Maybe I've missed it, but why haven't we heard more about Roof's family?

[Frustratedlady]

When a black is charged with murder, one of the first articles will bring in the family, their financial/work history, number of kids, environment and attitude. I haven't seen anything on Roof's family except that his dad provided the birthday money he used to buy his gun.

Have I missed the info?

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. I've been wondering about that, too.

What kind of environment did he grow up in? He got his hatred and radical ideas somewhere............

[Yo_Mama]

42. If you look for it, those ideas are out there. The father and uncle both called the cops

to report that the released photos appeared to be their son/nephew. Obviously they don't sympathize with his deed.

A friend of the mother's said she and her son spent a lot of time with the mom and at their house growing up. The son is biracial.

I think it is not warranted to assume the family taught him this.

[840high]

2. DM had a lot on his family. Abusive

father, loving step-mom.

[mnhtnbb]

3. Parents are divorced. Mom apparently took gun away from him

but he got it back. Sister was to be married yesterday (Saturday), but
wedding has been postponed. Her fiance is a military recruiter
and Roof was arrested 3 miles from his home in NC.

Here's a link to some of this info:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/accused-killer-in-sc-slayings-described-as-a-quiet-loner/2015/06/18/a4127390-15d0-11e5-89f3-61410da94eb1_story.html

http://www.people.com/article/charleston-church-massacre-dylann-roofs-sister-cancels-wedding

http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Church-shooting-suspect-previously-arrested-on-6337776.php

[shenmue]

5. Wow

I have a feeling we are going to uncover things that are even worse.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Had to dig but found this

http://heavy.com/news/2015/06/dylann-roof-family-mom-dad-uncle-carson-cowles-sister-amber-parents-charleston-shooting/

Apparently he has a sister who was supposed to get married today and his soon-to-be brother-in law is an Army recruiter.

Yes, all sorts of protection by the media. But when it comes to blacks... well I won't even go there.

[bravenak]

6. His dad wears nipple rings. Seriously. Nipple rings. No shirt.

[nilesobek]

7. What do you mean by that?

No offense and total respect for you. There's a lot of guys on my landscaping crew with the same thing going on. They are liberals for the most part so I'm a little confused by your observation and its implications. Or, I just missed something like when I left a tool behind on the job the other day.

[bravenak]

8. You have to see him in the nipple rings to see why it's not a good look on him.

[nilesobek]

9. I"m not defending these guys at all.

I just don't want to see all my homies demonized by such a subjective, arbitrary and capricious statement. He probably got his attitude from his Father from day one around the kitchen table and has nothing to do with the current trends of piercing and tattoos. I'm sure the pics look terrible, but his heart must be worse. I suspect tweaker or ex-tweaker in this situation. Just a hunch.

[bravenak]

10. You have to see it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3131858/Charleston-killer-Dylann-Roof-grew-fractured-home-violent-father-beat-stepmother-hired-private-detective-follow-split-claims-court-papers.html

[nilesobek]

11. Are you going to retract your opinion?

Sailor tattoos and some nipple rings. No swastikas or aryan nations tats which I see on the job all the time. I saw it but you are stereotyping this man in a way you would find repulsive if the scenarios were reversed. He might be some huge closet racist but his tats and piercings are no evidence of that.

[bravenak]

12. Who said he was anything? I did imply his fashion choices leave something to be desired.

That is my opinion. You do not have to agree. I find it unattractive on him. You may find it attractive.
I said he wears nipple rings. He does. I said the look was terrible on him. That's how I feel. If Trayvons father had been walking down the street with his shirt off, showing off his nipple rings proudly, it would have been noted by many. I don't know what you mean by nipple rings and racism. I never called the man racist at all, I don't know him. If you think he's racist, that's fine with me..

[nilesobek]

22. You are right.

It looks like crap to me and I do think he's a racist. We aren't far off on that.

Point taken. Every black has his whole background and facebook posts examined and relentlessly published in the media, however, somehow, we aren't getting the usual dirty laundry when the killer is white.

[bravenak]

25. He doesn't seem very nice.

When I saw his home, I noticed he was flying the American flag, not the Stars and Bars, so I don't think the kid got his flag choice from his father. For some reason I was glad to see that.

[nilesobek]

29. Yeah but you made a thinly veiled reference

that I might be attracted to this guy. You should listen to the sound of your voice. That's the first rule of speechcraft and writing.

[bravenak]

30. There was no thinly veiled anthing. You read that into it.

I said you might find it attractive, but I don't. Might is the key word. You might not. I have no clue what you like or don't like. That's why I posted the link for you to see for yourself.

[nilesobek]

35. He's not my type but to each his own.

That's what being a liberal is all about. I don't want someone judging me by my sex, my tattoos or piercings, which I don't have. I don't want the government telling me who to marry and when, and how I make love to my wife of thirty years. Let's have a factually based conversation without innuendo.

That's what they did to Trayvon Martin and that other boy shot in Missouri. We can agree. There is so much we agree upon.

[gollygee]

40. Holy crap

You need to re-read this subthread. All she said is that he wore nipple rings, and she thought it was a bad look, but that was just her opinion and maybe you'd disagree. You've read an awful lot into her words.

[Oilwellian]

43. I think most women understand what you're saying

Guys, including my husband, don't seem to understand that after a certain age, going shirtless in the neighborhood just doesn't have the same affect that it may have had when they were younger. My husband loved mowing the lawn with his shirt off and he looked hot doing it. Now, not so much. Here are some muscle tees as a compromise. LOL

[JustAnotherGen]

27. The Gio has a nipple ring

But he's also solid.

Pssssst - I didn't need to see all that. But at least heat strutting it!

[bravenak]

28. I know it was wrong to link to that photo!!

Gio needs to send this guy some tips on how to wear them properly. What he was doing strutting out there in the sun was wrong.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Well assuming the Daily Mail got it right

that explains the self radicalization.

Thanks

[bravenak]

14. I usually don't read the DM but this was a pretty decent article.

It sure made alot of things make more sense.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Yup

I was wondering why Dylann was so angry with the world, and not just African Americans. I read the manifesto.

[bravenak]

16. I haven't been able to get through it yet: too pissed.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Hugs

In order to confront this, we need to know it.

But I do get the anger trust me. I do.

[bravenak]

18. Thank you. I plan on finally reading it today.

[Frustratedlady]

19. It does make a lot of things fall into place for why Roof is the way he is.

I'm definitely not making excuses for him, but growing up with a father like that (the mother must not be much better), explains why he was a loner and stayed in his bedroom so much. There are probably a lot more just like him who have lived under the same environments.

Add the RW commentators and the poison they dish out 24/7, supremacists, drugs and few friends...that's a powerfully high mountain to climb to get to fresh air and sanity.

He seems to like to talk, so maybe the "influencers" will come to the surface and some of these hate radio shows can be shut down. They've had 20+ years to spew their hatred and...freedom of speech or no...something needs to be done.

[malaise]

20. Sadly this is how they portray all African-American males and our families

This is dysfunctional on steroids.

Meanwhile those who he hated and slaughtered were loving people.

Sad indeed.

[Frustratedlady]

24. Yes, they were loving people and I'm sure that is why they were chosen.

They weren't a threat. They didn't expect to be shot so weren't prepared for what happened. Even though he stopped to reload, the shock would have kept the women from acting to stop the slaughter...and, that's exactly what it was.

I'm sure the men were as helpless. If I were caught in that sudden turn of events from a peaceful prayer service to methodical killings, my legs would have been like rubber and my mind wouldn't have been capable of forming a plan of defense.

We often think that we would have jumped to the rescue of all the rest and accosted the killer, but we haven't a clue what went on or how we would have reacted.

These people now occupy a corner of my brain and I revisit that corner each day. So innocent. So senseless. So wrong, as hate always is.

[malaise]

39. Same here but I wouldn't have known if my legs were rubber

I would have passed out.

Way too sad and yes - I will arry this one to the grave just like those four little girls in Birmingham and the 20plus at Sandy Hook.

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. this is well beyond talk radio

though TV and regular news do portray African Americans as violent terrible creatures that always need to be controlled. We are aware, so we editorially even avoid running certain photos.

He self radicalized by finding certain sites that make talk radio look quite tame actually, even the worst of the worst. Yes, they use SOME of the language. but hardly the extent of white supremacy talk.

I will leave it at that here.

[Frustratedlady]

31. I should have included the Internet in that discussion.

I don't know how bad those sites are because I don't go there and never will. I have, however, seen comments on DU which help me understand the hate and fury they convey to many who don't need urging to do nasty things. They seem to incite and that is what needs to be stopped.

I think we all know that by code words, talk radio is also guilty of incitement. They seem to want others to become so angry that they will carry out their dirty work for them.

All in all, social sites and the media can make up a nasty porridge if they try hard enough. When all the ingredients are present, all you need is an individual or individuals to partake and get turned on...come forth and save the world...abolish those standing in their way...whatever fool thoughts and deeds that will feed their ego.

Roof seems to have been ripe for the pickin'.

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. I jsut spent three quality days at SF

Many in media did, I was not alone. Though none of us gave them links as far as I could tell. Every time we have one of these incidents I do spend way too much time there. (Ten minutes is too long, but I have been known to spend hours.)

a.- I prefer to know what they are thinking.

b.- In this case it was very relevant.

[Stardust]

36. San Francisco? I'm confused...

[nadinbrzezinski]

37. Stormfront

[Stardust]

38. Sorry, not overly familiar with that site. Sounds like a drag. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

44. One of the places where white supremacists

Congregate on the web.

[bravenak]

23. I agree, something needs to be done.

A kid like that should have been closely monitored. He stopped school in 9th grade, nobody did anything about it. All those years on the internet in hate chat rooms, visiting confederate sites, drugs, drinking, treason flags flying, somebody should have at least said something. This behavior should not be considered normal anywhere. When I see that flag, it rings a warning bell in my head and I swerve out if the way of whoever is waving it or wearing it. It should not be a thing.
This nation has a lot of work to do on race. We have never bothered to deal with it and racism is not going away. It's just as violent and dangerous as it ever was. We need to admit it and stop pretending it's over.

[Frustratedlady]

26. I agree on the warning signs. Even if the family didn't act...

the school system could have. I suppose he was old enough he was no longer required to attend school, but this change surely didn't happen overnight. So, somewhere along the way, you'd think he dropped signs he was going down the wrong path and somebody noticed.

As for racism? It's probably going to get worse before it gets better and people step forward and do something. I don't like to say that, but after Ferguson, I made the prediction it was going to be a long, hot summer. We have barely started summer and look at how far we've regressed. That mountain just keeps growing and climbing it isn't going to be easy. But, I truly believe that the day will come when life settles back down and living gets easier for us all...

My great-grandfather was a captain in the Civil War and spent some time in a Confederate prison as a POW. He never held a grudge about his capture or against his captors. He also had a hidden cavity in the wall of his home for the Underground Railroad. I admired him for that, even though I never met him. I don't feel he'd think too kindly of that Confederate flag flying today. Pres. Obama was right...it belongs in a museum. Until those flags and symbols of the Confederacy come down, they will be reminders of dark days and not allow hearts to heal.

[B Calm]

41. LOL, he's a real cutie!

[restorefreedom]

33. cnn reported that it was members of his family

who id-d him after his picture came out. also his uncle was quoted as saying that he hopes he gets what is coming to him and that he would pull the switch himself.

doesn.t sound like a family that approves of what he has done

[Liberal_in_LA]

34. daily mail has big articles on the family

But dm is hated around here