Here's a draft of my 'article' concerning the Charleston Church Shooting.
Charleston
church shooting
On
the 17th
of July, 21 year old Dylan Storm Roof committed a hate-crime by
killing nine people that had been attending the Charleston Church of
Southern Carolina of that very day. Sources including his
roommate have informed the press that this young adult had very clear
political opinions, specially concerning segregation. We can report
from several sources that “he wanted it to be segregated. He wanted
it to be white with white and black with black”, and that “ he
wanted to start a civil war. Said he was going to do something like
___ and then kill himself”.
Something
that has angered a lot of people, often leaving them with the feeling
of being unsafe in their country, is the fact that the mass murderer
was legally armed with a .45. He had been arrested at least twice
within a few months of the shooting, many claim that he should not
have the right to legally have a gun in his possession. This is
somewhat true, however, the state of Southern Carolina does not
demand a background check when a gun is given privately. Although
some therefore demand to have this law changed onto making private
gun exchanges without any declared background check illegal, others-
rifle companies- have taken the opportunity to point out the
importance of carrying a gun, and that therefor, more people should
have them in their possession.
The
true reason for the shooting is also a source of conflict.
Whereas the majority points out
the killer's obvious racist mentality, others claim that this can be
due to the man being mentally ill or being 'too young' to really
acknowledge the causes of what he was doing. The facts supporting the
first opinion includes his use of social media. His Facebook profile
picture has been seen to be a picture of him wearing a green-colored
jacked with the flags of two once white-ruled african countries/areas. Another picture shows himself sitting on the porch of a car with
plates showing the
Confederate flag..
Finally a website that is believed to belong to him, shows in several
posts that he was fully aware of the situation, but had his mind set
on segregation.
The
consequences of his actions are a disaster.
Nine people were killed. The youngest victim, Tywanza Sander (26)
stood between Roof and his aunt in an attempt
of saving her. Susie Jackson, shortly after, became the eldest victim
at the age of 87. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton (45) was a mother of
three, Reverend Clementa Pinckey (41) was also state senator, Myra
Thomson was 59 years old, Reverend Depayne Middleton-Doctor was 49.
Cynthia
Hurd, a beloved sister, would turn 55 on the 21st
of June,
Ethel Lee Lance was a 70 year old sexton,
and Reverend Daniel L. Simmons was 74 years old. They all had a life,
a family and faith. The only thing they had done was being in the
wrong place at the wrong time. Then there is the political and
social damage. Many
have asked the confederate flag to be take down because of what it
represents-
including the belief of an “über race”, being th white colored
one. Then, according to Washington Times, black activists fear a
“race war”.
Quoting
from their website, ““We
don’t need any more bloodshed and we don’t need a race war,”
pleaded J. Denise Cromwell, a black community activists.
“Charleston has
a lot of racial tension. … We’re drowning and someone is pouring
water over us.”
Charleston
is know for having some tension between what has become white
communities and black communities. Obviously, the attack did not help
the town's social issues on skin color.
Mass
murderer or terrorist attack? An other issue, is simply what to
call this event. Those that call it a mass murder a often the ones
who also think that he is mentally unstable, and those who call it a
terrorist attack often also claim that it would have been labeled as
one right away if the attacker had not been white. By definition, a
terrorist attack is “ a surprise attack involving the deliberate
use of violence against civilians in the hope of attaining political
or religious aim” (source: vocabulary.com). As far as I know, the
attack was a surprise, it did involve the deliberate use of violence
against civilians, and this violence was due to the hope of attaining
political aim- in this case segregation. However, people barely seem
to be able to agree on a clear definition, so it is understandable
that they fail to agree on what to call this attack.
In
the end it is important that we stay united. That we respond to this
act of hatred by acts of love. Think about the families, and the ones
that have lost mother, father, sister, brother, son, grand mother,
grand father. That we show that this is not the way we intend our
countries to grow. That we show that all the efforts and sacrifices
that have been made through generations in the goal of equality, of
acceptance and tolerance. With this I hope you will spread the word
or/and think about what has happened first with and objective, then
with a subjective point of view.
Thank
you for reading.
Opinion:
2nd
Paragraph; It all comes down to this; do we make it illegal for the
killer to carry a gun or do we arm everybody so everyone gets a shot
at getting killed (pun unintended).
3rd
Paragraph; To this conflict, my own opinion is, first of all, that
the man is 21 years old. Not eleven, not fifteen, but twenty-one. At
this age he, as anyone else should be fully responsible of his
actions. Then, although there is an extremely small chance that he is
mentally ill, he should still at least be charged for committing a
hate-crime, specially because he has made his causes of actions
perfectly clear to friends and public in the past.
- People tend to say or think that racism is practically over in the U.S.A and that political leaders and law enforcement no longer alter their decisions based on culture, origin, color of skin, sexuality, etc... Yet here we are. It is 2015 and a white man recently shot 9 innocent people inside a church based on the belief that it was the right thing to do due to the people's color of skin. ____ years ago, a young man ____ was accused of killing a police officer. No proof was ever found, no eyewitnesses ever confessed, yet a couple of weeks later he found death on the inside of a courtroom. Today, death is not even on the table. Although no part of me agrees with fatal punishment, I believe that law enforcement should either decide to make him pay the same price as other colored men have before him- often for less- or abolish the death penalty.
4th
Paragraph; following the definition, it is in my opinion that this
was a thought-through terrorist attack.
