Racial fangs laid bare in US

In the midst of the American Civil War (1861-65), President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation on January 01, 1863: "All persons held as slaves within any states in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thence forward, and forever free."
But the proclamation has not still been fully honoured in the USA.  Pastor Clementa Pinckney was murdered at Emanuel AME historic black church in Charleston in South Carolina along with eight other devotees by Dylann Storm Roof, a white young man of 21 on June 17. Roof also attended the prayer at the church. Pastor Clementa was also the Senator of South Carolina's State Assembly. The church was exclusively used by black men and women since segregation law was introduced in the US. Practically, segregation was gradually abolished following introduction of civil rights law in 1965.
History of black church goes back to the beginning of the 19th century when it was built in 1872 in the era of slavery by Morris Brown, a founding pastor. The main purpose was congregation of black community and anti-slavery activists. Incidentally, an activist Denmark Vesey had begun plotting rebellion in 1882 but did not succeed. Dozens of activists, including Denmark Vesey, were put on trial and ordered to be executed by the court. The church was set ablaze. Having conducted secret underground worship, the Church Emanuel reappeared after civil war. It was destroyed by devastating earthquake on August 01 of 1886. The magnificent brick structure with encircling marble pebbles was rebuilt in 1891. According to the Washington Times of June 19, black churches were subjected to attacks by racists and white supremacists. They saw a threat to white dominance in houses of worship where blacks could congregate legally as a right.  The Ku Klux Klan and other racist individuals routinely bombed and torched well-known black churches in the 19th century while black churches in Alabama and Mississippi were not spared either during civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s.
America's first anti-terrorism law, which was introduced as 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act by President Ulysses S Grant 'to combat the ubiquitous culture of racial violence in the South', fits the literal definition of terrorism that took place on June 17 at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in South Carolina. It is an extension of a long history of terrorising the black community in particular. Newly appointed Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who is also an African-American, has said the Department of Justice is investigating this attack as a hate crime. However, a spokesperson of the Department said they were additionally investigating it as possible domestic terrorism. In this magnificent church, an African educator and founder of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute known as Tuskegee University in Alabama Booker T. Washington spoke in 1909 and icon of civil rights movement and Nobel laureate Martin Luther King addressed in 1962 for making American dream a reality.
Tragedy in black church has opened a debate over gun control law which President Obama had proposed in 2013. In a choked voice, Obama said, "Once again innocent people were killed because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting his hands on a gun. At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. Now it is time for mourning and for healing." The killer exposed himself by saying he had come to kill black people.
According to the Washington Post of June 19, the killer's Facebook profile photo carries 'picture showing him skulking in the woods, wearing jacket with at least two conspicuous patches. The patches, as the Southern Poverty Law Center noted, are the old flags of racist, white minority regimes in South Africa." South Carolina has no hate crime law. Moreover, the state capital still flies  Confederate battle flag which represents symbol of slavery and oppression. South Carolina was also opposed to civil rights movement of mid-50s. In an address to the conference of Mayors in San Francisco on June 21, Hillary Clinton, a prospective presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, vowed to fight for new gun control laws and regretted by saying it makes no sense that the Congress has failed to pass simple gun control laws.
The word 'terrorism' has been apparently abused by lawmakers in a racist way to stigmatise people of a certain colour or religion and drag the American nation into unjust wars of words. The South Poverty Law Center found a large number of independent studies revealing that since 9/11, more people were killed in America by non-Islamic domestic terrorists than Jihadists. Church Emanuel in South Carolina was opened on June 21 to offer prayer for the deceased and to console the families affected by this carnage. Bells tolled across the city on June 21 as thousands lined up on a towering bridge and Rev Norvell Goff, who conducted first Sunday service after the carnage, said it sends a message to every demon in hell and on earth.
It is really painful to see so many race-related incidents in the industrially developed USA particularly after taking over administration by first time African-American President Barack Obama in 2008.
The writer is a retired diplomat from Bangladesh.
amjad.21@gmail.com