The Charleston Massacre

Abstract

This chapter talks about Dylann Storm Roof, a white supremacist, who brutally murdered nine African Americans at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015. It discusses Roof's actions that renewed debates over guns, the Second Amendment, and the right to bear arms. The Charleston massacre changed the dynamics of American debate over symbols of the Confederacy, including the Confederate battle flag and monuments to Confederate leaders such as Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, and Robert E. Lee. This chapter also looks at events prior to Roof committing the murders, in which he toured South Carolina historical sites with links to the Civil War and slavery, posting photographs and selfies of his visits. Roof's online website, which was infested with attacks on African Americans, Hispanics, and Jews, described the story of his racist radicalization.