People calling this a hate crime. That’s an understatement.
What needs to be understood is that Emanuel AME is and has been one of the key black institutions in Charleston. It is the oldest AME church in the South. It’s the largest black church building in Charleston by capacity. It is probably the most prominent black church in Charleston. Church members and the church itself have played a central role in black liberation struggles for the past 2 centuries. From the Denmark Vesey slave uprising to the church’s recently murdered pastor Clementa Pinckney who was also a state senator and proponent of the police body cam bill.
The murderer Dylan Roof is from the state captial Columbia, meaning he may have come from two hours away. He sat through the Bible study meeting for around an hour before opening fire. This was a very intentional act at the very heart of the black community in the SE USA. The word “terrorism” is way, way overused in today’s society. But if this isn’t terrorism then that word has no meaning.
knightingale-s
