ExtremismHardcore white supremacists elevate Dylann Roof to cult hero status

When Dylann Roof murdered nine people in a racially motivated shooting spree at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, reactions from fellow white supremacists were all over the map. While some praised the shootings, others claimed the attack was fabricated by the government or Jews to cast a bad light on white supremacists.  Some criticized Roof, believing he would attract negative publicity and unwelcome law enforcement attention to their movement.  One writer for the racist website Occidental Dissent even called it a “terrible, cowardly act of mass murder.” Since the killings, however, a growing number of people are praising Roof because he committed mass murder. Within the past two years, a number of zealous Roof fans and would-be copycats have emerged, including some who have crossed the line into criminal activity:

·  Benjamin McDowell, a South Carolina white supremacist, was arrested on weapons charges in early 2017 in connection with a desire to launch some sort of white supremacist attack “in the spirit of Dylann Roof.” He was sentenced in 2018 to 33 months in prison.

·  Dakota Reed, a white supremacist from Washington state, was arrested on threat charges in December 2018 after ADL alerted law enforcement about his violent threats and fantasies, including shooting up a school or synagogue or “pulling a Dylann Roof.”

·  Jeffrey Clark, an active white supremacist from Washington, D.C., was arrested on weapons charges in November 2018 after his own family members warned law enforcement that he might become violent. Clark was an ardent admirer of Roof and even used a Gab screen name— “DC Bowl Gang”—that was a reference to Roof’s bowl-shaped haircut.  Clark claimed there are only two kinds of people: “those who know Saint Dylann Roof did nothing wrong and those who hang.”