How Twitter Sleuths Found Dylann Roof’s Manifesto
It took two independent writers working together on Twitter and $49 dollars to make what could be one of the biggest discoveries yet in the case of Dylann Roof. In a South Carolina courtroom on Friday, Roof was charged with nine counts of murder for the killing of nine Black parishioners who invited him into their Bible study group. A webpage registered under Roof’s name contains a trove of photos of the suspected killer, and a white nationalist political manifesto.
Emma Quangel, the nom de guerre of writer and Twitter user @EMQuangel, discovered the website that appears to contain Roof’s manifesto. After I congratulated her for her investigative work, Quangel told me that she saw it as her duty. “As a communist,” Quangel said, “it is my duty and obligation to spend at least $49 to help ruin this guy’s insanity plea.”
Roof hasn’t entered any plea yet but speculation about his motives and mental state started before he was apprehended Thursday. Some of the speculation, including from politicians and presidential candidates, has downplayed the evidence that Roof was inspired by racial animus. Equivocation about Roof’s motives happened despite reports that he told his victims, “you rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go.”
Roof’s writing, if it’s conclusively authenticated, won’t stop all debate about his motives, especially among his defenders online. But it will make it harder for public figures to suggest that a racist political ideology wasn’t the primary inspiration for his crime.
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The search for Roof’s last testament online started at 8:03 Saturday morning ..............
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/20/how-twitter-sleuths-found-dylann-roof-s-manifesto.html
