The Silver Lining in the Charleston Church Racist Mass Murder: His Uncle Turned Him In

I am going on the facts as they have been reported so far, just hours after the likely killer was caught.

Dylann Storm Roof, a young white racist man in South Carolina, after voicing hatred of black people and wearing the flags of apartheid states, was given a big gun by this father.

Roof then went to the most famous black church in Charleston, sat with the church members in Bible study and prayer, before he opened fire.  He killed nine people, including the pastor.  Roof left one witness to his act of terrorism to tell his story.

Then he took off.

The next day, his uncle saw the security pictures, figured out who the killer was, and turned him in.  Roof was caught soon thereafter.

I am reminded of a story of the London subway bombings of a few years ago.  One of the killers was recognized by his mother from the security pictures.  She turned him in because his act of terrorism was very wrong.  But she also said that she did it because she knew that the British authorities would not torture her son.

Roof is not likely to be tortured.  He is not likely to be assumed to be connected to any larger group.  He is likely, instead, to be treated as a deranged individual.  This is because he is white.  Yet he is part of a long tradition of Southern terrorists. And he was armed by his own father.

Thank God for the decent uncle.