I was in Charleston, South Carolina for my oldest son's graduation from Army Basic Training. My wife and I took a horse and buggy tour of Charleston, past the historic Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, its history and high steeple. The memories of being burned down and the parishioners worshiping in secret; Dr. Martin Luther King and Corretta Scott King leading from its steps marches to facilitate the world we currently have - not perfect, but better supposedly than the one we had.
Dylann Storm Roof ended that blithe innocence with the blood of nine innocent members spilled on the floor during...bible study.
The coward did not pick a certified street gang - Bloods, Crips, Gangster Disciples, Latin Kings - and go out in a martyred blase of glory. Surely, he would have started the "race war" in his manifesto; surely he would have spurred others to his cause. They would make room on Mount Rushmore for his gaunt young face. He would be immortal...and dead.
More than one article appears on the subject with its own official hash tag: #TakeItDown. Standard bearers of the GOP like Mitt Romney and state representatives are now calling for its removal from the South Carolina capital, something along with an African American president, I thought I'd never see. Rev. Clementa Pinckney - the pastor and state senator of Mother Emanuel now lies in state...beneath that flag. Mr. Roof was enamored with that, along with the ensigns of Apartheid South Africa and equally repugnant Rhodesia.
The confederate flag has been first above the capital of South Carolina since 1961; made law in 1962, so as long as I've been on the planet. 1961 was the 100th anniversary of the Civil War's beginnings. It's first appearance was in 1954, which Lee Atwater succinctly described in the "Southern Strategy." This has been done with a wink-and-a-nod; covered with platitudes like "tradition"; "heritage"; "way of life"; "Christian values" ignoring the domestic terrorism and outright encouragement of genocide by fire, explosions, gunshot and lynchings...now gunfire in a church. Yet another moment of eulogy over shootings like Newtown that should not happen...that not just children's lives matter, but #BlackLivesMatter. They matter in Chicago and Newtown; they matter in country municipalities and cities...they matter in churches that traditionally, have bible study on Wednesday nights, and I assume synagogues and mosques have similar times of cultural unity either weekly or annually - Ramadan and Yom Kippur comes to mind.
Dylann published a manifesto on the Internet. He gunned down nine innocent American souls. Falsely, it was spread through social media early on Roof was treated to a Burger King meal after his arrest; Freddie Gray in Maryland [definitely] a broken back. Freddie (18) was made by the media to look like a "thug"; Dylann (21), predictably as a confused "kid."
I'll likely tune into or DVR what the president has to say yet again. He looks like he's getting tired of it; I'M getting tired of it. He is one year and four days older than I, yet the gray hair and cracked skin makes him look ninety. As a country, we're an international embarrassment and likely, our lower mortality with respect to the rest of the industrialized world is a self-inflicted wound made by constantly playing...Russian roulette. I am particularly tired of talking about this, yet again. Our "normal" is national psychosis; E pluribus unum to warring tribes.
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