As Jennifer Pinckney took the stand Wednesday morning at the federal courthouse in downtown Charleston, prosecutors passed her a photo labeled Government Exhibit 753. She smiled. It was a picture of her late husband, Clementa C. Pinckney. A prominent minister and state senator, there was no shortage of photos of him. But this one was different. He was at home, asleep on the couch. He wore sweatpants and a plain white T-shirt. His older daughter, Eliana, was curled up at his shoulder. His younger daughter, Malana, was sprawled out across his stomach. The three had been reading together, one of their favorite pastimes, when Pinckney snapped the picture. “They fell asleep and I just couldn’t resist myself,” she testified.
Government Exhibit 753, in the trial of Dylann Roof, shows Reverend Clementa C. Pinckney, asleep on the couch with his daughters Eliana and Malana.
Photo: Jennifer Pinckney/Government Exhibit 753
Mrs. Pinckney was the first in a long line of witnesses called by federal prosecutors in the sentencing trial of Dylann Roof last week. The avowed white supremacist was convicted in December for gunning down Reverend Pinckney and eight parishioners during a Bible study at the historic Emanuel AME Church on June 17, 2015. The crime shook the country. President Obama gave a stirring eulogy at Rev. Pinckney’s televised memorial service, singing Amazing Grace. The next day, in a brazen act of civil disobedience, activist Bree Newsome scaled the flagpole at the state capitol to take down the Confederate flag; soon after, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley signed legislation to remove the flag from the statehouse, in dedication to the Emanuel Nine. Across the country, Americans marveled at the expressions of forgiveness shown by grieving relatives who spoke at a bond hearing for Roof within days of the crime. But in Charleston, others remained torn, overwhelmed by grief and anger. A year and a half later, many struggle to define what justice would mean.
To the federal government, the answer is simple: “This defendant’s horrific act justifies the death penalty,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Williams said in his opening statement at the start of the sentencing trial on January 4. Roof, who confessed on tape soon after his arrest, had offered to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of life without parole. But the Obama administration rejected the plea deal, pushing forward with a capital trial. There was no doubt about its outcome at the guilt stage. In the face of overwhelming evidence — and the defense’s concession that Roof was guilty — jurors swiftly convicted Roof on 33 federal counts. The verdict was announced on December 15. After a holiday break, the court reconvened in the new year to decide whether Roof will live or die. Williams assured the jury that the previous proceedings had barely scratched the surface. The coming days would show how Roof shattered the lives of countless friends and relatives, he said, telling jurors to expect tears. “What you will hear will be very hard to listen to,” he warned. If the guilt portion of the trial had been difficult, he said, the sentencing phase “will be worse. It will be heartbreaking.”
The trial has indeed been emotionally fraught. It has also proven legally challenging, raising concerns about due process: Roof insisted on representing himself during the penalty phase, over the strenuous objections of his court-appointed attorney, veteran death penalty lawyer David Bruck. On the eve of the sentencing trial — and following a weekend of psychological evaluations — US District Judge Richard Gergel found Roof competent to stand trial, for the second time since the case began. But he also issued an unusual order to restrict Roof’s movement within the courtroom, barring him from approaching witnesses. “What I don’t want is a spectacle,” Judge Gergel said Wednesday morning, before the jury was called in, making clear the order would necessarily apply to prosecutors too.
But if there was any fear that Roof might lash out or launch a racist monologue in court, he has instead maintained a stony silence, showing little discernible reaction to witness testimony. He stares straight ahead at the defense table, expressionless, barely responding to Bruck’s attempts at advice, which he remains authorized to give. Most significantly, Roof has not brought forth anything resembling a defense, refusing to present witnesses or mitigating evidence, thus sabotaging whatever chance he may have to save his own life. In the briefest of opening statements Wednesday, Roof showed no remorse, instead asking jurors to forget anything his attorneys might have previously said about his mental well-being. “There’s nothing wrong with me psychologically,” he said. Indeed, in the racist screed that has been labeled his “manifesto,” Roof has rejected psychology itself as “a Jewish invention” that “does nothing but invent diseases and tell people they have problems when they don’t.”
Roof’s psychological evaluations will remain sealed until after the verdict. But whatever his mental state, the 22-year-old high school dropout has cleared the path for prosecutors to send him to death row. In his opening statement, Williams set a chilling tone by revealing additional writings. The handwritten pages, discovered in his jail cell and written six weeks after the church massacre, are disturbing. “I want to make it crystal clear I do not regret what I did,” Roof writes. “I am not sorry.”
Dylann Roof appears at a bond hearing court in North Charleston, S.C., June 19, 2015.
Photo: Grace Beahm/The Post And Courier/Press Pool via AP
In a preview of evidence to come, Williams read portions of the writings out loud during his opening. “I have not shed a tear for the innocent people I killed,” he said. “I do feel sorry for the innocent white children forced to live in this sick country and I do feel sorry for the innocent white people that are killed daily at the hands of lower races.” Finally, he read, “I have shed a tear of self-pity for myself. I feel pity that I had to do what I did in the first place. I feel pity that I had to give up my life because of a situation that should never have existed.”
By the time Roof rose to give his opening statement, some on the victims’ side of the courtroom had heard enough. During the short break that followed, a group of black women stood huddled in the restroom. As others entered, one woman turned to ask, “Is he done?”
In early July 2016, after the Obama administration announced it would seek the death penalty against Roof, federal prosecutor Beth Drake wrote an open letter, posted on the Department of Justice website. It was addressed to “the Survivors and Victim Families of the Massacre at Mother Emanuel.” In her position as Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina, Drake committed to represent them as best she could.
“Each of you is on a journey,” she wrote, “a journey where you are working through not only the horrific crimes that occurred on June 17, 2015, but also how you will live into the future without your loved ones. … As a part of your journey, you are called to navigate the state and federal judicial system.” This was critical in holding accountable the person who so grievously harmed them, she explained. “I am sure you know that the American people are on the side of justice, and are vested in a process at the state and federal level that is full and fair. Justice will be done.”
Drake’s letter followed the departure of her boss, U.S. Attorney William Nettles. Assigned to his post by President Obama in 2010, Nettles had gained a reputation for his non-traditional approach to punishment, particularly when it came to minor drug crimes. “I don’t view it as our job to put people in prison,” he told the Post and Courier in June 2016. “I viewed it as our job to make South Carolina a better place.”
South Carolina U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles, who has since retired, during a news conference at North Charleston City Hall in North Charleston, S.C.
Photo: Bruce Smith/AP
Nettles resigned from his position last June, just a few weeks after Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that she would seek the death penalty against Roof. Nettles denies the timing had to do with the case. “I had a chance to make the case against the capital prosecution,” he said diplomatically. “I felt like I was able to provide a point of view that might have been lacking had I not been the United States Attorney. And I really appreciate the opportunity to express that point of view.” Now working as a defense attorney, Nettles writes occasional blog posts on his website. A recent entry is titled Why Defendants Should Not Represent Themselves in Their Own Criminal Case.
The DOJ’s insistence in seeking death against Roof has made for a strange — even unprecedented — scenario. State prosecutors may have been forced to step back when the DOJ brought forth its indictment, but they still plan to hold a capital trial of their own. If Drake’s open letter was an attempt to rationalize the two trials as necessary in the interest of justice, the situation has instead raised controversy and confusion. Whatever the political priorities of state and federal officials, it is not clear how the dual trials will serve the community they claim to represent. In Charleston, federal authorities will move on after the verdict. But for family, friends, and residents, a state trial will mean starting all over again: A new set of jurors will hear grisly testimony. Witnesses will again take the stand to describe their trauma. And survivors and relatives will continue to see Roof’s face in court and on the news every day.
If it was painful to speak in the face of her husband’s killer, Jennifer Pinckney was not showing it. Animated and engaging, she shared vivid memories of Clementa: how they first met reluctantly at the behest of college friends; how she would not let him pay for her pizza on their first “mini date.” On their official first date, he showed up with a mini chess game and flowers; later, when he realized flowers made her sneeze, he would send her Edible Arrangements instead.
On that first night, she said, they went to Red Lobster, a restaurant that would become Malana’s favorite. Their youngest daughter was known for challenging her dad — “she put him in her place,” Clementa’s best friend later testified. In a story that filled the courtroom with laughter, Pinckney described how Malana, no older than six, once faced off with her father over dessert. In a disciplinary measure, Clementa had told his daughter that she could only have one Oreo cookie that night, fewer than normal. “No Daddy, I get three Oreo cookies,” she replied with steely determination, telling her sister to bring her the rest. It was one of a few moments in which Roof’s expression appeared to change, breaking into a grimace, almost resembling a smile. Other times, his face flushed red. But for the most part he remained stoic, staring straight ahead.
People hold hands as they join together to commemorate the lives lost in the shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 21, 2015 in Charleston, S.C.
Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Malana was with her mother at Mother Emanuel the night Roof murdered her father. In the most gripping part of her testimony, Pinckney described how they locked themselves in an office, hiding beneath a desk. She sharply ordered Malana to “shut up,” something she had never done. As the sound of the bullets got closer. Pinckney put her hand over Malana’s mouth. “I was like shhh shhh shh … and the next thing I knew, she put her hand over my mouth.” They were hiding like that when she heard the chimes above the church entrance, signaling Roof’s exit. Pinckney ran for her cell phone and dialed 911.
A recording of the 911 call was played in open court. It is harrowing. But by far the most difficult evidence over the days that followed was the pained testimony from witness after witness, describing the void left in their life after June 17, 2015. Among the most heartbreaking was Reverend Anthony Thompson, who brought the courtroom to tears with his emotional recollections of his beloved wife, Myra. He remembered how they had known each other as kids, then reconnected in college after she missed a bus to Charleston, where she went back every weekend to see her young son. The two-hour car rides became a weekly ritual; he came to admire her love of education and her devotion to family. On their wedding night, he said, she invited all her relatives to join them in their extra-large honeymoon suite, which did not entirely thrill him. Looking at a wedding photo submitted as evidence, he paused quietly, saying “wow,” as he looked at his wife.
Rev. Anthony Thompson, left, husband of victim Myra Thompson, wipes his face during a memorial in Charleston, S.C., June 17, 2016 on the anniversary of the killing of nine black parishioners at Mother Emanuel AME Church.
Photo: Chuck Burton/AP
By the start of the second day of the sentencing trial, Judge Gergel was forced to admonish prosecutors. With a list of 38 witnesses, the government’s case threatened to become overwhelming. “I’m concerned about preserving due process here,” he said, citing the length of their testimony. “I’m not trying to cut the soul out of the case,” he added. But “we need to do it more efficiently.”
The government began to move faster, cutting witnesses from its list. But the testimony was no less intense. One witness tearfully recalled a dream the night her mother died, in which she heard a voice coming from heaven saying her mommy was gone. “I knew that was my mom telling me something had happened,” she said. Another witness broke down completely as she recalled the moment she found out her sister had been killed. She could not bring herself to believe it — “I even tried calling her number,” she said, sobbing inconsolably, forcing the court to take a break. A prosecutor approached to console her, leading to objections by Roof, sustained by Judge Gergel.
Eventually, David Bruck broke his silence, standing to speak outside the presence of the jury. Since the very first witness, he had done everything he could to advise his former client of his rights, only to be repeatedly rebuffed. The resulting proceedings were violating “every principle restraining victim impact statements under the 8th Amendment,” he argued indignantly. “It is happening because this man cannot protect his own rights.” Bruck urged the court to reappoint him to defend Roof, or call a mistrial. “This is his sentencing, it is not a memorial service,” he said.
Bruck’s request was denied. “I did everything I could to persuade Mr. Roof not to represent himself,” Judge Gergel said. With indignation of his own, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson reminded the court, “He’s the one who chose to kill nine people — and he chose to do it to particularly good people.”
By Friday afternoon, nearly all relatives and loved ones had taken the stand, with many more tears shed inside and outside the courtroom. In a break, prosecutors brought law enforcement officials to discuss Roof’s continued devotion to white nationalism. Among the revelations: The screen name “Lil Aryan,” used by Roof to comment on a white supremacist website; his belief that Adolf Hitler will be canonized as a saint; an odd list of films he likes, including “The Notebook” and “12 Years a Slave,” the latter being “anti-white,” in his view, but nonetheless valuable since “the cinematography is beautiful.”
Prosecutors ended the week with testimony about Roof’s oldest victim, 87-year-old Susie Jackson. Jurors had previously heard how he emptied an entire magazine of bullets into her elderly body. The juxtaposition was clear: If Roof is hatred personified, Jackson was the opposite, a great-grandmother, the oldest of 10 kids, and beloved matriarch of her family. On the stand, her son estimated she had some 200 nieces and nephews, who she welcomed at the house unconditionally. “‘No’wasn’t in her vocabulary,” her eldest grandson, Walter Jackson Jr, testified. He recalled how she chartered a bus for his wedding and shared a poem he had written for her 70th birthday celebration, a surprise party held at Mother Emanuel.
“It’s tough to love on everybody,” Jackson said as his testimony came to a close. “But she loved on everybody.”
Top photo: Pallbearers release doves over the casket of Ethel Lance during her burial service, June 25, 2015, in Charleston, S.C. Lance was one of the nine people killed in the shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
“with the exception of many criminals, bullies, and other people who have already behaved violently or abusively, the majority of psychologically normal people are “sleepers”-that is, they are dispositionally inclined, when the situation is right, to aggression and destructiveness. Their patterns of thought and behavior are to be understood dispositionally, that is, in the conditional sense that, if an adequately provoking situation arises, then the behavior that results will tend to be malignant: they have a pathogenic willingness to inflict harm, which remains latent until an appropriate situation arises. Such a situation may, for example, come in the form of war, ideological conflict, unrestricted power over others (as in an inadequately supervised prison), narcissistic injury, or in many other ways. Such “adequately provoking situations” unfortunately, as we know, arise with great frequency and prevalence”
Steven James Bartlett. Normality Does Not Equal Mental Health: The Need to Look Elsewhere for Standards of Good Psychological Health
When a person walks into a Church and kills 9 people he is fu”kin insane !
When a person bombs people by remote ,, He is fu””kin insane !
When a Lawyer uses insane law to decide if murder is sane or not ,, the fuk”in law and the fu”kin laywer are insane !!
But then of course if the majority has been trained to accept the INSANE RULES ,
it’s just called NORMAL !!
It’s a very human reaction, in the face of such vile and hateful behavior and speech, to insist that the culprit is fundamentally different from — less than — “normal” human beings, like us. “We” could never do such things, believe in such evil madness, speak such despicable words.
But that’s not true. It’s a big lie. Given the “right” environment, the “right” experiences, the “right” frustrations and disappointments, the “right” programming and encouragement, virtually all humans are capable of atrocities such as Roof perpetrated.
We could all be Dylan Roof.
Hell, people only have to be told that they are heroes protecting the world from one sort of evil or another and they willingly napalm villages in Southeast Asia or blow up wedding parties with Hellfire missiles from air-conditioned easy chairs thousands of miles away.
If you’ve reached whatever age and place in life you’re at now without becoming “one of them,” you’re not special or different; you’re just lucky.
I think this is an important instance to stand up against the death penalty. The reasons I am against the death penalty have nothing to do with this piece of garbage pretending to be a human, but if you do feel the death penalty is wrong there cannot be exceptions.
I do not believe the government should have the legal authority to kill, with the one exception being war (with a declaration) and then only under the strictest adherence to the Geneva Convention.
Furthermore, I believe that what victims deserve is the opportunity to attempt to heal, and I believe that comes, in part, from being able to put matters such as the fate of the person who wronged them to rest. Life without parole accomplishes this better than a death penalty, dragged on for years (the right of the defendant), can achieve.
To me, this is part of a larger criminal justice issue that incorporates the failed war on drugs. It is easy to look at a prison with a large population fighting for humane treatment and feel pity for individuals who are locked up over these non-violent drug offenses. It is easy to look at people like the murderer in this article as say ‘he deserves worse than that.’ Prison sentencing has become so routine in this country that to deny a citizen his freedom doesn’t even seem like a grave loss.
I do believe we need to rework the system so that people who are sentenced to prison are those who have actually wronged others, and they are sent to a correctional facility that attempts to return them to society as better people. In a criminal justice system that functions in this way, to be sentenced to life without parole is to tell a defendant that their crime was so heinous there will never be help coming for them.
I hope this comment does not read as insensitive. These families and this community suffered greatly and I do not want to detract from that. I hope they can find their peace and, as with the removal of the confederate flag, the entire nation can find a way to be better moving forward.
Separate from this case is the issue of state-sanctioned murder, something I can never be comfortable accepting, and I believe that if you feel as strongly as I do, it is worthwhile to say so even in inconvenient or unpopular situations.
Your all beating a dead drum…he doesn’t give a shit. ..not now not ever..there is zero remorse. Death penalty…jail..is doesn’t matter..to who?…we know how horrible is was..we are left with the pain and remorse..nothing else…by killing him you would save millions of dollars that would be more useful spent on something more worthy ..he won’t come around..ever..the only thing you will acomplish by keeping him alive is asauging your own guilt over taking a man’s life..that’s ..it
You may think you speak for others, but I assure you, you don’t.
Except the taxpayers never see the illusory savings from the death penalty. What they see is a bunch of expensive Death Row facilities holding prisoners for decades while they go through a bunch of expensive appeals, and even then, the system still executes innocent people now and then, making it “difficult” politically to cut costs further. I mean, it’s a little like the way that nuclear power is supposed to be cheap renewable power on just a few tons of fuel, except it just never actually works out that way.
“by killing him you would save millions of dollars that would be more useful spent on something more worthy ”
Actually, no you wouldn’t. The only way you can have a death penalty in the face of the fact that cops lie and juries get it wrong, is to have a rigorous appeals process. And it actually costs more to kill a prisoner that it does to lock him up for the rest of his life.
I have no doubts that Dylann Roof is a heartless monster, but so is what we call the justice system. Read up on the Innocence Project. Dozens of innocent people have been found on death row and set free using DNA and other evidence that wasn’t available at the time of the crime. There are plenty of more who have been inadequately represented or about whom the cops simply lied to clear their caseload. This is well documented.
So, in order to have a death penalty, and since it cannot be made foolproof, how many innocent people are you willing to have die so the the state can have the right to kill people in your name?
Reminds me of the guy in charge of Auschwitz. I forget his name, and it’s not the sort of thing I’m going to google on a work PC, but he essentially bristled when confronted with accusations that he killed 3.5 million prisoners, on the technicality that 1 million of those died from exposure and starvation rather than execution, treating the enormity of his crimes with mild amusement.
I don’t condone government-sanctioned killings, but in this case I’m willing to consider it euthanasia. This is mentally broken human being, a true sociopath.
I note you don’t have an article about the 4 black youths that videotaped their torture of a white mentally challenged youth. If the races were switched I’m sure you would have an article.
Racism is racism, and justice should be impartial. I’m not going to read into The Intercept’s decision as to what they decide to publish, but it is worth noting that the Charleston massacre is an older story involving actual murders.
Your comment stands as one of the most transparently White Supremacist ‘whatabouteries’ ever. You’re simply a vile person who looked as deeply into his or her shallow soul as he or she could in order to find a way to justify or defend the murder of nine innocent people by a like-minded White-Supremacist.
The punishment should do two things :
#1——Cause the greatest mental and physical pain to Roof as long as possible.
#2——Cause the general population to reflect on such an act as long as possible .
A Death Sentenceis in contradiction to #1 and #2 . It’s from the old Don’t Look Back School of Ignorance book .
For the family and friends of Pinckney et. al. , there can never be any closure . All they will receive is a sense of ” Eye for an Eye ” Hammurabi Justice . For the rest of their lives the grieving , although dulled by time , will persist .
So , to maximize propositions #1 and #2 ,, Roof should kept alive for as long as possible in solitary confinement , and videos of his confinement played once weekly to the general population .
As always your comments are appreciated, third-world representative Mudbone. It’s nice to be able to weigh our opinions against those of a cave man.
Oh ,, Mike ,,,it’s always a pleasure to hear from ” THE INTELLECTUAL ” dodos !
Do you seriously believe that cruelty begets kindness?
That pain creates empathy?
That torture brings truth?
That injustice teaches justice?
No one prevents evil by perpetuating evil.
Huh ? What the hell are you taking about ?
What I said was simply ,, Don’t kill the SOB ! Make him live with himself alone and let the general population see what that is like .
You know, Mudbone, I’d be ashamed to be a member of the same species you belong to — If I were.
racism exists and occasionally shows itself in this manner…….we all grieve for those harmed….but we cant lose sight of who and why..he is what he is.
Why would he show emotion? Why would anyone expect it? He’s a sociopath, and by definition he has a lack of conscience, etc. It’s like expecting a turtle to sing opera, not going to happen unfortunately. I think the bigger question is why are we producing so many sociopaths in this country? Where does that come from?
Excellent question.
My humble answer: mediated reality.
Instead of dealing with real things like wind, sunshine, disease, livestock, bandits, invaders, warlords (local aristocracy), famine, drought, etc., white Americans have avoided the real problems humankind has faced over the millennia,
American “entertainment” thrives upon the spectacular and the melodramatic. Besides love and revenge, the only legitimate motives according to this culture are lust, desire, and personal justice. Violence is always the solution to “evil” and “love” is always the solution to unhappiness, alienation, and loneliness.
In short, these fabricated abstractions can never establish a human connections with others based upon empathy and understanding. We sit next to strangers to watch intense sporting events, saccharine movies,listen to fatuous sermons, or walk down the street and they — the person to our left and the person to our right — remain strangers.
If there isn’t a true villain, like Wall Street or the Washington Post (two abstractions at random), then the simplistic solutions that psychopathology to normal human problems suggest appear increasingly attractive.
There’s no better example of this unrealistic-ism than the election of Trump.
He isn’t going to solve anything; indeed he will create many more problems than he can possibly solve. It is this absence of something real that drives people to the cliffs.
Trump plays the role of Major Kong.
“yeehaw !!!!!!!! ……”
Well put.
The Iranian’s death penalty system may not be a good example but in these type of cases there the victim’s family actually carries out the execution. The convicted murderer is placed on a chair with a hanging rope around his neck and the family members can push him off or commute his death sentence.
The idea of the state killing convicts in my name has always been repulsive to me.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/dylann-roof-death-penalty/484274/
The answer to this question is simple; all one needs to do is look at the extrajudicial drone assassination progam that Obama embraced as his solution to Guantanamo – just launch a missile and kill everyone in the vicinity, that way there’s no controversy over holding prisoners without trial. It’s clean and convenient and plays to the bloodthirsty mob. Hundreds of dead innocent bystanders? That’s just collateral damage. (Never mind that every relative of those innocent bystanders then becomes a likely recruit for terrorist groups).
After all if Norway can lock up their sadistic “Knights Templar” KKK-style murderer for killing 77 people instead of executing him, why can’t the United States do the same with theirs?
This is just another example of racism that is alive and well in rural America and esp. In the South. It is a learned behavior acquired by ignorant people. Trump will lead us all back in time to pre civil rights era if we let him. Use your brain, THINK about what you hear and read.
This tongue-lolling, pudding bowled haircutted sawn-off little shite is a ‘white’ suprematist? You’re doomed, methinks if this the creme de la creme.
This, and the burly shaven-headed tattooed dudes and their meth-addled snaggle-toothed peroxied blonde babes.
Dylan Roof is a psychopath for not showing remorse for the suffering he caused. If that’s the case what does that make Dick Cheney?
An Official US Government Mass Murderer ?——Who by definition is not indictable .
Keep him alive with multiple consecutive life sentences while he slowly drives himself more insane.
And I still call it clearly a case of domestic racist “terrorism.”
I also keep thinking about this Black Mirror episode where a girl was sentenced to live out her days in a “Justice Park,” repeatedly having her brain wiped and then reliving similar traumas to those her and a boyfriend had inflicted upon a little girl – for the entertainment of visitors. It was the second show of the second series in Black Mirror and was titled, “White Bear.”
Thank you, Liliana, I look forward to your next.
Right, because judicial vengeance and torture (physical and psychological) have worked so well to combat racism, disaffection and crimes of all kinds here in Our Great Nation.
It might be a good idea for you to examine just how different you are (or are not) from the perpetrator(s) you dream of tormenting.
Sorry, Doug, but an eye-for-an-eye sort of guy would want him dead. I want him to think about what he’s done as long as he chooses to live, and you don’t seem to be offering alternatives – only judgments.
The alternative I suggest for you is self-examination.
And you bet your ass I have already offered my judgment on your hateful post, above.
So I’m hateful for not wanting Roof dead, but for instead wanting him to permanently have time to work out just how crazy full of hate he is? And according to you I’m committing some hate crime against him then because he’s really somehow just a victim here, too? Um, sure, whatever.
I’m against any death penalty but I also believe there are crimes beyond any redemptive return to society, particularly when a completely sociopathic type’s proven they actually enjoy torture or murder, and especially if for racial or religious reasons to intentionally disrupt said society.
Your suggested alternative doesn’t tell me shit about what you believe though, besides I somehow hate Roof. And I can’t deny that ‘s got me in a bit of box here – because he’s really a willing little Hitler, killing to help achieve some lunatic vision of racial purity. What I feel for him is stronger than “dislike.”
So tell us oh far superior and wise one, what’s your plan for rehabilitating race-war mass murderers missing an empathy gene?
then you accuse every other country in the world that has ended the death penalty of being …what exactly?
or..do you prefer the death penalty?
and if so….how does THAT make you different from this murdering racist?
i love you people who believe they have created the moral high ground…but offer no solutions.
there is NOTHING wrong with wanting this man or any others of his type….to suffer for what they have done.
the point no longer is…does it work?
the point is…they DESERVE it!
The punishment should do two things :
#1——Cause the greatest mental and physical pain to Roof or as long as possible .
#2——Cause the general population to reflect on such an act for as long as possible .
A death sentence is in contradiction to #1 and #2 . It’s the old Don’t Look Back School of Ignorance book .
For the family and friends of Pinckney et. al. , there can never be any closure . All they will receive is a sense of ” Eye for an Eye ” Hammurabi Justice . For the rest of their lives the grieving , although dulled by time , will persist .
So , to maximize propositions #1 and #2 ,, Roof should kept alive , in solitary
confinement , and videos of his confinement played once weekly to the general population .
I think that there is a technical obstacle that leads to practical racism, because as a society we refuse to acknowledge it: the dividing power of the “English” language.
Dylan Roof has a manifesto that everyone can read, and what he said in the church everyone understood. People can say he’s crazy, say he’s deluded, sympathize with his racist ideology, or just hate him like everybody else, but it’s their choice.
By contrast, if you look at some minor-league losers like the scalp-cutters from Chicago last week, well, you can’t. I mean, you can hear the video but how many people really understand what they’re saying? The press, to a man, doesn’t even TRY – they comment on the video and a few phrases from the beginning, but you see only one or two mentions of the Pooh Bear Gang and nothing about this PBG Mark Turner?? from the video. (I actually found it at Heavy: http://heavy.com/news/2017/01/tanishia-covington-chicago-torture-video-suspect-donald-trump-hate-crime-racist-facebook-live-watch-suspect-charged-photo-arrest-criminal-record-brittany-herring/ The one at Encyclopedia Dramatica is apparently more than two minutes longer, but I was unable to identify the cuts. Little concepts like time and space need to be sacrificed in the name of making censorship harder to track down, I guess.. I dunno) So I mean, there is NOTHING in the news about this being gang related, about when the kids – I think – said they had to do this for half an hour, and later on said “the wait is almost over”. I think it was some kind of gang initiation – that’s just my guess though. I don’t understand. Nobody understands. As far as I can tell, nobody in the entire press corps actually believes that the jabber of black people is actually WORTH understanding – you probably can find more articles about people who speak to sparrows and crows. Certainly I don’t know where I could go take a MOOC in African American Vernacular English and try to get my comprehension up.
As we go on we should remember: racism is entrenched, it’s real, it’s physically built into the ground around us, into our heads and our hearts, and we try to pretend like it’s nothing simply because we don’t want it to be there. But we have to break through these walls and learn these words and understand all the people if we want that to happen. And I don’t even know how to do it.
i read the kids were looking to extort $300 from the victim’s mother.
As far as ridding racism, other than an exorcism or accepting Christ as your savior, BE INVITING.
I missed the part about $300 … too busy searching my own idea to keep up with the news, sigh. The sheer idiocy of these kids is remarkable. In other news, the neighbor downstairs complained about the noise, so they kicked in the door, then took something on the way out just to tack on an extra burglary charge for the fun of it. These kids will be in jail for as long as the U.S. remains capable of running one.
Classic racist deflection. What a pointless comment.
The killer’s name should not be in the headline. It should be used as few times as possible.
There should not be any pictures of the killer.
But yellow seems to be the color of Teh Intercept these days …
I’m not shooting down what you saying, but why? Let the world know the horrors ignorance, hate and so called “white pride”
Can you name one victim? I can’t but I’ve seen the punk’s face and name all over the media countless times.
The killer is facing death or solitary.
He should be forgotten as soon as possible.
To deny the perpetrator any possible pleasure of seeing its name in the media.
No other reason.
I thought this guy really was a nut case and racist murderer. I still believe he is a racist murdered but he seems to be adopting the Mumia Abdul Jamal defense of:
“I’m not a murderer I’m a political prisoner” .
In Mumia’s case (it’s Mumia Abu-Jamal, BTW), the assertion most likely correct.
I don’t know who killed Daniel Faulkner, but I do know that Mumia was framed and railroaded. If he happens to be factually guilty, we’ll probably never know, because the state and the judiciary conducted a vengeful show trial followed by an endless stream of despicable behavior post-conviction.
And Young Dylan Roof is engaged in nothing remotely like Mumia’s defense. From all we can see, he appears to be a very sick, twisted and hate-filled young man who is more concerned about being seen as mentally ill than he is with being executed.
Mumia was given multiple times in court. and while the court may have railroaded a guilty man, the evidence is there and he is as much of a political prisoner as Roof.
lol….it is perfectly acceptable to address mumia..strictly by this way…and i have listened to enough of AA/black liberation commentators who do….so…quit polishing that fake halo..no one can see……and for the record…at NO TIME ever has mumia claimed innocence…and while i am fully aware of how black men are treated in this country….the opinion that mumia is innocent of killing the police officer IN THIS CASE is NOT supported by anything i have ever read regarding the case….and i bet i go much MUCH further back than you….even if i make no claim to your halo.
If some of the relatives have forgiven Roof, does that mean they don’t want him to executed, or punished in any way? If not, what do they mean by “forgiveness”? Have any of the relatives said publicly that they don’t want Roof to be executed?
Forgiveness is an ACTION to be done, it is NOT A STATE OF MIND TO UNLEARN OR REGRESS. One never goes back or never learns.
As citizens of a country, we bow to those institutions and their proceedings. We need not seek out what the victims families think–MYOB. Asking such of them is an act of hate, vindictiveness or vengeance – mindednessnes on YPUR PART!
The important thing to remember is that the trail isn’t actually the murderer vs. the families. Roof is brought to trial by the government for breaking the government’s laws. The judge and jury attempt to find a conviction that is appropriate for the laws of the government that Roof broke.
This is why there are situations (not this one) where the victim of a crime may not want to continue fighting for a conviction but the government refuses to drop the case and it moves forward against the will of the victim.
We talk a lot about retribution and getting victims the justice they deserve but these are emotion-laden words that do not accurately describe criminal justice. It is more accurate to say that separate from the harm he did to these families Roof broke the laws of the government and now he has to answer to the government.
Say what?
These prosecutors live inside a bubble.
all prosecutors live in a bubble
that is why they are prosecutors
not leaders, but fakey types who are attracted to the office
in the US, under the immoral currency system in place, 99% of offences are committed for root cause of denial of guaranteed life support
ask any cop the cause of crime and they will say, unemployment.
Crime is committed, not “caused.”
They don’t live in a bubble Barb . They live in that lowest slime of human excrement , ” I’m taking you to the Judge , got a plea ?”
“First we have to bring them to heel” –Hillary Clinton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsSDqbot-EI
Listen to the words of an actual racist.
Oh! Little Dylan isn’t racist? And you aren’t either? Thanks for clearing that up.
It is time the black community feels what it inflicts on the white community. Of course the animals cannot learn they just react with more violence.
Wait, what?
Folks agree that it appears that Russia was behind this.
Impossible for a court to determine a just punishment in this case.
Thanks for the great article
Obama comes off as vindictive, again, by pursuing the death penalty against a crazy person. But since mental illness is seen as criminal behavior, not disease, murdering the murderer seems the only solution. Still, killing is not a rational act, except in self-defense. I include terrorists and governments in that category.
This is a Trump voter. This man honors the “southern heritage” of slavery and all the racial ideology necessary to treat other humans with contempt and to deprive them of their most basic civil right — the right to live.
He’s not insane. He’s a warrior for white supremacy.
He has been taught by his culture, the symbols of his culture, his family and friends, politicians, and the systemic discrimination this country practices. Hatred isn’t an ideology; it’s an electoral technique in which an inchoate anger towards “them” can be harnessed to a candidate.
You hear this exact sort of hatred from Roof as you hear from Trump:
Different race targeted, different words from Roof, exactly the same sentiments as Roof.
Like Roof, Trump and the rest of the Republican party should say what is true of them rather than pretending to embrace those whom they consider “lower races.”
Here’s one of many tells:
And another:
The only difference with the language from 250 years ago is the label — no longer labelled “colored” or “negro” the underlying sentiment is exactly the same. Democrats (Dixiecrats) relied on this racial animosity until the late fifties and early sixties when, after Civil Rights legislation, the Republican co-opted the Democrat’ bigoted message with their own “southern strategy.”
Roof wants to martyr himself for this cause (like Tim McVeigh did.)
Republicans should admit explicitly embrace this truth; it’s exactly what got Trump elected.
“This is a Trump voter.”
—
Wake up milton, not every Trump voter is racist. If the Democrats would have picked anyone besides Killary I wouldn’t have voted for Trump. It’s people like you who keep people at odds with each other. Stop baiting.
“not every Trump voter is racist.”
then why did they vote for a racist?
FWIW, there’s always that “lesser of two evils” argument. I know, I know…
Then again, they could just be dumbasses.
Killary is also racist.
Just an FYI Mr. Fisher IN CASE YOU DIDN’T KNOW…
#1 – In 1974, after Bill Clinton lost his bid for a Senate seat, Hillary lashed out at campaign manager Paul Fray calling him a, “f*cking Jew bastard!” This outburst was witnessed and confirmed by 3 people, so it definitely happened.
#2 – As First Lady, Hillary called young black men “super-predators” indicating that she thought all young black males were violent criminals. She also said, “We have to bring them to heel,” like young blacks are the same as dogs. Despite thinking this was incredibly racist, blacks still support Hillary.
#3 – While serving in the US Senate, Hillary tried to make a joke that disparaged a civil rights icon and demeaned all people from India. “I love this quote. It’s from Mahatma Gandhi. He ran a gas station down in St. Louis for a couple of years. Mr. Gandhi, do you still go to the gas station?” asked Clinton.
#4 – In 2005 Hillary said, “I am adamantly against illegal immigrants.” She also, as a Senator, voted to construct a wall between the US and Mexico. Considering the main “proof” of Trump’s racism is that he opposes illegal immigration and wants to build a wall, isn’t it odd that Hillary gets off for having said the same thing?
#5 – During the 2008 democratic primaries Hillary Clinton’s campaign started the “birther” rumors, questioning Obama’s US citizenship. They even circulated the now famous picture of Obama in full Muslim garb. Somehow Trump’s campaign to get Obama to release his birth certificate is racist, but Hillary’s role in starting the birther movement is not.
#6 – Also during the 2008 presidential race, Hillary’s husband Bill said this of Obama: “A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.” Hillary didn’t say this one but her husband did and she certainly never disavowed it.
#7 – Shortly after announcing her candidacy, Hillary said “all lives matter” in a black church. I don’t think this one is racist, but lefties, black activists, and Hillary herself all do, so it makes the list. Plus as is the case with most of this stuff, if Trump had said it liberals would freak the hell out.
#8 – In November of 2015, Hillary called people in this country illegally “illegal aliens.” Trump is a racist when he says “illegal aliens,” why isn’t Hillary?
#9 – In April of this year, Hillary joined NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio on stage at a democratic fundraiser for a scripted joke about how lazy black people are. The two liberals made reference to “colored people’s time” which is a super-racist way of saying black people are chronically tardy and lethargic.
#10 – April was a great month for Hillary’s racism, as she also made a comment disparaging Native Americans. She said she had experience dealing with wild men when they “get off the reservation.” In essence she said Native Americans are savages who must be segregated from the rest of society.
Somebody tell Trump’s longtime Jewish tenants that progressive leftist media is hurling its usual articulate “racism” and “sexism” aspersions at a political opponent. Somebody tell Oprah, who celebrates him here on her show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZpMJeynBeg
Maybe, but every neo-nazi voted Trump.
Or do you prefer less combative terms like “Alt-Right” or “European Identity Movement?”
Or here’s what you can tell yourself if you need soothing. I suspect we’ll be hearing some version of these words in the near future.
All lives matter.
Don’t be ashamed of your heritage.
Western civilization was built with white ideas and white enterprise.
Some people have better genes than others.
Some people are trying to undermine our way of life.
‘Most of all, Ronald Reagan made us proud to be Americans again. We never felt better about our country; and we never stood taller in the eyes of the world than when the Gipper was at the helm.’
We’ve heard it all before.
This is what you’ll get with Trump whether you want it or not.
Arming Nazi groups in the Ukraine, Jihadists in Syria and Libya, claiming the legal right to kill anyone without judicial oversight, transferring trillions to Wall Street, starting a new cold war with Russia, securing a massive nuclear weapons modernization fund, deporting more immigrants than any president in history — this is not an Obama voter — this is the president they voted for.
There’s always a first…I totally agree with this post.
Except for the “new cold war” — yet another psychic vision by hysterics for Trump — what in your squealing One Paragraph Hate will Trump avoid?
The Ukraine is about to be annexed by Russia just as Crimea was. Calling Ukrainian nationalists “Nazis” is Russian propaganda 101. “We’re fighting the Nazis who coincidentally sit atop a trillion cubic meters of natural gas. Believe me.”
oIII
“Jihadists” (or, you know, “Muslim rebels”) in Syria were massacred by Assad and Russian troops along with their families and neighbors in Aleppo. Do you think the timing of the final assault coincided with American elections? I do.
Do you expect the Blabbermouth to care about humanitarian issues? By calling people “Jihadists” you begin the process of killing them in the press so that when they’re killed in reality, no one objects.
As Republicans since the sixties have demonstrated, trampling the civil rights of others begins with their dehumanization. Nazis, Jihadists, rapists, thugs, criminals, it’s different words for the same thing.
“They” don’t deserve what you an I have. They deserve to die if they object.
Thus your next claim displays this Orwellian nonsense. If Jihadists — as you call them — shouldn’t be defended or allowed to defend themselves, if they are the “enemy” that shouldn’t be armed, then why to you immediately decry the US policy of drone strikes? I agree with you that the US president should NEVER be allowed to suspend habeas corpus for anyone ever, (although the bipartisan Congress grants the president exactly those powers in the NDAA 2012.)
If you dare … seriously … if you truly dare to claim that you expect Trump to respect and follow the Constitution with respect to drone policies and habeas corpus, then you’re a greater liar and bigger fraud than he is. Or just plain stupider.
At least he made himself clear.
And nukes?
Again, I allow the Blabbermouth speak for himself. “Let it be an arms race.”
Wall Street? Hahaha … Trump ain’t no populist.
Or read his tax plan.
You wanted him, you got him.
Your imaginary accusations are pure propaganda.
“Different race targeted…”
I didn’t know that “Mexican” is a race.
FFS.
Different heritage targeted …
Or this:
I think my meaning is clear. If not, too bad.
You an imbecile? Don’t even know what the word racism actually means?
Hint: misogyny is a form of racism too. Are women a ‘race’?
To my mind, the death penalty is always wrong. No excuses, no exceptions.
I find this so-called sentencing hearing to be a travesty simply because I believe it needs to be about the convicted person and not about how good the victims were. If they were less good, somehow by some standard, would that justify what he had done and be a reason for a lesser sentence? I simply don’t understand it.
and yet, isn’t that where the conversation always goes, and particularly, when the dead person is black?
i agree about the death penalty.
This is a case where liberals can indulge in a little guilt free cheering for the death penalty.
I’m not sure why it’s necessary to hold two trials, since that means there will be two sets of appeals. But I suppose that lawyers can use the extra work since there is currently a lack of cases in the criminal courts, plus it gives more prosecutors a chance to receive media coverage. Of course, the extra appeals virtually guarantee that Roof will die in prison of old age. Many states have had problems enacting an approved execution protocol, and it seems that most of them are choosing ‘death by old age’. Many prisons have a wing for death row inmates who are on life support, awaiting their execution. This may seem like a waste of resources, but I suppose that doctors can use the extra work…
So where are these ‘liberals indulging in cheering for the death penalty’?
I’m a liberal. I don’t think he should be executed. I’m against the death penalty in all cases, even one as horrible as this. I doubt he can ever be rehabilitated, so he should spend his life behind bars.
I’m a liberal. And I think he should have to live with this.
Doesn’t anybody around here support the death penalty? If black suspects are going to be shot by police, then isn’t it only fair that white suspects, who actually get the benefit of a trial, potentially face the death penalty in court?
It appears not. ‘Bang!’ goes your theory, I guess.
Nor does it follow that if black suspects are shot by the police, murderous white supremacists should be be executed. Sheeeeesh…
Perhaps Roof is seeking the death penalty in the hopes that either the new administration pardons him (far chance of that- Trump may have racists under him, but not fans of murderers) or to die a “martyr”, much like Richard Wayne Snell (executed the day of Oklahoma City).
Yes. Beyond the fact that the death penalty is barbaric, Roof will become a martyr among those who want a race war.
seems more likely that Roof is looking for meaningfulness (or martyrdom) as opposed to exoneration. it’s difficult to see in his words or actions someone who is trying to get away with something.