Let’s take a look at some of America’s most horrific crimes: mass shootings. What kind of person does it take to do such a terrible thing and why are they doing it? The majority of culprits are righteous white men trying to save the world with violence.
In the past 30 years, males have been responsible for approximately 97 percent of mass shootings and specifically white males have committed 62 percent of these appalling crimes. While a portion of these outbursts is fueled by mental illness gone unchecked, there is still much to be said for those with more complicated motives. The United States is comprised of about 75 percent white citizens and 12.3 percent African American citizens, but this is not reflected in the FBI’s crime statistics. In 2011, about half of all murders and robberies were committed by African-Americans. This can be due to gang violence and above all else poverty with more than a 1 in 4 of the African-American population living below the poverty line compared to 1 in 10 of white citizens. One would assume that these trends would be seen in the mass shooting statics too, but white men have a secure hold on the massacre category.
Motive might be the culprit for the anomaly. In the past, people have gone on shooting sprees to send a message, to try to save the world, or to destroy it. They don’t do it because they need money to fuel a drug habit or to feed their child. The person who walks into a church intending to kill everyone inside is a self-righteous human who believes that they are taking the moral high ground. This delusional way of thinking can be seen in some of the U.S.’s most notorious massacres.
Another shooting took place in 2012 that was eerily familiar to the one in Charleston. In Oak Creek, Wisconsin, U.S. Army veteran Wade Micheal Page walked into a Sikh temple and killed 7 people while also injuring 3. Page had been known to be deeply involved with neo-Nazi “hate music,” a genre that promotes white supremacy and violence against other races. He too must have thought that he was protecting his country when he walked into a place of worship with the intent to kill. What’s interesting is the outrage following this attack was significantly less than other shootings of similar amplitude probably due to the fact that it was a Middle Eastern place of worship targeted and not a Christian church.
No one will ever forget the tragedy that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, but for Adam Lanza it was a merciful event. He had posted a rampage on the cruelty of society on shockedbeyondbelief.com prior to the attack stating, ”When civilization exists in a form where all forms of alienation (among many other things) are rampant... new children will end up 'not well' in all sorts of ways.” In a very twisted sense, he believed he was doing "the right thing" by not letting those children suffer through life like he had.
Jared Loughner killed 6 people and wounded 14 when he targeted politician Gabrielle Giffords. His friend Bryce Tierney explained that Loughner had a passionate hatred for Giffords because he perceived her as “fake.” Tiernery also said that Loughner often mentioned wanting to wake people from their mundane lives and thinking that life meant nothing. He thought he was saving people when he attacked Giffords, and was taking “people out of these norms that society had trapped us in.”
The Charles Church Massacre suspect, Dylann Roof, is a poster boy for the Righteous White Male. Every aspect of his attack drips with symbolism. From the Facebook pictures of him posing with a license plate displaying the Confederate States of America flag and wearing a shirt with flags from apartheid-era South Africa and of Rhodesia (two countries that were under a white supremacy regime) to targeting a church with a historical civil rights significance. Roof made the message for his act of terrorism very clear. Before he began shooting he uttered these haunting words: “You are raping our women and taking over our country.” Roof believed he was saving our country by murdering innocent people.
The type of person who commits such crimes is not evil, at least not in their mind. In many cases, it’s the opposite. They are the heroes of the story. They believe that hate and murder is the answer to a problem. This type of antediluvian thinking is what we need to change as a society. Violence needs to be eradicated from our language and deemed completely unacceptable. Too often we see these heinous acts, get enraged and then do absolutely nothing. In the case of Roof, he was often heard saying racist jokes and had talked about wanting to commit a massacre to start a civil war. Dalton Tyler, a friend of Roof’s, said, “He was a racist; but I don’t judge people.” And this right here is what is wrong. As a society we need to make racism and violence something we don’t even joke about. It needs to be clear that it won’t be tolerated.
No one should ever believe they are ‘doing the right thing’ when carrying out violent acts. In the wise words of Maya Angelou “Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but it has not solved one yet.”
