"Roof maintained that white women needed to be protected from predatory Black men". I heard this argument throughout my youth, along with dire warnings about "miscegenation".
Finally I started to wonder about the green eyes, freckles and wavy hair of a number of African Americans. Roof and his predecessors are plainly fine with white men raping enslaved African American women, it's only voluntary "miscegenation" they object to.
With regard to memorializing "our heritage", as supporters of the Confederate flag and other monuments claim to be doing, it is worth noting that the population of South Carolina in 1860 was 57% enslaved people and 43% free white people. The unspoken antecedent to the "our" in "our heritage" is white people, not all or even the majority of South Carolinians during the Civil War.
"Roof maintained that white women needed to be protected from predatory Black men". I heard this argument throughout my youth, along with dire warnings about "miscegenation".
Finally I started to wonder about the green eyes, freckles and wavy hair of a number of African Americans. Roof and his predecessors are plainly fine with white men raping enslaved African American women, it's only voluntary "miscegenation" they object to.
With regard to memorializing "our heritage", as supporters of the Confederate flag and other monuments claim to be doing, it is worth noting that the population of South Carolina in 1860 was 57% enslaved people and 43% free white people. The unspoken antecedent to the "our" in "our heritage" is white people, not all or even the majority of South Carolinians during the Civil War.
It's an important point that is often overlooked.
Well written! Thank you for giving voice to the victims as well
Thanks for reading.
I have heard so much about Dylan Roof. I didn’t realize how little I knew about his victims.
Hi Jayne. Unfortunately, I think that is often the case.