USA-SHOOTING/SOUTH CAROLINA-RACE Charleston shooting reveals split on racial views

Record ID: 151721

  • Title: USA-SHOOTING/SOUTH CAROLINA-RACE Charleston shooting reveals split on racial views
  • Date: 20th June 2015
  • Summary: CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES (JUNE 19, 2015) (REUTERS) KING STREET PEDESTRIANS WALKING CLOTHING STORE EXTERIOR VARIOUS OF RESIDENT KEYKA WRIGHT SHOPPING (SOUNDBITE) (English) KEYKA WRIGHT, STUDENT AT TRIDENT TECHNICAL COLLEGE, SAYING: "I think in South Carolina and across the nation, race is still a big issue that we kind of still try to sweep under and pacify
  • Embargoed: 5th July 2015 13:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA3O8COYW61PEYBEGYD6IFNTTF2
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: With a South Carolina city reeling in the wake of a deadly shooting at a historic African-American church, the issue of race is once again in the national spotlight.
    The suspect, 21-year-old Dylan Roof, a white man, has been charged with nine counts of murder and possession of a firearm after allegedly sitting in a Bible study at Charleston's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church for nearly an hour before shooting nine African-American churchgoers in the room.
    The attack came in a year that has seen waves of protest across the United States over police killings of unarmed black men in cities including New York, Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, sparking some of the largest race riots in decades.
    CNN reported on Friday, citing unnamed law enforcement officials, that the suspect confessed to the shooting and hoped that it would start a race war in the U.S.
    Keyka Wright, a student at Trident Technical College, said that was proof that race remains a major issue in the country.
    "I think in South Carolina and across the nation, race is still a big issue that we kind of still try to sweep under and pacify with different things, whether it be government assistance, to show that everything is ok and fine," Wright said.
    For Wright, healing will require an end to racism.
    "Unification is definitely needed. We need to stop singling each other out by race, creed, religion. We need to stop that. It needs to end and I hope that this situation can bring some type of light and heading to people of different nationalities to pull each other together and lift each other up instead of tearing each other down. We need to heal as a nation," Wright said.
    On the streets of Charleston, residents remained in disbelief over the crime.
    "A race war? That means his mind isn't cricking right when he went into that church. How do you walk into a church and not know what he's thinking about? Tell me that," Kenneth Gathers, a team manager for the Burke High School football team, said.
    Meanwhile, at George's Loan & Music Company on historic King Street, owner Alan Rovick said he didn't believe the crime and the issue of race presented an accurate picture of Charleston.
    "It's peaceful here and we take care of our matters. I'm looking at it as a white person, and I can't speak as a black person, but we've been dealing here in our store for generations with blacks and white together and we've never seen anything but kindness and just everybody respects each other," Rovick said.
    The comments come as a U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman confirmed that the murders were being investigated as a possible case of domestic terrorism.
    In addition to church leader and Democratic state Senator Clementa Pinckney, 41, other victims included pastors DePayne Middleton Doctor, 49, and Sharonda Coleman Singleton, 45. Also killed were Cynthia Hurd, 54, a public library employee; Susie Jackson, 87; Ethel Lance, 70, and Myra Thompson, 59, an associate pastor at the church, according to the county coroner.
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