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In the wake of the Charleston massacre

Dylann Roof was radicalized by the website of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a group associated with southern GOP politicians (and more and more). Eric Holt, the president of the Council of Conservative Citizens and the group cited in Dylann Roof’s manifesto, donated to Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Rick Santorum. Rick Perry calls Charleston church shooting an “accident”. Why can’t Republicans admit Dylann Roof was racist? Why Republican candidates are afraid to admit that the Charleston massacre was about race. Here are 9 wingnut reasons for Charleston murders that aren’t spelled r-a-c-i-s-m. We need to talk about white culture: African Americans will continue soldiering on to the pews in the wake of the Charleston massacre — but if we’re serious about preventing future tragedies, we must confront some very old demons. Jeet Heer on National Review magazine’s racism denial, then and now. White supremacists without borders: Dylann Roof is not simply an aberrant individual — behind him lies a vicious movement. How only white people can save themselves from racism and white supremacism.

Chas Danner on the GOP presidential candidates’ Confederate flag problem. How Mitt Romney’s opposition to Confederate flag puts GOP’s current presidential candidates on the spot. “The Confederate flag is NOT a part of who I am”: Rex Hammock on how the Confederate flag is not a symbol of the Civil War — it is a symbol of the Lost Cause Religion and racism. How people convince themselves that the Confederate flag represents freedom, not slavery. Roberto A. Ferdman interviews Matthew Guterl on what the Confederate flag really means to America today. Fight racist fire with literal fire: Burn Confederate flags. Beyond the Confederate flag, racist traitors are far too celebrated in the United States. From Salon, this is American terrorism: White supremacy’s brutal, centuries-long campaign of violence; and it’s not about mental illness: The big lie that always follows mass shootings by white males. Brit Bennett on how white terrorism is as old as America. Judd Legum on the wildly different ways Senator Lindsey Graham responds to terrorism: Boston versus Charleston. Glenn Greenwald on how the refusal to call Charleston shootings “terrorism” again shows it’s a meaningless propaganda term.

Non-Americans are totally baffled by U.S. “need for guns” after shootings. Gun owners not likely to use firearms for self-defense, a study by the Violence Policy Center claims. Dan Roberts and Sabrina Siddiqui on 11 myths about the future of gun control, debunked after the Charleston shooting. Karl Rove says the only way to stop the violence is to repeal the Second Amendment. The racist disease we never discuss: Corey Robin on Dylann Roof, over-policing and the real story about safety in America.