Here is the seventy-second article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today’s honoree is Republican Terrorist Dylann Storm Roof. He is so honored for his traditional Republican approach to race relations.
Let me begin by clarifying that, for a century, the hate criminals attaching black churches were Democrats. What makes this a Republican tradition is that the Democratic Party had the decency to abandon it’s white supremacist wing. The Republican Party embraced them and they became a substantial part of the Republican base. But these are the same people and groups that have practiced domestic terrorism all along, so ownership of the tradition is now Republican.
After Dylann Storm Roof allegedly shot up an AME church in Charleston, S.C., killing nine people, two flags were lowered more than 100 miles away in Columbia, the state’s capital. Atop the South Carolina State House, the U.S. flag and South Carolina’s palmetto flag flew at half-staff as the manhunt for Roof ended with his capture in North Carolina and prayer vigils were planned. The show of respect would have been appropriate even if one of the state legislature’s own — state senator Clementa C. Pinckney — had not died in the attack.
[How people convince themselves the flag represents freedom, not slavery]
But a third flag within view of the State House — a Confederate one — flew as high and as proud as ever, flapping in the breeze on a sunny day.
This looked bad.
Roof was photographed wearing flags himself — of defunct white supremacist regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia — and drove a car featuring a Confederate flag license plate. The Emanuel AME Church shooting and its description by authorities as a “hate crime” were tragic enough to be compared to the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., a murderous act that claimed the lives of four young African American girls and helped bring about passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
And yet, as a pastor and members of his flock lay dead and the Supreme Court dealt a blow to those who wish to display Confederate flags on license plates in Texas, South Carolina seemed to be flaunting its heritage of slavery as the first state to secede from the Union. It was deplorable enough, critics said, that the flag was there in the first place…
Inserted from <Washington Post>
Chris Hayes and Kevin Alexander Gray discussed this crime and how it ties in with ongoing Republican race crimes.
Roof is a product of that traditional racist culture. The Stars and Bars still fly high as Republicans give dog-whistle honor to one of their own.
16 Responses to “Republicans on Parade–6/20/2015”
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Boy Howdy, Kathleen, is that ever a good idea. How do those get nominated?
I am glad they are investigating as a hate crime, which is obviously was; however, hate crimes are notoriously diffivult to prove. So I am even gladder they are also investigating it as domestic terrorism, which it also obviously was.
If DOJ does its job well, SC police may end up very, very sorry they did not just gun Dylann down as would have happened had he been black. It might have been easier to whitewash him if he were dead.
That Repubican "dog-whistle" they've been using is so loud it's now audible to human ears! (OK – not mine, but that's another issues.)
In related developments, that "judge" – James B. Gosnell, Jr. – who presided over Racist Roof's bond hearing – the one who spent as much time bemoaning and empathizing with the terrible "victimhood" of Roof's family as he did for the NINE MURDERED BLACKS – has been yanked from the case.
Yep, he has a history of – and was reprimanded for – using the "N!&&3R" word in open court.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/19/us/church-shooting-judge-reprimand/
With the media glare, having one white racist preside over the murder trial of another white racist was a tad TOO much … even for South Carolina.
Then again, it's South Carolina … where are they going to find a "judge" who HASN'T uttered a racist comment or three? Good luck with that!
I am glad he got yanked off the case. Of course, anything that resembles yankee is an insult in South Carolina.
Minor Correction –
Judge Gosnell was removed – but not because he had as much sympathy for Roof family NOR because he's been reprimanded in the past for using "N!&&3R" in open court – both of which remain accurate – but because the case will be overseen by a Circuit Court Judge.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/charleston-church-shooting/state-supreme-court-orders-new-judge-charleston-shooter-case-n379066
Now the issue is which judge?
Dylan Roof certainly deserves the nomination. I wonder if his parents are proud of him? He surely didn't become such a racist all on his own.
Chris Hayes: I think Kevin Alexander made a good point, the word terrorism is over used. This was obviously a racially motivated crime, the man has admitted to it in his Social Media accounts. LIndsey had a hard time on the View, didn't he? He had to characterize it as a crime against Christians instead of admitting it was due to racism.
If there is any doubt that this is a hate crime, have a look at the following article in Alternet http://www.alternet.org/dylann-roofs-manifesto-discovered-online-activists-lays-out-race-war-motivation . It seems that young Roof had registered the domain name "lastrhodesian.com" in February of this year. I tried to access it but it is blocked as I would expect given the circumstances.
Faux, as is usual for them, is making this into an anti Christian discussion despite clear evidence to the contrary, and they are enlisting the aid of that wacka-doodle EW Jackson.
I have read a number of articles by Chauncet DeVega in Alternet. In his most recent, http://www.alternet.org/dylann-roof-not-alone-racism-persists-across-generations , he finishes with the following
"The idea of white right-wing domestic terrorists is verboten and unacceptable to the corporate news media. Because of those delusions and decisions, the American people are made less safe and not more. White supremacy is a demon in the body politic, culture and collective consciousness of the United States. The Charleston massacre is one more reminder that it has not been exorcised from the country’s soul."
There is an error in the second link. It should be http://www.alternet.org/dylann-roof-not-alone-racism-persists-across-generations
I have no idea where the extra bit came from.
Sorry – too ill to comment today.
Dylann Roof and the state of South Carolina both deserve the nomination to your gallery, TomCat. Dylann, who's 21 but looks and acts as a 16 year old in the clutches of full blown puberty, for acting out a childish but lethal fantasy. But most of all South Carolina that with its backward Republican mindset has provided very fertile soil for Dylann's racial hate and even after those poor nine African American people didn't stop fueling the hate nor had the decency to lower the repulsive flag they shouldn't have been flying anyway. That flag flying after the shooting really is telling.
Rhodesia is now Zimbabwe.
History: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesia
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/19/15
Heartbreaking: Families address church shooter at bond hearing
Steve Kornacki updates the details in the story of the massacre at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina and shares video of family members of the victims speaking out at a bond hearing for the shooter.
Duration: 12:11
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/heartbreak–families-address-church-shooter-468644419663
June 19, 2015, 12:01 pm
Lindsey Graham defends Confederate flag: 'It works here'
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/245535-lindsey-graham-defends-confederate-flag-it-works-here
Lindsey Graham is no longer a viable nor an electable candidate for POTUS. He should drop himself out of the GOP/TP/Koch Party nomination race. Graham obviously shot himself in the foot with his inane statement.
South Carolina has the death penalty. The person sentenced to death has a choice between lethal injection and electrocution.
PETITION:
The Confederate Flag Needs to Go
"Emblems of hate, division, and racism have no place in our democracy. After the horrific attack in Charleston, it's time to take down the Confederate flag once and for all — from all government buildings, all State-issued license plates, and all State sponsored merchandise."
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/the_confederate_flag_needs_to_go_loc/?bDQBVfb&v=60727
I signed this, though I have the reservation that if we were somehow able to make the Confederate flag vanish, it would smply be replaced by the "Don't Tread on Me" flag which is already being used by Northern racists, AKA Tea Partiers. Racism is the real problem, not the flag.
Thanks all, and thanks for all the links.
YIKES!
This has been a sad, sad week in the US. And will be worse if we let those repukkklicanTs win this election!