The Charleston shootings clearly fit the definition of terror

Jun 22, 2015 Letters

Dear Editor,
The recent killings of nine congregants in a church in South Carolina once more typifies a well-known fact , that mass shootings have become a banal fact of death in America. Nine black individuals were shot to death during a community prayer service by a young 21 year old white man who allegedly declared: “You rape our women and take away our jobs”.
For many black people, it is blatantly apparent that the killer’s actions were an act of terror, which makes him a terror suspect and not a shooting suspect. Sadly, so far however, most media outlets have labelled him a shooting suspect. This evident refusal by mainstream America to use the language that is typically assigned to terrorist attacks further calls into question how terrorism and race are dealt with in America by authorities.
Consciously or unconsciously, the attempt to limit what has happened to one “unhinged” individual, when in a black church with a storied past nine black bodies have been laid low, only plays into the hands of the shooter, and this, in my opinion, is hugely problematic. In addition, please note how the media have already found ways to legitimize his alleged crimes, a courtesy which unfortunately is never extended nor afforded to suspects of colour.
Strangely enough or sickly enough, if you may when I heard that the suspect was white, I already had an excuse for his behaviour, (in fact a plethora of excuses) drawn up for him. Mental illness will be the go to explanation, and here he will be humanized and called sick. This will be followed by his being a victim of parental disaffection, mistreatment, early parental separation, product of a broken home and last but not least he slipped through the crack and was the victim of inadequate mental health resources.
At this juncture I lay no claim to being a savant. On ABC and Fox News during discussion of his motivations for committing such an act, the anchor carefully and clearly said “we do not know his mental condition”. Sad but true that is the power of whiteness in current day America.
While being of a sound mind in a sound body, after the Boston Marathon bombings, I watched and listened to several American television and radio channels as they brought in expert after expert and even a convert to qualify what had taken place as terrorism. There was absolutely no discussion of whether the Tsarnaev brothers could have experienced psychological difficulties.
Such behavior and attitude leaves open the question of whether or not there is a disconnect between how black and white people view violence against black bodies. Note the grand difference— White suspects are seen as lone wolves, for the act by Dylan Roof was emphasized in the media as the act of one hateful person, but violence for example by black and Muslim people is systemic and warranting response and action from all who share the same race and religion. Roof, although the subject of a police manhunt, was brought in alive, others such as ex LAPD agent Christopher Dorner, were not as lucky when hunted by the FBI.
It should be further pointed out that even black victims are vilified and every miniscule part of their lives is fine- tooth combed for any infraction or the slightest hint of justification for the attacks and murders that may have brought about their demise.
In the history of the United States the Klan Control Act or the Enforcement Act of 1871 was the first anti-terrorism law in U. S history, after the federal Government under the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant decided it needed to step in to protect order in the South and keep the political system from being overwhelmed by terrorist intimidation, and stamp out acts of violence against black people.
The Charleston shootings clearly fit the definition of terror. I guess that was then, and this is now where a spade is strangely and automatically being called a horticultural implement and not a spade. In the 21st century terrorism is typically associated with Muslim extremism.The killings have brought in its wake the call for renewed discussion about definition of terrorism. Is the term terrorist colored by the act or the fact?
If you are a shooter of color you are deemed a terrorist, and if you are white you are called mentally ill. A hateful act of domestic terrorism in a church filled with black people was committed by Dylan Roof. That’s it plain and simply put, and there should be no other spin on it.
Aleuta— The struggle continues.
Yvonne Sam

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