Back when the church shooting first happened, I noted that Emanuel Kidega Samson's social media contained some problematic black nationalist material. Now a black nationalist revenge killing may have been the motive.
A note found in the car of a man charged with spraying deadly gunfire at a Tennessee church made reference to revenge for a white supremacist's massacre at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, two years earlier, law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.
The report said that "in sum and in no way verbatim," the note referenced revenge or retaliation for Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who killed nine black worshippers at a South Carolina church in 2015 and has since been sentenced to death. It wasn't clear what precisely Samson is alleged to have written about the Roof shooting, or whether his note contained other important details that might also speak to a motivation or state of mind.
The church targeted by Samson has a racially diverse social media presence, but the victims appear to be white. This is signifcant because it suggests Kidega may have targeted white people.
It's also why the references to the church as being "white" in conservative media are unhelpful. Kidega had attended the church and its photos show Asian and black members. But if Kidega targeted white people and if his note establishes that, that would explain the civil rights investigation.
The question though is accountability.
The Charleston church massacre led to a ban on everything from Confederate flags to the Dukes of Hazzard. Now if we have an equivalent massacre with the races reversed, will there be a ban on black nationalist materials? Obviously not. Not when the media is vocally cheering on the black nationalist anti-anthem protests in the NFL. And so there needs to be some straight talk about this double standard.