It’s an interesting question, as discussed in the USA Today
One hundred and forty characters isn’t nearly enough to unravel the politics of mass violence, to expound on America’s history of institutionalized racism, or to dissect the inconsistencies perceived in the way we talk about both.
But it’s more than enough to make us pause. It’s more than enough for a collective vent. And after Dylann Roof, who is white, allegedly opened fire Wednesday in a South Carolina church and killed nine black people, Twitter users exploded over what they saw as disparities in attitude and language the news media use to categorize violence.
The thesis of many was clear: White privilege persists, even in the coverage of heinous crimes. Users lamented that when a suspect is black, they’re often labeled a “thug” or a “gangster.” When they’re Muslim, they’re stamped a “terrorist.” When they’re white. they’re afforded the far more benign pathology of “troubled” or “mentally ill.”
The article provides many instances of people questioning the meme, starting with
Black shooter = Gangsters!
Muslim shooter = Terrorists!
Professional shooter = Hero!
White shooter = troubled loner.#CharlestonShooting
— Ulrich Janse van Vuuren (@UlrichJvV) June 18, 2015
There are more than enough outlets and pundits which quickly branded Roof as mentally ill and/or a troubled loner. In reality, it depends on the situation. Quite a few of the Blacks who have been in the news as of late were thugs, living the thug life. Many have had long criminal histories. Context matters. Labels matter. If a middle class Black person kills someone, which happens, it just doesn’t make national news, he/she won’t be labeled a thug. What we can say is that roof is a big time racist, a conspiracy theorist, and, yes, this was terrorism, as this was a violent episode meant for political purposes.
That said, we should note two points: first, virtually every time an Islamist, the hardcore type of Muslim, is engaged in a terroristic act, they are quickly dubbed lone wolf or wolves, and we are told that this has absolutely nothing to do with Islam. In fact, the person(s) isn’t really practicing Islam!!!!!!! Even when they tell us they did this for their faith.
Second, why is that the entire White race is blamed, and all Whites have to check their privilege, when something like this happens? But we aren’t allowed to Blame Islam, and to even mention that the Islamists are a part of Islam is verboten. Nor are we allowed to Blame Black culture in any measure.
But, it is seemingly perfectly acceptable to blame all Whites for the criminal acts of one person/group. Oh, hey, wouldn’t that mean all Democrats are virulent racists, then?
Crossed at Right Wing News.
Waah! Waah! The poor white race is being attacked! Idiot.
No one has prevented you and the odious jimhoft and Pam Gellar and 1 million other conservatives from blaming Islam. The same statement applies to the conservative take on Blacks. Do you ever read what you write or the comments here?
Roof is a cowardly right-wing terrorist who hated Black people, like so many conservatives do.
The far-right harbors a cult of virulent haters always on the verge of violence.
No. Roof was not a crazy lone wolf, he is part of the right-wing movement that is as violent as it is stupid.
I’ll ask again. When will the moderate right-wing racists step forward and condemn one of the terrorists that emerges from their movement from time to time?
Do you agree that Roof’s father broke the law by buying his felon son a handgun?
“Terrorist” wouldn’t be appropriate, because terrorism is simply a tactic meant to cow other people into behaving as the terrorist wants. There are now stories that Mr Roof wanted to inspire a race war, but that doesn’t fit in the definition of terrorism. President Bush led to a national fouling up of the definition of terrorism, because he didn’t want to identify our enemies clearly, as Islamists, because he was afraid of offending Muslims in general, and the statement, “this was terrorism, as this was a violent episode meant for political purposes,” uses the overly expansive definition.
He is, apparently, a racist and a white supremacist, which would be valid descriptions, but he was also deranged.
As for a “more benign label,” if Mr Roof is the actual murderer, he’ll be tried, convicted, spend the rest of his miserable life in an integrated prison, and possibly be executed; I’m not sure how a “more benign label” somehow means he would be getting off more lightly.
Once again, Jeffrey jumps the shark:
Note that your pet leftist is taking something which is apparently true about an individual, and conflating it to “many conservatives.”
Really? Why have there been so few such instances? Mr Roof was, allegedly, trying to start a race war, which means that there isn’t one going on.
Actually, unless it is established that he was actively conspiring with others, he does fit the lone wolf definition. As for “the right-wing movement that is as violent as it is stupid,” while Jeffrey is trying to raise mental images of der Sturmabteilung marching through the streets, there sure don’t seem to be that many of them.
Dana Roof IS a terrorist. He is precisely one of the type of rightwing extremists that the US government warned us about AND that the right wing claimed did not exist.
That you seek to claim that the right wing has no groups like the oath keepers who are always threatening violence if they see reason to do so, or the anti abortion killers, or the tight ties between white supremacists and the Republicans are easy to remember
Last Jan we had the revelations that the GOP House whip had ties to some people very close to the Klan http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/david-duke-steve-scalise-114736.html
Did Teach think that was important ?
Nope
Deranged or not, he sounds like a white supremacist. We should, and do, condemn him as such. Sadly, Jeffrey’s attempt to rope the right wing into his derangement has derailed the argument.
Jeffrey, you’re attempting to stop us from coming together and reviling this scumbag just to score some silly point about your ridiculous perceived view of your political adversaries. You should be ashamed. I’m ashamed for you.
It does show how little you understand the conservatives and libertarians on the right though. So, I’m also embarrassed for you for your lack of knowledge.
Teach think it may be about time to take down that sign saying that YOU are a right wing extremist?
“It’s always projection.”
You’re making a funny, right? The past decade there have been many more right-wing terror attacks in the US than Islamist terror attacks. It’s not even close.
Why won’t the moderate right-wing white supremacists and anti-government types (sound familiar?) condemn one of their own? Roof was steeped in the right-wing brew of race hatred and responded as one would expect.
Maybe he was set off by the “animals” and “savages” and “feral beasts” the right-wing media talk about daily. Maybe he reads StormFront, the Pirate, Atlas Shrugs and the Gateway Pudendum regularly, and felt at home and comfortable with the racial hatred regularly expressed. Cloistered groups begin to feel as if the world is with them as they exclude more and more of the outside world, when in fact they have a disturbed view of reality.
When an individual Muslim commits a terrorist act, I never hear right-wingers complain when the chorus condemns all of Islam as a violent religion bent on destroying our freedoms.
When an individual Black man commits a crime, I never hear right-wingers complain when the chorus condemns all Blacks as lazy and violent.
Scratch a conservative, reveal a racist.
Not all conservatives are racists, but all racists are conservatives.
These truisms are logically inconsistent so you can only choose one.
Should SC still fly a flag that is in any way associated with slavery or racial supremacy ?
How did “southern culture” play apart in this mass murder?
Should that flag have been flown at half mast ?
Jeffrey wrote:
So, given the absolute nature of Jeffrey’s statement, we need to find only one example of a left-wing racist, and the statement is disproved.
Al Sharpton.
Case closed.
But, who are really the racists? Dylann Roof is apparently a white supremacist and racist, but he’s also part of a very small minority. In the meantime, we have most of the states, many municipalities, and the federal government on record as supporting judging people on the color of their skin; they just dress it up by calling it Affirmative Action. What other program currently exists, as part of state and federal law, which specifies different treatment for people based on race?
For the left to complain about racism is hugely funny, since much of their political philosophy is based on racism.
Jeffrey wrote:
Did he? CNN is reporting this morning:
That’s different from earlier reports that the father bought his son a .45 for his 18th birthday. Seems to me that the facts might not all be in yet.
no law was broken unless the father ws aware of the pending charge, of course this was a law that the NRA fought against
OOOOOPZ looks like more http://www.rawstory.com/2015/06/white-man-spewing-racial-slurs-threatens-to-kill-black-virginia-churchgoers/
Another isolated instance of southern pride and culture
[…] Why Is Charleston Shooter Called Mentally Deranged, Rather Than Thug Or Terrorist? […]
Maybe the answer is for all Blacks to arm themselves and to shoot if they feel physically threatened.
Reading Robert Stacy McCain’s profile of Dylann Roof, we see the same things that we’ve talked about as problems in the black community: he came from a broken home, dropped out of school, was a significant drug user, didn’t have or want a job, and sat around playing vidiot games a lot of the time.
Why, it’s almost as though it isn’t race which turns you into a menace to society, but behavior.
Our Second Amendment rights are not limited to whites; black citizens certainly have the right to be armed.
You should look up the Affirmative Action laws and get a surprise.
Are you denying that white America oppressed, and still oppress, our Black brothers and sisters? And that this oppression is much more burdensome than any so-called affirmative action?
Dana,
You don’t get it, do you? We’re trying to teach you and those like you a little lesson in self-reflection. We’re linking Roof to the broader violent right-wing movement because conservatives link every individual violent act of a Muslim to Islam and every individual violent act of a Black to “Black culture”.
In fact right-wing terrorism is more prevalent in the US than Islamic terrorism!
Why make excuses for Roof? He was steeped in a toxic stew of racism and boiled over. It happens.
And if, as a felon, he had had no access to a gun, he would have shot and killed far fewer decent folks.
And take down the stupid fucking traitorous battle flag.
Jeffrey predictably wrote:
I’m not saying that at all. I am saying that the left have responded to past racism with institutionalized racism going in the other direction, and such is no better morally than the Jim Crow laws of the past.
I do, however, state that white Americans aren’t really oppressing black Americans today. In fact, it seems to me that, for the most part, we are leading rather separate lives, at least away from the workplace, and you can’t oppress someone with whom you have no interactions.
Jeffrey wrote:
Who is making excuses for Mr Roof? Please, be specific and cite your sources.
Jeffrey wrote:
The problem with your argument is that he wasn’t a convicted felon:
He was charged, but hadn’t actually been convicted of anything.
Jeffrey wrote:
Oh, I see what you are trying to do, and I totally reject it; it’s nothing but demagoguery on your part.
You’ve made that claim before, and now it’s time to prove it. Let’s have chapter and verse, all the statistics, with a credible source citation.
Jeff,
It is good to see that something tragic happened and you step up to once again express your hate. I wish I could see things in terms that are so clear cut as you define them, ie conservative vs liberal. Oh, most of the real racist I have met have been flaming liberals, they preach tolerance, just like you, and that is the worst type of racist. I hope you realize that with your excessive gun collection and your on line expression of hate that you are marked as an individual that could easily fit the profile of this killer.
dave,
You white supremacist neoconfederate you! But at least you’re honest.
I keep all my modern guns in safes, and I’m a flaming liberal so less likely to walk into a AME church and kill 9 gentle Black people. But you can snitch on me to the authorities if you think it will avert a terrorist massacre.
It’s our right-wing brethren whose brains short out and they walk into churches and temples and shoot folks.
of course he is a right wing extremist just read his manifesto
what do you think his views were ? lefty ?
do you think lefties go around waving the confederate flag ?
And Teach since you are always blaming ALL of Israel why not blame all whites ? Or
Shouldn’t whites like yourself be appologizing for the actions of the most radical whites? and what happened to June 20th? don’t try and hide it its on google cache
dave,
Actually, a right-wing white supremacist terrorist shot and killed 9 people.
If a Black nationalist had shot and killed 9 white churchgoers FOX, the conservapundits, congressional Repubs and especially the Republican prez candidates would be soiling themselves in “angry” excitement.