Mass Shooting At Black Church In South Carolina

[Agent Fisher]

Jones, I'm kind of confused, what context are you trying to raise? That church shootings happen? Or that this would be somehow related to the other shootings?

[cmdrjones]

Jones, I'm kind of confused, what context are you trying to raise? That church shootings happen? Or that this would be somehow related to the other shootings?

Good question.... Go google "Church Shooting" right now and see how many pages you have to flip through before ANYTHING but the current Church Shooting pops up.

I believe 9 people is an average weekend in Chicago, but this seems to be the end of the universe. I am not surprised, because man bites dog is a story though.... I hope most here aren't surprised either.

[Gandalf]

Before he allegedly opened fire on members of a Bible study group at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, Dylann Roof sat with them. He might have prayed with them.

A Snapchat video from Wednesday night at the historic African-American church shows Roof at a table with the small group. Nothing in the footage suggests the carnage to come.

Police say Roof shot and killed nine people inside the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, near the heart of Charleston's tourist district. Eight died at the scene; a ninth died at a hospital.

Authorities were shocked not only by the killings but that the violence occurred in a house of worship.

"People in prayer Wednesday evening. A ritual, a coming together, praying, worshiping God. An awful person to come in and shoot them is inexplicable," said Charleston Mayor Joe Riley.

Six women and three men were killed, including the church's politically active pastor, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney.

Sylvia Johnson, a cousin of Pinckney, said she heard about what happened inside the church from survivors, according to CNN affiliate WIS.

Johnson said survivors recounted the man coming into the church, asking for Pinckney and sitting next to him during a prayer meeting for an hour. He started shooting and reloaded five times, she said.

When a man pleaded with him to stop, the shooter replied, "You rape our women, and you're taking over our country. And you have to go," she said.

A law enforcement official says witnesses told authorities the gunman stood up and said he was there "to shoot black people."

The president of the NAACP expressed his outrage at the violence.

"There is no greater coward than a criminal who enters a house of God and slaughters innocent people engaged in the study of scripture," Cornell William Brooks said.

*rest of article snipped*

The rest of the article is good, because it explores the victims, suspect and church. It's just quite long to post here, given CNN's weird way of writing articles.

[Broomstick]

Yes, churches are and have been targets for decades, maybe forever. That's why a lot of churches have security fences, doors with locks, and even security guards.

[Joun_Lord]

What a goddamn piece of shit. While I'm less bothered about him shooting up a church then say a Christian, as I don't consider the places sanctified or whatever they consider it, it still is horribly fucked up even putting aside the racist ass killings. A church is a safe place. A place that people go to have togetherness and to be closer to god, not to get a one way ticket to Yahweh by way of some little racist asshole who decided to shoot up the place.

What could drive a man to attack others over their skin color? Hate? Stupidity? Brainwashing by relatives? Mental illness? Drugs, as mentioned in the CNN article by Gandalf?

Doesn't fucking matter, a decent human being knows killing unarmed people is wrong, killing people because they are different is wrong. But his fucker still did it.

I hope they don't kill him though, I hope he spends a nice long eternity in jail and I rarely wish jail time on anyone.

My outrage and disgust at this Rhodesia loving asshole aside, the reactions to this have been lovely. Of course their is Piers Morgan running is mouth whining about American gun culture, yeah why don't you fuck off and wait for the bodies to cool before pushing your agenda or better yet fuck off completely.

Assholes are jacking up gun prices but then they'd do so if Obama sneezed. Speaking of Obama some are saying that his reaction to this shooting shows he was is a racist because apparently he is more perturbed about a bunch of black adults being killed them he about a pile of photogenic dead white kids.

Nothing like a bunch of people getting killed to bring out the whores and racists.

[Terralthra]

Joun_Lord, white supremacists have been targeting black churches in America for centuries. Thinking of churches as safe spaces is ignoring the history of violent racist terrorism in this country.

[Joun_Lord]

Joun_Lord, white supremacists have been targeting black churches in America for centuries. Thinking of churches as safe spaces is ignoring the history of violent racist terrorism in this country.

Yes rejects in sheets have been attacking churches for awhile but doesn't change the fact that until it isn't, for alot of Christians the church is their sanctuary. It is the place they go when violence afflicts them and natural disasters threaten them. Also to drop money to buy priests jets and mega-mansions. Its supposed to be a place of shelter for many people.

Of course that is probably atleast one of the reasons churches make such inviting targets to white people who make it their lives work to show society just what an inferior person is (themselves, which is probably why they rail about racial bullshit much like a conservative who hates gays is secretly gay, you are what you hate, I'm a vegetable). People will be in churches thinking they are safe and these morons shatter that notion with violence and terror. Of course other reason include its supposed to be the house of god and thus sacred, churches especially in highly religious areas will be a center of the community in many respects, and attacks of a church is an attack on ones faith.

[Broomstick]

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that for this guy it's probably more about race than religion. A Bible study group just makes a handy target, that's all.

[Zaune]

And the church supposedly had a historic role in a failed slave rebellion whose anniversary is this week. That's probably not a coincidence.

[jwl]

Jones, I'm kind of confused, what context are you trying to raise? That church shootings happen? Or that this would be somehow related to the other shootings?

Good question.... Go google "Church Shooting" right now and see how many pages you have to flip through before ANYTHING but the current Church Shooting pops up.

I believe 9 people is an average weekend in Chicago, but this seems to be the end of the universe. I am not surprised, because man bites dog is a story though.... I hope most here aren't surprised either.

It's not the fact that it's a church shooting, it's because:
> It's nine people at the same time.
> This seems to be carefully planned, not in the heat of the moment.
> This seems to be racially motivated crime.
> One of the people dead is not only a pastor but a politician too.

The combination of these factors is rare.

[cmdrjones]

Jones, I'm kind of confused, what context are you trying to raise? That church shootings happen? Or that this would be somehow related to the other shootings?

Good question.... Go google "Church Shooting" right now and see how many pages you have to flip through before ANYTHING but the current Church Shooting pops up.

I believe 9 people is an average weekend in Chicago, but this seems to be the end of the universe. I am not surprised, because man bites dog is a story though.... I hope most here aren't surprised either.

It's not the fact that it's a church shooting, it's because:
> It's nine people at the same time.
> This seems to be carefully planned, not in the heat of the moment.
> This seems to be racially motivated crime.
> One of the people dead is not only a pastor but a politician too.

The combination of these factors is rare.

Granted, I was commenting largely on the hysterical and repetitive nature of the COVERAGE of the crime, esp the racial angle, which, mysteriously enough, tends to get buried when 'youths' attack people.

At first blush, this guy seems like a lone, medicated, nutjob racist... however, that being said, I am (pleasantly) surprised that there haven't been MORE attacks of this nature, not necessarily on Churches, but on Black people. Even IF you are a nut with a grudge, it speaks to his lack of character that he didn't attack a group of gangbangers 'hangin' out in da hood,' he went after defenseless Christians. This goes to show how very Non-racist much of American society is, even with massive amounts of provocation, the oft predicted 'race war' fails to materialize.

[Alyrium Denryle]

This goes to show how very Non-racist much of American society is, even with massive amounts of provocation, the oft predicted 'race war' fails to materialize.

1) What strange little universe do you live in where the US as a whole is non-racist?
2) Who is being provoked into a race war, because you play the "fails to specify grammatical subject" game such that I cannot actually tell?

Because if it is black people being provoked into a race war, that puts the lie to your first claim. If white people are... well... that is an entirely different "discussion".

[Ralin]

At first blush, this guy seems like a lone, medicated, nutjob racist... however, that being said, I am (pleasantly) surprised that there haven't been MORE attacks of this nature, not necessarily on Churches, but on Black people. Even IF you are a nut with a grudge, it speaks to his lack of character that he didn't attack a group of gangbangers 'hangin' out in da hood,' he went after defenseless Christians.

This is one of the most racist things I have seen on this forum. Including the black supremacist guy who kept calling white people cracker animals who invented pedophilia

[Grumman]

Even IF you are a nut with a grudge, it speaks to his lack of character that he didn't attack a group of gangbangers 'hangin' out in da hood,' he went after defenseless Christians.

This is one of the most racist things I have seen on this forum.

Because he said a better man would have blamed criminals for committing crimes instead of black people as a whole? Don't be stupid.

[Zaune]

You didn't seriously expect a fella who wanders around with Rhodesia's national flag on his jacket because the Stars and Bars is too wishy-washy or something to make that sort of nuanced distinction, did you?

[Ralin]

Even IF you are a nut with a grudge, it speaks to his lack of character that he didn't attack a group of gangbangers 'hangin' out in da hood,' he went after defenseless Christians.

This is one of the most racist things I have seen on this forum.

Because he said a better man would have blamed criminals for committing crimes instead of black people as a whole? Don't be stupid.

And obviously one can easily distinguish between these two before embarking on one's hypothetical killing spree in the hood. Do you not understand the concept of dog whistling?

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Well the state governor is seeking the death penalty for the fucker who did this, I don't blame her one bit. Problem is, since the justice system works on geological time scales it'll likely be years before he's even sentenced. Apparently the average time between sentencing and execution is 15 years, so it'll probably be around 2030 when they actually get rid of him.

[The Romulan Republic]

I oppose the death penalty on principle, but I'm glad to see that this is being treated with the proper seriousness. I mean, I don't think even South Carolina is racist enough for the government to go easy on this guy, but there is a part of me that worried they wouldn't be quite as tough as they would would be if, say, the shooter was a Muslim.

[Zaune]

Don't treat it as a fait accompli yet. He still has to go through trial and sentencing.

[The Romulan Republic]

Indeed.

And apparently the judge at the accused's hearing was once reprimanded for using a racial slur on the bench. Lovely.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/06 ... .html?_r=0

The county magistrate judge who oversaw a hearing for the white man accused of killing nine people at a black church was previously reprimanded for saying a racial slur from the bench.

Charleston Chief Magistrate James B. Gosnell Jr. prompted controversy at a bond hearing for Dylann Roof on Friday when he asked for sympathy for Roof's family as well as the victims.

In 2005, the South Carolina Supreme Court issued a public reprimand for misconduct to Gosnell. According to documents, in November 2003 Gosnell presided over a bond reduction hearing where he knew the defendant's father. Speaking to the black defendant, Gosnell told the man "there are four kinds of people in this world — black people, white people, red necks, and n-----."

In his defense, the judge said he was simply repeating a saying he had heard from a veteran sheriff's deputy who was black.

When coupled with a separate allegation that Gosnell had shown improper favoritism to another judge arrested for drunken driving, the justices voted to issue a public reprimand, specifically citing "his racial remark."

Same source reveals that the accused had previously been heard saying he planned to shoot up a college.

Edit: There's a lot more here. I'm not posting the whole thing because its really long.

[Patroklos]

Joun_Lord, white supremacists have been targeting black churches in America for centuries. Thinking of churches as safe spaces is ignoring the history of violent racist terrorism in this country.

Do I really have to do the math for you or would you like to just admit the above is bull shit. To be clear, the second part.

[Benny the Ball]

Jon Stewart in a rare moment of seriousness addresses the tragedy and the implications thereof.

[The Romulan Republic]

I don't entirely agree with what Stewart said, mainly because I find his cynicism, his assumption that nothing will change, to be dangerous, foolish, and boring. His show these days seems to often come down to basically saying the World sucks, everyone's corrupt, and there's nothing we can do about it, now let's just laugh at the futility of hope. It irritates me because its useless and self-indulgent.

But I pretty much agree about this being a terrorist attack, and I loved his calling out of the Confederacy worship in the South.

[cmdrjones]

This goes to show how very Non-racist much of American society is, even with massive amounts of provocation, the oft predicted 'race war' fails to materialize.

1) What strange little universe do you live in where the US as a whole is non-racist?
2) Who is being provoked into a race war, because you play the "fails to specify grammatical subject" game such that I cannot actually tell?

Because if it is black people being provoked into a race war, that puts the lie to your first claim. If white people are... well... that is an entirely different "discussion".

It's everybody man. Let me put it this way, if the premise of the book "white girl bleed a lot," is valid, do you think that sort of information should be suppressed in order to prevent racial animosity? Or should it be publicized in the name of the truth and freedom of the press?

Do EITHER of those sound like good choices to you?

Long term, I don't see a top down solution for things like Ferguson, and SC. I have hope, but not for anything having to do with man and his works. I do believe that many of us exhibit higher qualities than we may possess by birth. People in the US, white and black SEEM to have enough historical grudges to go after each other, but we, by an large don't. This speaks to the lengths that most americans will go to, to AVOID killing each other.

[cmdrjones]

And obviously one can easily distinguish between these two before embarking on one's hypothetical killing spree in the hood. Do you not understand the concept of dog whistling?

and those who can hear dog whistles the easiest are?

It's pretty simple dork, He said: "you rape our women, you have to go." Who is 'you' in that sentence? would 'you' in that sentence IN THE MIND OF THE SHOOTER be better represented by a bunch of Gangbangers in the proverbial hood or people at a prayer meeting?

PS Lack or character refers to his Cowardice....