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Dylann Roof, the suspect in the fatal shooting of nine black worshippers at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, displayed symbols long-associated with white supremacist hate groups.
While it is not yet clear whether Roof had any direct connection to those groups, there are 19 active hate groups in the state, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Of those, 16 support white supremacist ideology, including 6 categorized as “neo-Confederate,” advocating for the secession of the South from the rest of the United States.
One of the neo-confederate groups, League of the South, which has chapters in 15 other states, promotes slavery. “Somebody needs to say a good word for slavery,” said Jack Kershaw, a League of the South board member, according to SPLC. “Where in the world are the Negroes better off today than in America?” The organization has also warned black people that they would be defeated in a “race war,” according to SPLC.
Of the remaining 10 white supremacist groups, 4 are categorized primarily as “white nationalist,” 3 as “neo-Nazi,” 2 are Ku Klux Klan affiliates, and 1 is labeled as a “racist skinhead” group. Despite the different categorizations, all have expressed racist views.
In 2001, the Southern Poverty Law Center found the following quote on the website of one of those groups, the white nationalist Council of Conservative Citizens: "God is the author of racism. God is the One who divided mankind into different types. ... Mixing the races is rebelliousness against God."
The National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group, supports a specific political platform: “25 Points of American National Socialism.” It includes, among other things, opposition to abortion and euthanasia, “except in cases of rape, incest, race-mixing, or mental retardation”; as well as a demand that “non-Whites shall be prohibited by law from participating financially in or influencing American newspapers.”
Whitakeronline, a white nationalist group in South Carolina, expresses fear over the push to diversify the U.S. A statement on its website says, “Diversity is a code-word for the genocide of white people.”
South Carolina is not unique; states with 20 or more active hate groups include California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, Virginia, New York and New Jersey.
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