June 17, 2015

Charleston Church Massacre

A mass shooting took place inside the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church when 21-year-old Dylann Roof set out to harm African Americans. He murdered nine people, including State Senator Clementa C. Pickney. Despite Roof's own testimony that this was a calculated racial hate crime, many media sources attributed the cause to "mental illness". Additionally, a number of nationally known politicians downplayed the racist motives that fueled the attack.

HOW DOES THIS CONNECT TO STRUCTURAL RACISM?:

This horrendous massacre reminded many people of the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, in which four black girls were killed. After reviewing Roof's manifesto, sociologist Dr. R. L'Heureux Lewis-McCoy pointed out that the killer subscribed to beliefs about the superiority of whites and the "natural" order of the races. Despite the decades since the 1963 bombing, the violent dehumanization of blacks still continues.

For more information see," Racism is Not a Mental Illness ".