The Charleston Church Shooting

Nine people shot dead in a church in Charleston. Fingers pointing, analysts trying to figure it out. This wasn't the Taliban. Wasn't Isis. This wasn't the act of terrorists in foreign lands. This was home-grown American racism. The violence we face in America, against Americans, is by Americans. It is all about US. We are the criminals, we are the terrorists, we are the ones who go gunning after the innocents, the schools, the shopping malls and movie theatres, and, god help us, now the churches. We are the ones killing each other.

If this was perpetrated by any other country we would go to war--again. We would be spilling bombs and blood and sending boots on the ground to get the bastards that dare to kill Americans. We would spend our precious treasures on destruction of the enemy, creating warriors and heroes for everyone to glorify for "keeping America safe."

Except, we are the enemy. We are weaned on racisim and bigotry--the South still flies the Confederate flag, and we still hold dear the names of generals that fought to keep slavery alive. We are the bastards bent on our own destruction with no one in sight to "keep America safe."

The insane act in Charleston did not just happen. That troubled kid with the easy-access gun didn't just decide one day that he hated Black people. He was raised that way, he learned it from his friends, his family, and his country. Racism has been chasing us for 200 years. And we have no place to hide.