With Hillary Clinton in Charleston Wednesday and Jeb Bush scheduled to be there today, national political reporters were already on the ground when the shooting occurred at Emanuel A.M.E.
A great quote from a piece we’re publishing later today on the history of Juneteenth and the critical role of the US Army in ending slavery. “Freedpeople, as [former slave Felix] Haywood’s quote reminds us, did not need the Army to teach them about freedom; they needed the Army to teach planters the futility of trying to sustain slavery.”
President Obama just spoke about the Charleston church shooting and rightly noted the broad sweep of American history in which this particular church has a especially significant role. We’ve just published at TPMCafe a brief history of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, its place in the history of Charleston, the anti-slavery movement, and perhaps most fascinating to me, the creation of what came to be known as the Citadel, the crown jewel of Southern militarism, which was born from white fears of slave rebellion triggered by this church. It’s worth your time.
We now have reports that Dylann Roof, the alleged assailant in last night’s Charleston church massacre has been captured in Shelby, North Carolina.
As he shot, Dylann Roof allegedly told his shooting victims “You rape our women and you’re taking over our country and you have to go.”
Charleston suspect wore white supremacist patches in Facebook photo.
The suspect in the Charleston massacre is 21 year old Dylann Roof.
Looks the part. Terrifying what one sick, evil person can do.
One of the victims of last night’s devastating church shooting in Charleston was the congregation’s pastor, state Sen. Clementa C. Pinckney. He was 41 years old and had served in the state legislature for nearly 20 years. I didn’t know him, but the reactions rolling in begin to give you a sense of the esteem in which he was held. Below is video of a wonderful talk he gave a couple of years ago at his church — Mother Emanuel — about its history and role in the African American community.
Standing near where he would later die, Pinckney said in his stentorian voice, “Where you are is a very special place in Charleston …”
Police have released images from video surveillance cameras of the man they suspect in the shooting at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church.
1:05 AM: A press conference is underway in Charleston. Latest reports say nine are dead in the church shooting, at least one injured.
1:10 AM: Police say the bomb threat is now over.
1:12 AM: Reverend Clementa Pinckney, the pastor at the Emanuel AME Church, as well as a state senator, was killed in tonight’s shooting, along with eight others.
1:32 AM: The most pressing and on-going part of this story is that the alleged gunman is still at large.