Dylann Roof, Charleston Suspect, Wore Symbols of White Supremacy
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/us/on-facebook-dylann-roof-charleston-suspect-wears-symbols-of-white-supremacy.html?_r=0
CHARLESTON, S.C. The Facebook profile picture chosen by Dylann Storm Roof in May is thick with symbolism. It shows Mr. Roof, a scowling young white man, against a distinctly Southern backdrop: a swamp dripping with Spanish moss. His black jacket is adorned with two flags one from apartheid-era South Africa, the other from white-ruled Rhodesia that have been adopted as emblems by modern-day white supremacists.
Law enforcement officials identified Mr. Roof, 21, as the suspect in the mass shooting at an African-American church in Charleston on Wednesday night that left nine dead, including the pastor, Clementa C. Pinckney. Mr. Roof was arrested Thursday in North Carolina.
A cousin of Mr. Pinckney who had spoken to a witness, Sylvia Johnson, told NBC that the gunman entered the church, asked for the pastor and sat next to him during Bible study before opening fire. I have to do it, he said, according to Ms. Johnson. You rape our women and youre taking over our country. And you have to go. The shooting was being investigated as a hate crime.
Mr. Roofs current address is listed in public records as Eastover, S.C., a very small town southeast of Columbia with an overwhelmingly African-American population. On Facebook, many of his 88 friends are black. He attended high school in Lexington, about 40 miles west of Eastover.
I'm glad the NY Times is highlighting this important fact.