Unless you're living in a cave somewhere, you know by now about the racist killing of nine people (six women and three men) by a young white man in a South Carolina church. The shooter (pictured above) never tried to hide his reason for the shooting -- he wanted to kill Black people to "take the country back from them". And he didn't hide his racist feelings on social media either -- proudly wearing flag patches of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe when ruled by Whites) and South Africa (during the apartheid years). The young man, Dylan Roof, was not just a racist -- he was a proud racist.
That hasn't stooped the right-wing from trying to make this racist killing into something different. Fox News labeled it as a "war on christians", and were joined in that assessment by presidential candidate Rick Santorum. This doesn't surprise me, but it's a load of crap. This has nothing to do with religion. It is purely and simply a racist hate crime.
Why would the right-wing want to deny this was a racist hate crime? Because if they admit that, they would have to admit their own guilt in supporting and covering for racists these past few years. When President Obama was elected in 2008, racists all over this country crawled back out from under their rocks and began to display their sick views openly again. And the Republicans and Fox News, both of which hated the president, saw a political opportunity in this new open racism. They figured they could use the racism to bulk up their opposition to the president.
So they embraced the racist elements of the right-wing, and for the last few years have been apologizing for them -- trying to make the racism seem like it was just political differences with the president. But that didn't fool anyone on the left or the right -- and the racist right became even bolder, knowing that for the first time in many years they had the support and encouragement of a major political party and a major media source. This made the racists feel like they were once again becoming mainstream, and gave them the courage to act out in increasingly sick ways.
In short, this horrible killing is something that could have been predicted. We might not have known who would do it, or when it would occur, but it shouldn't have surprised anyone that it happened. It happened because the racists were encouraged to openly display their sick beliefs.
I would like to believe that this terrible tragedy in South Carolina would finally cause Americans to have a real discussion about the racism in this country -- and take action to stop it. We made things marginally better in the 1960's by passing some civil rights laws, but we never truly engaged each other in a discussion of how to finally rid this country of racism -- and we will not solve this terrible problem until we do.
Sadly, the reaction of Fox News (and other right-wingers) shows that is unlikely to happen. For them, it is easier to apologize for and cover up the rabid racism in this country. And that means only one thing -- there will be more racist murders. The only question is when and where.
Why is it so hard for some Americans to realize that equality must apply to all citizens, or it is meaningless?
Bet he was raised xtian too. Which shows the war on xtians is carried on by xtians.
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