Today it was announced that a jury has sentenced Dylann Roof, South Carolinian and self-proclaimed White Supremacist, to death after only three hours of deliberation. Roof is the first person to be executed for a federal hate crime (shooting up a historically Black church and massacring nine individuals) and while the death penalty has many religious and moral implications, his sentencing is a big leap in the fight against hate crimes.
Roof opened fire during bible study at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a clear crime against another race. During his rampage, he told survivors he was keeping them alive so they could tell the story. When defending himself in court, he showed no remorse for his crimes. In his jailhouse writings, he wrote, “I would like to make it crystal clear that I do not regret what I did. I am not sorry. I have not shed a tear for the innocent people I killed.” He then went on to say that he felt pity for the white people who are killed at the hands of “lower races." During his rampage, he also claimed that “You blacks are killing white people on the streets every day and raping white women every day.”
Hate crimes have found new energy in recent years. According to the FBI, in 2015, there were 5,818 single-bias hate crimes committed against 7,121 victims. 59.2% of these were committed due to either race, ethnicity or ancestry bias. 1,745 of these race motivated incidents were committed due to an Anti-Black or African American bias and had by far the highest number of victims, at 2,201. Over half of the victims of all race-motivated incidents combined. Nearly 55% of these incidents were assault. Hate crimes against all groups surged 6% from 2015 to 2016, following Roof's attack.
By sentencing Roof to the death penalty, we are proving that the US is not tolerant of hate crimes against any race, not just African Americans. This is especially important with the re-emergence of far right groups like the KKK after Trump's election. Young people like Roof are being influenced by extremist white supremacist groups and believe they have the task of proving their missions and visions.
With vast access to information and networking via the internet, groups like this are spreading rapidly. This isn't limited to just white crimes. This notion was brought up again this week when black teenagers kidnapped and brutally attacked a white, disabled Trump supporter. Petitions have been going around demanding that anyone who commits a federal hate crime should be sentenced to death. And while I personally don't believe that they should be executed for their crime, while awful was not nearly as heinous as Roof's, it does prove that we need harsher punishments for those who commit discriminatory crimes.
While the death penalty may seem extreme to some, and the government is not perfect and has sentenced the wrong people to death before, criminals like Roof are beyond rehabilitation. He clearly felt no remorse for his crimes, and would most likely do it again if given the chance. The death penalty proves to other offenders that they will not get away with committing crimes of hate.
In cases like this, you have to take extreme measures to prove intolerance, because these groups have extreme plans and act on them accordingly.
