DYLANN ROOF WON

There are some people who believe that we should never mention the name of a mass murderer because naming him gives him the recognition that he is after. Avoiding his name does not reverse the fact: a young man called Dylann Roof shot nine black Americans to death in a church in Charleston, South Carolina. Pretending a man does not exist will not make it so. In fact, pretense is the friend of shortsightedness; the former may give rise to the latter. And a shortsighted vision may lead us by the hand to do things that are so awry that they may fit in with the mass murderer’s own scheme. The same Americans who refuse to mention the name of this mass murderer are inadvertently forwarding the deeper object that the mass murderer had in mind. Dylann Roof wanted recognition; but he wanted something more: he wanted to begin a race war.  

How are Americans forwarding the race war that Dylann Roof wanted to initiate? First, know this: the race war was already on before Roof murdered those people. The cause of the race war may be traced back to influential, despicable characters such as President Obama, Eric Holder, and Al Sharpton. It may be traced back to the war on cops that such characters have kicked off. I feel sorry for all the good blacks out there, don’t you? The blacks at the top are not role models, but malevolent rogues.

When we live in denial, we tend to do things that will give us a sense that we are rectifying the problem that we deny exists. This makes us feel better in the moment. But it allows the problem to fester, continue, and grow. The real problem is this: treating blacks like they have a right to break the law as payback for the slavery of their ancestors. And their breaking the law with impunity limits the freedom of those who obey the law. Taking Confederate flags down just sends the signal that blacks can keep pushing, keep breaking the law, and keep limiting the freedom of others, and it tempts them to push the envelope more and more, which is how the race war that Dylann Roof wanted, is fostered and furthered. True, there were no riots after this mass murder. That is a good thing in itself. But using this mass murder as an excuse to tear down Confederate flags will yield long-term consequences that are much worse than one single riot.

When the first Confederate flag was taken down on account of this mass murder, a friend of mine exclaimed: Dylann Roof won. True, he did win. When the powers-that-be decided to start a witch hunt against Confederate flags, the decision honored Dylann Roof because at some point the progressive removal of Confederate flags and monuments will not be tolerated by Southerners, and the race war that Dylann Roof wanted will be advanced by their resistance. The race war that Dylann Roof was shooting for will be stepped up each time a flag is taken down, a monument is removed, or a street is renamed.

It is an unpopular thing to say, and I’m not on Roof’s side, of course, but he did win, and the Republicans, not just the Democrats, helped him get the victory. The Republican forefathers who ended slavery would not be impressed by that, to say the least. They would not be pleased to learn that their brand has helped to undo the unity, equality, and peace that they aimed to put into practice. Dylann Roof’s race-war-dream is coming true. President Obama and his race-war-henchmen are all hyped up for that, for anarchy is the tool of tyranny. Dylann Roof has been honored so much by Confederate flag removals that some race peddler might as well call for a statue to be erected in his honor in Washington D. C. Because of our fear and weakness, we have fallen down before Dylann Roof and the race mongers. “A righteous man falling down before the wicked is a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring” (Proverbs 25.26.) It is a stretch to say that the average American man is righteous. And so if it is true to say that a ‘righteous’ man who falls before the wicked is corrupt, what shall we say of the ‘unrighteous’ man?  

This has been a Puritanical opinion on the race war that weak-spirited, short-sighted American citizens are helping Dylann Roof to accelerate.