By David Jordan Jr
Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, Rev. DePayne Middleton, The Honorable Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., Rev. Sharonda Singleton and Myra Thompson. Rest eternally in peace. These 9 people were violently killed at a church service June 17, 2015 at the historical Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. This historical black church has been a pillar in the community of Charleston since it was founded in 1816. From slavery to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s to the much recent addressing of new issues of racially enabled discrimination, brutality and murder, Emanuel AME Church has been a constant. Historical figures liberators from black justice and equality such as Booker T. Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr both left their mark on the Emanuel AME Church as both had spoken there to empower other blacks and lead their respective movements. Fast forward to 2015 and the very ignorance and racist ideology of some white individuals in this society which has stifled the advancement of this country is the root of this senseless hate crime. 21 year old suspect Dylan Roof, a white male had the audacity to attend church service with these individuals and worship and study the word together for an hour before opening fire on these innocent, defenseless victims.
This type of crime simply reinforces what many have known but few fail to acknowledge; that the doctrine of racism and white superiority is something that is taught. People do not come into the world hating and judging people because of the color of their skin; racism is taught and instilled. For what reason, nobody really knows other than the passing down of bigot ideas and falsified generalizations and stereotypes of people. Black people in the United States of America have been a victim to the racist generalizations and actions of other non black people since the first slaves were brought to this country. The actions of Dylan Roof prior to this event show the massive effects of brain washing of people in to believing that their race is the superior race and that anybody different deserves whatever the superior decides should be done to eradicate this “lesser” race of people from existence. The fact that this person born in the 1990’s practiced ways of thinking that were prevalent in this country over one hundred years ago shows how much of a problem racism and racist are for black people in this country. There are plenty of individuals (the KKK being one obvious group) in America that practice hate and plan for ways of destroying not only blacks, but other non white people no matter what the nationality or origin. The U.S. prides itself on the essence of freedom, yet this platform of freedom allows for the avenue of hate to be taught, practiced in a legal manner and manifest in events such as what took place on June 17th in Charleston, South Carolina. The media has described this hate crime with the words “church shooting” when it is simply a hate crime. The fact that an obvious crime of hate towards black people is being compared to other tragedies in recent American history such as 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing compare in the senseless loss of life but contrast in the circumstance which led to the tragedy. Hate crimes against black people have been going on since slavery began in this country and it continues in 2015. The other recent tragedies in America didn’t target a specific group of people; all races were killed tragically. As it now stands Dylan Roof is now the “suspect” has been arrested and will ultimately be tried in the court of law for these murders. In a matter of days it’s been somewhat of a shift from the issue of the senseless murders of these 9 black people in a church to the Confederate Flag which flies in South Carolina. These murders have prompted many people nationwide to call for the removal of the Confederate Flag as it represents the ideas of racism and disdain for blacks.
The one question people of all races have to ask themselves is “why did it take the murders of these innocent defenseless black people in 2015 to call for a removal of a flag that has represented nothing positive in this land of the free?” The confederate flag should indeed never fly in this country, yet we all must realize that a racist doesn’t have a particular look or demeanor; a racist operates mentally to destroy and discredit his or her target. Whether sitting under a Confederate Flag or the United States of America Flag , whether sitting in a KKK robe and hood or sitting in a designer suit, racism will still be in front of our eyes. The time has come and passed and come back again for a consistent, conscience effort to be given to eradicate not only a flag that symbolizes racism, but ideologies and doctrines taught in this country to reinforce hate which America supposedly has “overcome.”
