There Wasn’t a Shooting in Charleston

There was a shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal. There was a shooting, a massacre, and a tragedy at AME.

Calling it anything else — especially a #CharlestonShooting is a function of white supremacy. The erasure, the inability or unwillingness to name how a white 20something shooter specifically targeted this central and iconic locale is violent.

#AMEShooting#AMETerrorism#AMEMassacre not “Charleston Shooting” Don’t erase or whitewash this anti-Black racist violence.

— Black Millennials (@BlkMillennials) June 18, 2015

At around 9pm, a white shooter unleashed racist hell on the Emanuel AME during a bible study. At least 9 people were assassinated, including State Senator Clementa Pinckney who served as the church’s pastor.

Although little is known at the moment, I strongly doubt this racist anti-Black act of violence was random or spontaneous. The Emanuel AME, preciously nicknamed “Mother AME,” was established and unofficially organized in 1787. By 1822…