrative.

The definition of terrorism is clear; it’s the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims. It’s violent behavior against an innocent bystander (s) due to a religious radical belief. Terrorism has no identity of race, religion, or culture. To ignore this is criminal and dangerous to moving past our divisive culture. All races and the media need to do a better job at reporting truthfully and correctly — even when reporting about white vigilantes.

There should be no dismissing the impact of what the pictures of Dylann wearing pro-apartheid flags on his clothing means. We must not disregard Dylann’s white supremacy labels on his vehicle and what that infers. No, let’s not all join in the chorus that Dylann has a mental illness debate. Absolutely let’s not enter that he almost didn’t go through with it, because he did.

Treating white terrorist as victims must end. Dyalnn is not a victim, and the victims are not criminals. If this is your worldview, than you have no right to dismiss the remnants that Jim Crow and white privilege is alive and thriving.

Quiana Fulton has a bachelors in political science. She lives in Virginia. Her website is is http://www.conservativeinblue.com and twitter handle is @BlackGrlPoli. 

 

Quiana Fulton is a writer and culture critic. She has a bachelors in political science. Contact her via https://about.me/quianafulton.