Everyone is waking up with the news of another shooting in the Southern States. This time at a church in Charelston, South Carolina. A white man, in his twenties, is suspected to have attended a meeting at the church, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and then opened fire killing nine people (more here).
There can be only one reason why someone would walk into a church and shoot people; it was a hate crime. The church in Charelston is an historic one, dating back to 1816 as the largest African American congregation in North America. It’s seen it’s hardships over the centuries. Burned to the ground and rebuilt, banned by the state, and now this shooting.
This shooting harkens back to those times when mobs of white men would burn black owned businesses and churches back in the 1950s. That was a time just 60 years ago, and we’re still dealing with it today. It’s something I’ve said time and again, we as a society are far from a post racial one. Race is still at the forefront of everyone’s mind, especially when an act such as this occurs. Or like so many police shootings that have taken place this year, where white police officers murder unarmed black youth.
Here’s the big problem with this situation (aside from the fact nine people were senselessly gunned down by an obvious racist). Police are already looking for this individual, and dollars to donuts says he will be taken in alive. That is the way of things in the United States; unarmed black man suspected of wrong doing gets killed immediately, while armed to the teeth white man who already killed several gets taken in alive by the police and has his day in court. This is a prime example of white privilege.
Last week in Texas, an officer tackled and detained a black 14 year old girl for attending a pool party. She, along with other black and white high schoolers, were invited to the party, but several whites in the neighbourhood decided this was wrong. In an ironic twist, white defenders of the police officer are saying that this is common for black people to act savage and uncivilized. Yet, it was the police office who went to an extreme. And now we have this shooting at a church in Charleston. Individuals gathered for a bible study, shot in cold blood by a “civilized” white man.
While action is being taken quickly in this recent shooting, it’s odd how some are treating it. The racist front in the United States is gaining ground, and acts like this only fuel them. It won’t be long before an individual who feels “brave” for being racist will herald this jackass a hero. There’s atheists who will do the same, saying that the shooter was sending a message to Christians. Although, that message really has no bearing when it’s a white man killing black people.
It’s apparent this was a hate crime, nothing more, nothing less.
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