Dylann Roof fits criteria of an FBI “domestic terrorist”
Dylann Roof (age 21) described as a “white” male of Lexington, South Carolina sat amongst members of a Bible study group at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston, South Carolina before allegedly opening fire and killing 6 women and 3 men. The massacre of 9 black worshippers was linked to a young man who according to a photo described by blogger Judd Legum “appears to be wearing the flags of two African countries when they were ruled by whites.” Legum described that on Roof’s jacket, “on top was the Apartheid-era South Africa and below the flag of white-dominated Rhodesia, which is now known as Zimbabwe”. The incident was quickly labelled by many in America and beyond as a “hate crime”. As Max Abrahms, Terrorism Theorist at Northeastern University, US, tweeted,
Muslim perpetrator — Terrorism Other perpetrator — Hate crime #CharlestonShooting
He also tweeted,
The more I learn about #DylannRoof and the #CharlestonShooting the more comfortable I am labeling the attack as #terrorism.
The FBI defines domestic terrorism as follows:-
“Domestic terrorism” means activities with the following three characteristics:
- Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law;
- Appear intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination. or kidnapping; and
- Occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S.
The attack appears to have been a pre-medicated “unofficial and unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims” (another definition of terrorism). So how does Roof come under the FBI definition of terrorism?
1) He allegedly committed an act of extreme violence violating US laws, killing black attendees at a place of worship.
2) From a report in the New York Daily News, it appears Roof allegedly boasted that he planned to “kill a bunch of people on Wednesday” a week before the church attack. The publication also states,
“about an hour into the Bible study, he told the worshipers, “You have to go,” witnesses told Sylvia Johnson, the cousin of slain pastor Clementa C. Pinckney. “
“He just said ‘I have to do it.’ He said, ‘You rape our women, and you’re taking over our country,'” she said on MSNBC, recounting what survivors told her.
As Max Abrahms tweeted,
Friends & family of #DylannRoof say they couldn’t see this coming–the apartheid jacket, pledge to massacre, gun practice etc not troubling?
Roof intimidated not only those at the Charleston church but the wider black community within the US already feeling discrimination following a series of unlawful killings by police. One of those Roof targeted was the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, a state senator who had spoken out on civil rights issues. What is significant also is that Roof stated that he choose to leave one person alive as a “witness” to recount the attack. The perpetrator of this violent act expressed his personal beliefs and gave his reasoning behind the slaughter to a person at the scene in an assault which was bound to attract a large amount of press attention and act as a media platform for Roof.
Max Abrahm again pointed out in a tweet,
#DylannRoof was reportedly “big into segregation” and “wanted to start a civil war” says his roommate http://abcn.ws/1IRFasu .
3) Roof choose a religious institution used by the black community, a church within the US, one associated with a historic struggle against racism and of past and present political significance.
a) As CNN reported,
“The congregation first formed in 1791, a coalition of free blacks and slaves. At first they were members of Charleston’s Methodist Episcopal Church. But in 1816, they left their white counterparts in a dispute over burial grounds.”
b) In 1822 the church was torched. The congregation included a former slave Denmark Vesey who was executed along with 35 others suspected of involvement in a slave revolt.
c) The church was later rebuilt and operated in 1834 during a time “when all-black churches were outlawed by the state legislature” (CNN)
d) Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr an advocate for blacks opposing racism was known to have visited the church.
e) The Rev. Clementa Pinckney, one of Roof’s victims and also a state senator was known to have supported a bill on police reform “to make body cameras mandatory for all police officers in South Carolina” following the death of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man shot by police.
As Dara Lind pointed out in Vox, how we label an act of violence is important to many people, he stated,
“making the choice to call this a terrorist act is a way of recognizing the long history of anti-black terrorism in America. For most of American history, the word “terrorism” has referred to acts committed by white people against black people.
In fact, anti-black terrorism perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan was the reason for the first federal anti-terrorism law the US ever passed.”
Those investigating the crime and those reporting should not be too swift to write off terrorist attacks such as that allegedly carried out by Dylan Roof of as those of a “lone wolf” or “loon wolf” (a phrase coined by Max Abrahms). Comments on social media in recent months have alluded to a wider collusion to kill blacks with actions that could be passed off as the work of individual “lone wolf” attacks. Other comments suggested that those prepared to “sacrifice” themselves committing such crimes would be elevated to hero status by some within US society as happened historically with the Ku Klux Klan.
Was shooting 3 Muslims in Chapel Hill, North Carolina an act of terrorism?
The comments related to passing killings off as “lone wolf attacks” arose following the shooting of 3 young Muslims, Deah Shaddy Barakat (23) and his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha (21) and Yousor’s sister Raza Mohammad Abu-Salha (19) who were gunned down at an apartment block at Chapel Hill, North Carolina (US). The crime was linked to Craig Stephen Hicks (46) also of Chapel Hill who was arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree murder after turning himself in without incident according to the Daily Mail. See my earlier article where I query whether this was a terrorist attack as follows,
“Recently wed couple and sister gunned down in North Carolina, was it a terrorist attack?”
I encountered some of these social media racists and Islamophobes also during my recent writing on the Boston police shooting of Usaama Rahim where responses (which felt “organized”) ranged from name calling, racist jibes and references to pigs to suggesting some writers should be shot, see,
“Boston Police shooting: Case Update, terrorism and the vitriol of Islamophobia in US society”
American citizens and authorities should be watchful and aware of the possibility that there could be sizeable organized outfits recruiting individuals to carry out what on the surface could appear to be acts carried out by loners but may be part of a much wider domestic “terrorist” network operating within the US. The signs to alert society to this possibility are already out there. A well- known work of fiction “We need to talk about Kevin” addressed the issues around a mother coming to terms with the fact that her son had massacred children and staff at a school in the US. We need to talk about Dylann is a warning to America that acts of domestic terrorism must not be relabelled, hidden or ignored.
Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad. She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.
Carol Anne Grayson (Radical Sister) blog 