Saturday Open Thread [6.20.15]
The news is full of stories of how people who should be the most concerned for justice for the 9 people killed by the terrorist Dylann Roof are working overtime to minimize his crime and to minimize the magnitude of his acts. This would be, of course, white privilege on display, still trying to minimize the value of black lives and minimize the crimes committed by white terrorists. So take a good look:
Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy stated that it was extraordinary the massacre was being labeled a hate crime, positing, “It was a church, so maybe that’s what they’re talking about” and citing “hostility towards Christians.” Guest Bishop E. W. Jackson agreed that “most people jump to conclusions about race,” and that “we don’t know why he went into a church, but he didn’t choose a bar” or “basketball court.” Later, frequent Fox guest and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani theorized that “we don’t know the motivation of the person who did this,” saying “maybe he hates Christian churches.” And later that day on Fox News Radio, Brian Kilmeade speculated that maybe the shooter “hates Christian churches” or possibly just the state of South Carolina.
A South Carolina judge — who once uttered the N-word in the courtroom — opened the Friday hearing for racist mass murderer Dylann Roof with a tone-deaf statement urging the community to rally around the killer’s family.
“We have victims — nine of them. But we also have victims on the other side,” Charleston County Magistrate James “Skip” Gosnell, Jr. announced in the courtroom packed with the victims’ anguished relatives.
No, they aren’t victims. They are accessories to this business and should be treated as such.
And how about Presidential Candidate for Life Rick Perry calling the shooting an accident:
In an interview with Steve Malzberg’s Newsmax TV program on Friday, Republican presidential candidate and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry called the shooting deaths of nine black church members in Charleston, S.C. an “accident.”
Right? And then he wants you to know that President Obama’s visible grief and anger at the senseless deaths of American innocents is an over-reaction. He’ll probably turn around and tell you that the President is aloof next. Still, if the death of innocents at the hands of terrorists doesn’t move you, then you have no business even thinking about being the President of this nation. Remember this the next time Perry showily invokes his faith, because he clearly doesn’t care about the teachings of Jesus here.
And Jeb? Well, Jeb didn’t know ( as of about noon on Friday, June 19) if the killer was racially-motivated:
Today, speaking at Ralph Reed’s uber-conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition summit, “Road to Majority 2105,” Jeb Bush delivered a speech, and remarked on Wednesday night’s attack.
“I don’t know what was on the mind or the heart of the man who committed these atrocious crimes,” Bush told the audience. “But I do know what was in the heart of the victims.”
But asked minutes ago by Huffington Post reporter Laura Bassett, Bush said, “I don’t know” if the shooting was racially motivated.
This is after there had been plenty of solid reporting on what the terrorist told the people he killed and after it was known that he was affiliated with right-wing racial terrorist groups.
“And Jeb? Well, Jeb didn’t know ( as of about noon on Friday, June 19) if the killer was racially-motivated:”
Actually… Jeb is 100% right here. There is every indication that the killer was also on a “mission” to stamp out a political figure. His being black may have been the dominant factor, but perhaps not the only factor.
Reverend Pinckney politics (e.g. recent vote against open carry laws) were openly “discussed” on the gun nut web sites.
I really do wish the media would pick up on the “Who will rid me of this damned priest?” comments by the NRA and its followers.
@LE: Read the shooter’s online screed explaining his actions. Nothing in there about gun laws, lots about “n*****s” and white supremacy.
He didn’t write it. We really don’t know yet. Let’s see the motives of the people who chose that particular target.
It is so remarkable how much generosity is extended to white killers of black people, right?
This is what a witness said about Roof: ““She said that he had reloaded five different times and her son was trying to talk him out of doing that, killing people, and he just said, ‘I have to do it’ and he said, ‘You rape our women and you’re taking over our country and you have to go,’” Pinckney’s cousin said.”
That’s right out of a certain type of southern man’s id.
It seems to be a very popular joke and meme these days to claim, “I’m in Delaware.”
I say we run with it and make our new state slogan “You’re in Delaware.”…. I see $$$ with this one.