A Multi-Faceted Response to the Charleston Massacre

The senseless murder of nine African Americans at a historic Black church has sent shockwaves throughout the nation. We express our deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and our condolences to the people of Charleston and all of South Carolina at this most difficult time. As Governor Nikki Haley put it, the “heart and soul of South Carolina is broken.”

The heinous massacre in Charleston last Thursday was only the latest reminder that much work still needs to be done to make the “land of the free and the home of the brave” a safe place to live in.

The dreaded Klu Klux Klan may no longer be an active force, lynching is no longer a frequent occurrence, and an American born of an African father has been elected president of the United States.

But a century and a half after emancipation and five decades after the Civil Rights Act was passed, hatred of minorities continues to thrive in America.

As we continue to wage war against the grave danger of terrorist acts perpetrated by Islamic extremists, it is crucial that the very real threat of attacks committed by xenophobic terrorists not be underestimated. Whether they are members of established white supremacist or neo-Nazi groups or unaffiliated “loners,” the threat posed by these evildoers is a very real menace to civilized society.

Those who openly declare allegiance to these groups or express a desire to commit violent acts against minorities must be treated no differently than those who announce that they want to join ISIS or some other international terror group.

As this act of terror illustrates, the internet — a well-documented breeding ground for a host of spiritual ills — also plays a significant role in spreading hate and aiding and abetting homegrown acts of terror. In his rambling manifesto, the vicious killer made it clear that it was websites he visited that helped incite him to foster an irrational hatred of minorities. The same manifesto also underscored the fact that those who espouse violent hatred against African Americans are also avowed anti-Semites. The brutal murderer of the nine black victims at a house of worship was also filled with hatred against Jews.

Law enforcement agencies must step up efforts to track down and expose those who are fomenting racial hatred and take steps to stop violent attacks before they occur. Significantly more resources must be set aside and additional personnel hired to deal with this threat.

This terror attack is also a painful reminder of just how easy it is for a would-be mass murderer to get his hands on a gun in America. As investigators continue to try to put together the pieces and discover how the 21-year-old shooter, who had a felony charge pending, was able to possess a gun, calls are increasing for stricter gun control laws.

Far too many innocent Americans have died because these weapons of death have fallen into the wrong hands. While gun control will not eliminate acts of violence and certainly won’t reduce the level of hatred, it will save lives. All legal loopholes that allow criminals to access guns — such as those that exist in South Carolina allowing “private sales” of guns with no questions asked — must be closed. Exhaustive and all-inclusive background checks for gun purchasers must be put in place to ensure that those who flaunt an ideology of hatred must never be allowed to own a gun.

As part of a comprehensive national response to this tragedy, the accompanying culture of violence must also be addressed. The undeniable role played by the glorification of violent criminal acts — so pervasive in the moral cesspool known as the entertainment world — in breeding violence must be recognized. America must stop burying its head in the sand and realize that as long as violence takes center stage in what the populace reads and watches, those very scenes of violence will inspire real-life acts of violence and terror.

The people of America deserve a better future. While law enforcement on the local, state and federal level must step up efforts to keep citizens safe, it is up to the nation as a whole to make the hard choices to bring down the unacceptable level of violence that plagues this country.

This must include not only concrete steps to keep guns out of the hands of offenders, but what will help reduce the desire to own a gun in the first place.

This article appeared in print in the June 24th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.