A manifesto written by Dylann Roof sheds light on his twisted logic and bubbling hatred for non-whites—and his resentment towards blacks most of all.
In the manifesto—which was discovered Saturday morning by Internet sleuths—Roof says he was not raised to be racist, though he made racist jokes growing up. He says it was the Trayvon Martin killing—and his feeling that George Zimmerman was right to shoot the unarmed black teen—that awakened him to “black on white violence,” which he subsequently read about on the website of a South Carolina-based hate group called the Council of Conservative Citizens.
The writer of the manifesto says he found the “same things” happening in Europe, which he describes as the white homeland. “As an American we are taught to accept living in the melting pot, and black and other minorities have just as much right to be here as we do, since we are all immigrants,” he wrote. “But Europe is the homeland of White people, and in many ways the situation is even worse there.”
His most virulent hatred was reserved for black people.
“N**gers are stupid and violent. At the same time they have the capacity to be very slick,” he wrote. “Black people view everything through a racial lense [sic].”
Roof added, “I wish with a passion that n**gers were treated terribly throughout history by Whites, that every White person had an ancestor who owned slaves, that segregation was an evil an oppressive institution, and so on,” he wrote, adding that it would make it easier for him to understand what is now happening. “But it isnt true. None of it is.”
Roof, who dropped out of high school before finishing the 10th grade, apparently never took a course on American history. He wrote that America’s history of slavery was based on myths and lies, using the fact that not all Southern whites owned slaves to downplay the malevolence of the institution. He also claims to have read slave narratives that were overwhelmingly positive towards the slaveowners, without naming the texts or pausing to consider whether they had been coerced.
Roof’s manifesto claims segregation “existed to protect us from them”—both in terms of violence and supposed cultural purity. “Integration has done nothing but bring Whites down to level of brute animals,” he wrote. “The best example of this is obviously our school system.”
“Anyone who thinks that White and black people look as different as we do on the outside, but are somehow magically the same on the inside, is delusional,” he wrote. “How could our faces, skin, hair, and body structure all be different, but our brains be exactly the same?”
The author wrote dismissively of the Northwest Front, “a political organization of Aryan men and women who recognize that an independent and sovereign White nation [exists] in the Pacific Northwest.” That, to him, was akin to “white people running to the suburbs.”
That would be a sign of defeat, especially for someone who believes that “white culture is world culture.”
Roof’s manifesto also addresses other minority groups, including Latinos and Jews.
Roof’s main problem with Jews is that he thinks they are denying their own whiteness—which leads him to wish he could “destroy the Jewish identity.”
“The problem is that Jews look White, and in many cases are White, yet they see themselves as minorities,” he wrote. “I dont pretend to understand why jews do what they do. They are [an] enigma.”
Likewise, he believes there are “good hispanics and bad hispanics,” but says their elites are generally white and many “have respect for White beauty.”
“There is good White blood worth saving in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and even Brasil,” he wrote before adding: “But they are still our enemies.”
The one group Roof seems to like? East Asians, he says, “could carry something on” even if whites were to go extinct. “They are by nature very racist and could be great allies of the White race. I am not opposed at all to allies with the Northeast Asian races.”
Many of the photos found on the site with Roof’s alleged manifesto show him with Confederate flags, as well as stomping on—or burning—the Stars and Stripes. In the manifesto, he clarifies that modern patriotism “is an absolute joke,” and that he doesn’t know why veterans are so proud of protecting the country.
“How about we protect the White race and stop fighting for the jews,” he wrote.
The most chilling section comes at the end: An explanation of what led to the horrific Wednesday night attack.
“To take a saying from my favorite film, ‘Even if my life is worth less than a speck of dirt, I want to use it for the good of society,’” he wrote, quoting a Japanese film about a dystopian society where teens kill “bad” people. “I have no choice. I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country,” he wrote. “We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.”
His signoff: “Please forgive any typos, I didnt have time to check it.”