Silence and Shame after Charleston
Friends of Padre Steve’s World
I have been amazed over the past couple of days following the terrorist attack committed by Dylann Roof on the pastor and parishioners of Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. What has amazed me is the number of prominent Republican politicians, including a number running for president who are in full denial mode about the motivation of this young man. Not only that, anyone now asserting the truth that this was a racially motivated terrorist attack committed by a White Supremacist who evidently wrote a manifesto on a White Supremacist website, who told his victims “You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go.” He confessed to the killings and even said that he almost didn’t go through with them because the people were so nice to him.
Even so prominent Republicans, Jeb Bush, Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry…
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Posted on 06/22/2015, in Cases, Emmanuel 9, Potpourri, Uncategorized and tagged AME, church, Dylann Roof, excuses, history, murders, racism, South Carolina, white guilt. Bookmark the permalink. 27 Comments.
We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident 
AME Emanuel Church FULL SERMON. Charleston Church First Sunday Service Since Shooting
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Excerpts from his sermon:
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Heartbreaking subject. But despite public figures avoiding the topic in order to not offend supporters, there’s still lots of fertile discussion online in blogs like yours and in social media. And there’s plenty of cyber-fistfights and name-slinging too, so proceed with caution!
The people that disturb me as much as outright racists are a surprising number of people who think they’re not racist but deny that there’s a problem any more – they’re “sick of racism” and so they think never mentioning race fixes the situation despite the facts. Basically they seem invested in denying that white privilege exists in spite of how challenging white lives are, and that a great deal of racism is embedded in our institutions and justice system. We’re seeing the latter as a light has been shined on law enforcement to reveal corruption and racism within the ranks.
And of course many look on a racist white mass murderer as being mentally ill – and of course, in an oblique way, a person has to be off to be able to plan and carry out such a destructive act – but it’s basically domestic terrorism as well as murder, and homegrown terrorism along with gang killings and drivebys that kill the innocent, exterminates more Americans each year than the foreign terrorism the corporatocracy wants us to be fearful of.
The world is watching as America sorts out her violence problems. Yes, it’s a big country, but that’s no excuse for the level of deaths by firearms that we have. So many people want to brush away all that suffering as if it doesn’t exist or that only bad people die, or whatever the logistic is. But many countries have lots of guns and still don’t have a proportiona level of homicides and suicides compared to the numbers we have. The USA needs to grow up and re-implent more of the gun control that we used to have, probably along with some much more stringent mental health and criminal background checks. And who needs firearms shows in which you only need present ID to buy a gun – many firearms that turn up in criminal situations have been purchased at these. Shut ’em down. Rethink the 2nd Amendment and reflect upon what type of lifestyle makes us most morally and mentally strong and safe. They say an armed society is a polite society, but I’m not seeing that! I’m seeing an uneasy and fearful society that breeds abuse.
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Two sides, may I have your permission to post this as a separate thread? It’s outstanding.
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More guns is not the answer that’s for sure. After spending some time on Nikki Haley’s FB yesterday I realized the folks in SC are afraid. One comment was to the effect of those in Baltimore and Missouri weren’t as ‘godly’ as the people in SC.
No one wants to speak to change ‘right now’ ‘it’s the time for mourning and we’ll discuss the flag later’ . Yet we know for some people, there is never a good time to talk about what we can do to improve racial strife.
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I am constantly accused of having ‘white guilt’ for speaking out. I guess that means I have straight guilt too, since I also speak out for marriage equality and civil rights for those in the LBGT community too.
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When the racist haters accuse us of “white guilt,” they are deflecting from the fact that they have NO moral conscience, that they approved of so many heinous racist acts both past and present, and, for many of them, that they want to turn the clock back.
They do not want us to join forces with a diverse community to repair the damage of the past, to call out racial bigots, to push back against White Supremacy, to shine the spotlight on and demand an end to LE’s use of negative stereotyping and criminal profiling of innocent Black individuals, and to attempt to dismantle instances of racism within institutions in our country.
Well, their “white guilt” labeling technique is not working.
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I agree yb, it’s their White Shame that will not allow them to admit our role in why things are the way they are and any attempt or move towards peace and reconciliation would be an ‘admission of guilt’ which their fragile egos will never allow them do
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Yahtzee,
(((((Applause)))))
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Mindyme,
Uh, let’s see. If you advocate for marriage equality, I think they call it “libtard.” (So many labels and name-calling that I can’t keep up.) 🙂
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I have a ‘special’ friend on a local comment board that calls me a a ~~ libstards ~~
I asked the administrator why he, lol, (privately) admonished me for my words yet allowed her to call me names, and his reply was that he wasn’t exactly sure what that word meant. 🙂
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Mindyme,
HA! See, they speak a foreign language of their own making. 🙂
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It really is like that sometimes!!
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“It is my understanding that at four o’clock today the governor is going to call for the removal of the Confederate flag,” Republican state Representative Doug Brannon said in a phone interview.”
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President Barack Obama weighed in on the Charleston massacre in a podcast posted online on Monday, saying the killings showed the United States still had a long way to go in addressing racism, using an epithet to make his point.
“We’re not cured of it,” Obama told Mark Maron, host of the “WTF” podcast. “And it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say ‘nigger’ in public. That’s not the measure of whether racism still exists.”
The Confederate flag became a point of contention the morning after the attack on “Mother Emanuel” church, with activists noting that it continued to fly at full-staff even after Haley had ordered other flags at the capitol to half-staff, in a sign of mourning.”
http://news.yahoo.com/activists-urge-south-carolina-capitol-down-rebel-flag-161314341.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory&soc_trk=fb&fb_ref=Default
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This is just more proof of what I have been saying for nearly 14 yrs. The collusive effort not to call political or religious violence by a person/people Terrorism.
It’s not just Republicans. I can’t think of any Democrat who called this terrorism. FBI director Comey said that this wasn’t terrorism. In my opinion,he undermined his boss AG Loretta Lynch by saying that. Liberal NPR asked if this was terrorism. I could go on and on. Just go back to the universal calling the Charlie Hebdo attacks terrorism.
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Chuquest,
The FBI director said;
I disagree with him because according to reports, Dylann said that Blacks were taking over this country. That has been a mantra of White Supremacists since Obama was elected President.
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I continue to read on how this terrorist was treated by LEOs. According to thesource.com, after police captured Dylan he complained of hunger. So police took him to a Burger King so he could satisfy his hunger. I’m posting this on my phone so I can’t put up a link. If only unarmed Walter Scott who didn’t harm anyone was treated by SCPD this way.
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Chuquest,
They should have waited until they reached the jail and given him a jail house meal.
Yes, if only responses to Walter Scott ….
If only response to Freddie Gray’s cries for medical attention ….
If only response to “I can’t breathe”….
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Exactly. It’s the most basic form of terrorism one could look for. The local kind.
Riddle me this…..what’s the difference between a KKK cross burning and a resultant lynching and a 21 year old walking into a Church and opening fire ???
Other than no matches were involved in the shooting, there is none. Both are intended to eliminate someone or some group with intimidation and violence.
This is a hate crime…..which is terrorism, and not to hard to figure out.
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Racer, I agree. When 9/11 happened, there was much talk about terrorism being an influence in how people live. I find it somewhat hypocritical when hearing that the FBI director applies acts of terrorism to be political acts against the government, when we the people are the government.
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I’ve never been a fan of Governor Nikki Haley, but she finally did the right thing and had the flag taken down.
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/06/22/sc-governor-calls-for-confederate-flag-to-come-down/21199596/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D-239399959
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I take it back. She simply called for the flag to be taken down. As for as I can tell, it’s still up.
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Linda, the Confederate flag is a menstrual rag. It’s a representation of blood spilled because it did not produce life. It’s a representation of stench. It needs to be burned.
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I’ve never heard it explained that way, Xena. It’s really thought provoking. Only slightly off topic, one of my ancestors, Daniel Webster Futrell, was the only man in Trigg County, Kentucky to vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860, Needless to say, my family has ALWAYS been screwed up! LOL!
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Wow Linda! I would say that your ancestor, Daniel Webster Futrell, was a man who made his own decisions following his own heart. Thanks for sharing that with us.
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yes, and while we’re talking about the wrongs categories of people have committed against other people all men should walk around in a state of continuous shame for their crimes, enslavement, abuse of and debasement of women throughout all of history and continuing today.
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