Charleston Church Shooting and White Supremacy

Introduction

According to Cashin (2017), white supremacy includes ideas and beliefs that see the light-

skinned human race as naturally superior to people of color. Today, white supremacist is used to

showing some groups that support ultranationalist, fascist, or racist doctrines. In many cases,

groups of white supremacists depend upon violence to pursue their mission. This ideology

recognizes that there exist diverse racial groups and whites are ranked at the top of the ethnic

hierarchy. Up to the 19th century, American political leaders have openly expressed white

supremacy using it to enslave blacks and their descendants as well as to rationalize the genocide

of Native Americans. The former US president, Abraham Lincoln, in a debate, admitted that he

has never thought of pushing for socio-political equality of black and white people. Though

famous for ending slavery, Lincoln's position seems shocking. However, the majority of

American abolitionists wanted whites to remain powerful in government and routine life, even

after the abolishment of slavery (Jepkins, 2016).

This ideology persisted in the American community after blacks were freed from bondage both

formally and informally. White supremacy motivated the legal racial discrimination of Jim Crow

and the 2008 redlining activities by banks that denied blacks mortgage loans. This concept has

also supported the killing of indigenous people and forced assimilation. Overt discriminatory and

segregationist policies were outlawed after the conclusion of the civil rights period of the 60s

(Jepkins, 2016). This did not, however, stop it; systemic racism persisted. And today, well-

recorded inequalities between whites and people of color in health, the criminal justice system,

homeownership, longevity, and savings are attributable to the white supremacist ranks that were

established many years ago (Cashin, 2017). In this paper, I will discuss how people who
understand the history of racism continue to perpetuate racism in overt forms like violence.

Specific emphasis will be on the Charleston church shooting by 21-year old Dylan Roof. The

paper will also try to relate this shooting to other lone-wolf attacks; discuss the socio-economic

and political factors about white supremacy that contributed to the attack; the past events

breeding this occurrence; the effect of the attack on the white community. Lastly, I will examine

some of the strategies for reducing lone-wolf attacks and radicalization as well as the effect of

left-wing banishing on lone-wolf terrorism.

Charleston Shooting and its Cause

The Charleston church massacre was a mass shooting that happened on the evening of June 17,

2015, at Emmanuel Church in South California. This was one of the ancient black churches in

the US and was famous for hosting events relating to civil rights. This attack deeply shook a

country already tired of frequent gun violence and symbolized the return of brutal white

nationalism in the United States. The attacker, Dylan Roof, joined a congregation for a bible

study session before take away nine lives of innocent black Americans. Clementa Pinckney, the

senior pastor and vocal advocate for police accountability who had captured media attention

following the killing of Walter Scott, was among the victims. Before the act, Roof informed the

church members that blacks were taking possession of the country and drawing a gun. One of the

survivors narrated that Roof tried shooting himself but was short of ammunition and in its place

escaped. Roof was arrested the next day in North Carolina and arraigned to court. After a series

of investigations and trials, his radicalization and intense white supremacy were brought into the

light (Roof, 2017).

By 2015, there were countless mass shootings in the United States. However, this one was a

clear act of white supremacist violence that emerged as the country slowly recognized that

racism was a problem that was worsening each day. Roof supported racial hatred through a blog

manifesto he published prior to the attack as well as through a journal he wrote while in jail

(Hawes, 2017). He posted photos on this site with the Confederate battle flag and with the

symbols of white supremacy. This was the second most fatal mass shootings at an American

place of worship following the 1999 invasion at Wedgewood Baptist Church in Fort Worth in

Texas. Other several shootings have superseded it, including the Pittsburgh synagogue attacks

(2018) and the Sutherland Spring church invasion (2017).

Charleston Shootings Compared to Other Lone-Wolf Attacks

Lone-wolf terrorism is an intentional creation and exploitation of fear via threat of or violence

perpetrated by one actor who advances political change connected with a certain ideology,

whether his or that of the wider organization, and doesn’t receive material support, orders, or

direction from external sources (Beydoun, 2017). From this definition, violence should be linked

to the furtherance of social or political objectives. According to Hamm and Spaaij (2015), lone

wolf attack means terrorism undertaken by people who operate alone, are not affiliated to any

terrorist organization or group, and whose mode of operations are hidden and led by the person

without any direct external hierarchy or command. However, this definition does not tie violence

to any socio-political ideology. There are five principal forms of lone-wolf terrorism: lone

soldiers, lone wolf killers, lone vanguards, lone followers, and loners (Beydoun, 2017).

Shootings of the place of worship did not just end with the Charleston shooting of 2015. Since

then, there have been other instances of lone-wolf attacks, and even more fatal. In October 2018,
the Tree of Life Congregation at Pittsburgh was a target for a mass shooting where 11 lives were

compromised and six others were injured. An armed man entered the synagogue shouting anti-

Semitic statements before shooting. Four police officers were part of the victims of this

massacre. Robert Bowers, the suspected criminal was arrested at the scene. In 2019, an armed

man dressed in a black t-shirt wearing eyeglasses and what seems ear protectors lodged the

eighth deadliest attacks in a city, El Paso, where most of its occupants are Hispanics. The

criminal shot people who were crowded in Walmart and killed 26 people (Ware, 2020). All men

accused of these attacks are believed to be from the light-skinned human race.

Even though these shootings were undertaken with unique motives and circumstances, they

exhibit the characteristics of lone-wolf terrorism. All the suspects seem to have been motivated

by a combination of personal and political grievances. More so, they draw their radicalization

online. Also, law enforcement officers have demonstrated that both men plotted the shootings on

their own without coordination or direction from outside sources (O’Connor, 2019). Bowers’

conservatism turned out to be radicalized as white nationalism. There is a time he was impressed

by right-wing radio host Jim Quinn. The attacks at Walmart fit a disturbing and growing trend of

far-right violence committed overseas. Just like the Charleston shooting, the suspected attacker

acted alone but inhabited an international online subculture of extremism, one where people

promote violent acts and incite others. The suspect at the Pittsburgh killings was believed to be a

46-year-old lone who was fired at countless times by the police.

Additionally, just like at Charleston, the alleged El Paso attacker posted his intentions on the

online forum 8chan. Roof's blog was last updated at 4:44 pm on the same day the shooting

occurred noting that he was in a great hurry. Furthermore, the attacks were in a way linked to

mental illness by the people involved. The former US President linked the El Paso attack to a “
mental health problem” arguing the perpetrators must be “very, very seriously mentally ill”

("Texas Walmart shooting: El Paso attack 'domestic terrorism'," 2019). Reports demonstrate the

history of severe mental health problems to be running in a family of the attacker of Charleston's

invasions. Dylan is reported to have been taking a drug that is associated with his sudden

outburst of violence. According to James Comey, the FBI director, Roof’s prior admission to a

narcotics drug should have stopped him from buying the weapon.

The main motivation for these attacks is to encourage white supremacy. Roof confessed that he

intended to lodge a serious race war against blacks. He was big into segregation and other stuff.

He told authorities that he was going to do something like that and then take his life by himself.

His Facebook page included a photo of himself wearing a jacket with symbols common in the

US: the flag of apartheid-era South Africa and the flag of the created Rhodesia. He jokingly told

his friends and neighbors he wanted to kill people but no one took him seriously. The 21-year old

El Paso criminal posted a document terming the invasion a response to the attack of Hispanic

descent (Ware, 2020). Before the invasion at Pittsburgh, the lone suspect had posted anti-Semitic

comments against the Jews community on Gab, an online social network. In his post, Bowers

said that HIAS brings in people to kill their people and he was not going to sit and watch them

die. At some point during the shooting, the suspect shouted that all Jews must be brought down

because they were committing genocide against his country. Also, his social media network,

Gab, was considered extremist friendly to alt-right, neo-Nazis, and whiter supremacists ("Help

for the helpers: Pitt social work study leads to support, training in wake of the tree of life

tragedy," n.d.).

Factors that Fostered the Far-Right White Supremacy Ideology

There are multiple pathways to radicalization. However, it emerges when someone has some

kind of problem, whether about the community at large, own life, or something different, whose

answer to the problem can only be found in a radical group or ideology (Ware, 2008). Sources of

grievances can be economic, social, and political issues. These factors can be categorized into

two broad classes, which Berger calls social and personal issues (Berger, 2016). Social issues

comprise economic upheaval, rapidly changing demographics, war and insurgency, swift

changes in civil rights or society, efforts to foment uncertainty by state actors, as well as

watershed changes in communication technology. Personal issues comprise mental illness,

economic insecurity, exposure to violence, relocation, economic insecurity, and religious

conversion. All these issues are present for some whites. Social media platforms are giving

citizens an outlet to express their concerns, drugs are killing friends and families, and

demographic statistics show whites will not be the dominant group in years to come.

A number of these issues contributed to how Roof radicalized himself. Politically, he had

concerns about the whites losing majority status in the coming decades. He believed that racial

awareness makes black Americans see themselves as weak to the whites even when they are not

mistreated. Some blacks manage to oppress the white society but because African Americans are

perceived as weak creatures, they escape with their evil deeds. Media sources at times do not

capture these hostile activities, or even when they are covered, they are not given much emphasis

as those committed by whites against blacks. Ignoring such kinds of stuff by government

officials or the concerned parties pushed him to fight for a society that he believed had one to

protect. Roof considered himself a white supremacist. At one point he admitted that is inarguable

that “our people are superior” (Miller, 2019). While being interrogated by an FBI agent why he

did it, Roof replied saying blacks were killing and raping whites on the streets each day and what
he did was minute compared to what they did to Americans. Muslims were also overrunning

certain sections of Europe and his purpose was to agitate race relations.

To Roof, culture is critical in the protection and preservation of white culture is at the core of his

white supremacist ideology. This is clear in his manifesto. Roof believes white culture will be

constantly threatened and eventually corrupted by being too close to African Americans. He

believes that the goal of cultural purity and racial segregation can only be attained through

violence. In his thought of doing something, Dylan was radicalized and ultimately nine innocent

lives were taken away. Although Roof’s motivations were driven by hatred and racism, the

internet contributed greatly to this radical extremism. Change in online communication also

contributed to his radicalization. All his thoughts and motivations emerged from the things he

watched online. He informed the court that he was just repeating, in facts, paragraphs, and slogan

some piece of information he had taken from the internet directly into his brain (Miller, 2019).

On his "The Last Rhodesian" website, Roof included a manifesto that contained his opinions

about East Asians, Hispanics, Blacks, and Jews and an image of him holding a gun. Dylan details

in this manifesto that he became racially aware following the killing of Trayvon Martin. When

he learned about this incident, he searched for it and concluded that Zimmerman George was

right. Unable to understand the controversy about it, he Googled “black on white” and came

across the website of Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) where found stories of blacks

killing whites (Miller, 2019). Since that day, Roof has not been the same. The analysis of online

communication by FBI experts showed some other white supremacists being against Roof's idea

of the massacre. From this, we can argue that Roof was self-radicalized online via his personal

experiences or association with white supremacist individuals or groups.

Historical Trends & Past Events that Fostered the Ideology Dylan Believes

Several past trends and events contributed to the killings at Emmanuel Church. His racist hatred

and racism have accumulated for years. First, the history of the church contributed to this attack.

Roof had spied out this church some months before, visiting and calling. Emmanuel church was

founded in 1816 and contributed greatly to the history of South Carolina in terms of Black Lives

Matter, Civil Rights Movements, as well as slavery, and reconstruction. It was the first

independent domination for the black community and is a historically black parishioner. In 1822,

was of the church founders, Vesey Denmark, together with 35 others, was hanged for organizing

a slave uprising on the night of June 16. It is worth mentioning that the 2015 attack took place on

the 193rd anniversary of the stopped rebellion. In 1834, the city blocked the rebuilt of the church

and all other black houses of worship. However, the parishioners continued to meet secretly.

Three decades later, the congregation was officially reorganized and adopted the name

Emmanuel. But this did not last as the 1886 Charleston earthquake badly damaged the structure.

The present structure was built in 1891. Two months before the attack, Clementa Pinckney,

church's pastor, conducted rallies following the murder of Walter Scott by a white police officer.

The pastor is also famous for demanding police to put on body cameras while serving as a state

senator.

People likened the Charleston shooting to the bombing of 16th Street Baptist church in 1963, a

black church in which the Ku Klux Klan compromised the lives of African-American girls and

wounded 14 others. Many politicians, scholars, and activists have linked the invasion to
historical racism within the country. In response to a spate of 154 suspicious church burnings

from 1991, Congress passed the Church Arson Prevention Act in 1996 which criminalized any

religious property damage due to race or ethnic character. In 2009, an arson attack came on the

day Barack Obama was inaugurated when a black church in Massachusetts was set on fire. The

history of this church is what made it a better choice for Roof. When asked by agents why he

selected Emmanuel AME, Roof responded saying it is because he was described online as the

ancient black church in the city. A day before the shooting, Hamski revealed that Dylan visited

Charleston multiple times, posing for photos at plantations and beaches. The images of his travel

in the city previously appeared on his website together with his racially inflammatory

photographs and writings holding a confederate flag. An employee at AT&T testified that Roof

had called the church in February while at home. Roof had the liking of Charleston because of its

history and during slavery, the area had many blacks compared to whites. He knew that the

church would have a few blacks who are meek and this pushed him to commit the crime.

Responding to two FBI agents who asked him why he chose Emmanuel a scene for crime, Roof

said “I wasn’t going to go to another church because there could be white people there”

(Hampton, 2016).

Another remarkable event that changed Roof was the killing of Trayvon Martin. George

Zimmerman noticed a young, unarmed black returning from a convenience store and suspected

he was no good person. He went on to call the police department describing Trayvon as a bad

guy who seems to be on drugs. Despite being told not to follow the man, Zimmerman left the

vehicle and followed him to the street. In a violent confrontation, Martin was shot at a close

range. Commentators maintained that the cause of the death was due to profiling Martin as a

criminal and eventually taking the law into his hands (Munro, 2021). It was from this event that
Roof started to research black crime against white people on the web. In the end, he found so

many cases of blacks killing white people. He needed to do something to salvage his community.

Being a strong supporter of Adolf Hitler also contributed to his ideological view. After being

apprehended, Roof was found to have written a manifesto of his racist beliefs and posted a photo

of himself holding the confederate flag on one hand and the US flag burning on the other. More

so, he had created his own symbol with the number 88, his initials, and a swastika. In a video,

Roof loaded the eight ammunition magazines with 11 bullets instead of 13 meaning that the

ammunition totaled 88. This number is used by white supremacists to symbolize the Nazi salute

"Heil Hitler.” He confessed that he supported Hitler. Roof created this logo to show who he was,

what he had done, and what he thought (O’Connor, 2019).

Impact of Charleston Attack on White Supremacy Community

The attack of the Emmanuel AME church elicited reactions from a cross-section of people and

groups. The then US President-Barack Obama, Charleston Mayor-Joseph Riley, and South

Carolina Governor-Nikki Haley denounced the attack and expressed their sorrow for the

bereaving families. Some of the families of the victims forgave Roof while his family refused to

many any comments out of respect for them. The local communities in the city organized for

fundraisers and prayer vigils while others held rallies demonstrating their anger. Religious

communities such as the World Methodist Council and World Council of Churches among

others issued statements expressing deep horror and grief and called for a change in religious

laws to guarantee the safety of churchgoers. The Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) which

is purported to be the site where the attacker used to radicalize himself condemned the shooting,

although admitted that the website is used to report on crimes committed by blacks against white
people. Some artists like Carrier Weems wrote pieces in response to the killings while Jerry

Richardson donated funds to the families of the victims. The advocates of the Civil Rights

Movement called the attack a reflection of the white supremacist groups and Ku Klux Klan that

seeks to terrorize blacks. Other consequences of this attack included the removal of confederate

memorials and monuments, the demand to remove flags from statehouse grounds, and retailers

being stopped to continue selling the flags. From all these reactions and consequences, we can

confidently say that at least everyone was upset by the act and demanded an immediate response,

probably from the government, to ensure safety and security, not only for parishioners but also

for the black community at large. But whether these hues and cries were heard and an effective

measure taken is dependent upon how the message was received by other perpetrators, and

whether similar cases have dropped or heightened.

The Charleston massacre has inspired several other racist hate groups in the country. In 2016,

Devin Kelley opened fire at Sutherland Springs' church killing 26 and injuring 20 others. In the

same year, Oscar Morel fatally shot two Muslims while they were leaving a New York City

mosque. In 2018, Robert Bowers murdered 11 and wounded 6 others at the Tree of Life

Congregation synagogue in Pittsburgh. In 2019, 26 people were gunned down at Walmart in El

Paso. In the same year, John Ernest was accused of killing a woman and wounding 3 others in

Poway, California. Allegations were made that the man engaged in this act since Jews were

destroying the county and issued the same comments in an online manifesto where he took about

a month preparing for the invasion. Other cases include one person being killed at

Charlottesville and 6 shot dead at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City among others

("history of recent attacks linked to white supremacy," 2019).

Each of these fatal killings by self-proclaimed white supremacists seems to have been driven

partly by a number of themes articulated in Roof's manifesto: racial hatred of Blacks, Muslims,

or Jews as well as the fear that these groups will soon outnumber and overtake the country. Even

though the history of the white supremacist groups dates back to 2008, the dizzying number of

these attacks has occurred after the 2015 attack. Whereas these groups differ on many grounds,

like the rationale for violence, they do share a notion that the US is a white country being

swamped by higher birthrates among native-born nonwhites and mass non-white immigration.

This view that nonwhites are outpacing the whites (browning of America) has generated the

feeling of displacement among some whites, evident in far-right claims about racial purity and

white genocide occurring in the country (Conway, Scrivens, & McNair, 2019).

The rise in power by Donald Trump has galvanized the alt-right, a group of online racists who

were almost non-existent prior to 2015. These groups have continued their online activities

through social media, seeing Trump as anti-establishment, anti-immigrant, and anti-Muslim. His

campaign did energize the alt-right and aided the movement to be noticed by many audiences.

The “Chans” have benefited this group, evolving into hubs for alt-right fans used to spread

trolling awareness (Beauchamp, 2019). The users of 8chan are famous for supporting mass

killings and it is from this platform that the El Paso shooter and the Poway synagogue attacker

all wrote their manifestos.

The use of Chans, Trump's rise, and increasing media coverage assisted white nationalist ideas to

spread rapidly since the 2015 attack. Young white men exposed to these radical ideas about the

browning of the US tend to use them as justification for violence, particularly in online forums

like 8chan (Beauchamp, 2019). Today, the country is witnessing a surge in white supremacy, and

with this increase, violence is likely to increase too. There is also a self-sustaining element for
people to turn into violence. Flourishing acts of violence tend to encourage copycats. For

example, the 2012 killing of Martin by George Zimmerman was quoted as an example by the

attack at Charleston Emmanuel AME. Elsewhere, the shooter at the New Zealand mosque that

left 51 people dead was inspired by both the El Paso attacker and the Poway synagogue

suspected shooter (Ware, 2020). Aware that there are platforms where attackers will be

applauded, like Rhodesian and 8chan, assures them that they will gain some status, living on web

infamy even after they are arrested or killed. This same logic can be employed in our case to

argue that the rise in white supremacists groups after 2015 is due to individuals imitating what

Roof did a while ago.

Therefore, the tales of this present surge in white nationalist murder are sophisticated ones, with

everything from copycats through Chan culture to media contributing. However, it is important

in the sense that it expresses the same white fears and dark past that Roof demonstrated before,

during, and even after the Charleston massacre.

Strategies for Reducing Lone-Wolf Attack & Radicalization

Violent acts perpetrated by a single person are one of the most unpredictable and puzzling forms

of terrorism. Lone actors are a threat and nightmare for the intelligence community and police

officers as they are hard to detect and defend against. Unlike network-sponsored or group

terrorism, lone individuals have a fair advantage in going without being noticed before and after

the invasions. This is because the majority of these lone operators do not converse with others

about their plans. While they may lack professional support, means, and skills, some have

demonstrated to be very dangerous. There is no consensus as to the effective measures for

countering terrorism. However, the available ones are reconciled with the famous principle of
freedom just like those principles for security purposes. In 2016, graduate students in the

Security Studies at Georgetown University proposed the National Security Critical Issue Task

Force (NSCITF) to examine the present state of affairs for preventing violent extremism

(Challgren et al., 2016). The students applied this model to a health prevention approach of

radicalizing extremism and consequently to violence. This framework applied tertiary,

secondary, and primary measures for deterring illness in order to bring violent extremism to a

halt.

NSCITF framework can be applied in the prevention of mass murder and terrorist activities. At

the primary level, measures may include accessible, competent, and affordable mental health

solutions, provision of positive education opportunities, and job training. Secondary

countermeasures may include formulation and adoption of obvious laws that allow law enforcing

agencies to respond to worrying behaviors (Challgren et al., 2016). Examples of such common-

sense laws include community treatment commitment for examination following threats of

violence, removal of guns from a home after allegations of domestic violence, or unintentional

hospitalization. More so, secondary countermeasures may include community engagement and

measures aimed at the criminals who at this moment are demonstrating signs of terrorist

tendencies or emerging violent or and indulging in trivial violent actions but still lack

professional skills of lodging a deadly action(Challgren et al., 2016). Lastly, tertiary options

come in were both secondary and primary measures have failed. Tertiary countermeasures will

comprise interdiction, prosecution, and arrest of people planning major or minor attacks

(Challgren et al., 2016). These measures are undertaken after a crime has been committed.

Although only a few people will cross the line and decide to wedge an attack, the associated

costs can be overwhelming. Intervention or interdiction proves an ideal strategy where an attack
is detected early enough. But it is through huge investment in secondary and primary prevention

alternatives that the increasing rates of violent lone operators indulging in mass killing can be

reversed.

Hewitt (2014) proposes the establishment of internet management systems to reinforce the

integration of comprehensive judgments of situations as well as anti-terrorism. Also, foreign

police forces ought to share experiences in combating strategies for pre and post-criminal

activities to properly deal with lone-wolf terrorism and crimes to reduce its effect on social and

national order to guarantee a safe worldwide community. Bakker and de Graaf (2010) provide

some clues as to where to begin counter-terrorism reactions. They emphasize the need to

comprehend the radicalization process of lone operators. Understanding these processes provides

an avenue for proper measures to counter or prevent the threat of violence. Countermeasures

require effective data collection and analysis through effective data management as well as

complex intelligence commodities.

Because of the commonality amongst many lone actors that some level of commitment and

identification with extremist movements exist, and that radicalization does not take place in an

empty space, it’s crucial to cooperate and investigate with affected societies. The success of the

counter-radicalization strategy is dependent upon proper community participation. For this

reason, there is a need for a community-based approach that fosters a more conducive

environment for counter-radicalization operators making them monitor the ground and improve

interdiction ability. Good community relations reduce motivations for violence and inspire local

cooperation with authorities. This could entail working with religious organizations to ensure ties

to the community. Public awareness initiatives for universities, parents, and schools could be
promising; there need not be an organization of big public campaigns meant to create an ethical

panic (Bakker and de Graaf, 2010).

Effects of Public Shaming of Right-wing Figures on Lone Wolf Terrorism

Today, many people have considered naming and humiliating an avenue for watchful justice in

order to combat the growing voices of the white supremacists. Those who use social media

platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have been praising the effort to hold rally attendees

liable claiming that those who get a "weekend Nazi" must pay for their actions. Ironically, these

groups of activists at times use similar techniques as cybercriminals who have sought after Black

Lives Matter Movements, feminists, and people of color. This is achieved through a tactic

termed "doxxing" where personally identifiable information like social security numbers, phone

numbers, and addresses are generated as a form of online harassment (Ware, 2020). In so doing,

security and privacy concerns of the white supremacists have been raised. This identification and

shaming of the white nationalist groups have had adverse effects on both the victims and

harassers.

There is a need to recognize the emotional harm and trauma that can take place and the terroristic

threat expressed by a white supremacist. Shouting out their names, or rather hate speech, can

lead to trauma; however, the perpetrators are not eligible for any legal effects encountered by

those causing the physical violence. Inarguably, it becomes a matter of own humanity and self-

defense when you doxx someone who is already threatening your existence and dehumanizing

you. Those targeted by white nationalists usually have limited alternatives for protection. The
Charlottesville police, for example, failed to offer protection to churchgoers at a church during

the rally while white supremacists moved the streets well-armed.

In 2017, Gregg Davis, a resident of Missouri, shared a Facebook post over 200000 times with

10k comments. The image was asking, “Do you know me? Are you my employer? I was at the

Nazi Rally at Charlotte.” This post asked people to name the far-right protesters who met at

Charlottesville for a torch march which elicited violence causing the death of a woman. Another

Twitter user named @YesYoureRacist that is used to exposing white supremacists also requested

anyone to send the name and profiles of the Nazis marching in for them to be shamed. While the

campaign following Charlottesville might have not reached the same heights, there have been

consequences for some self-proclaimed white supremacists, and even those who never attended

the rallies. A student at the University of Nevada by the name of Peter Cvjetanovic was

identified and suspended from the school. Another alt-right protester, Cole White, lost his job at

a hot dog restaurant. The family of Peter Tefft denounced him after he was seen being

interviewed at the scene. Sometimes, the general public feels powerless against the rising

prominence of the alt-right, and naming them can stop this group of white supremacists and neo-

Nazis from succeeding in their mission. People show their anger about the normalization and

rising social acceptability of these ranks and social identification and shaming becomes the only

tool to fight back.

Conclusion

The concept and threat of the Lone Wolf attack are not new. Separatists, Islamist groups,

abortion foes, and right-wing white supremacists have all applied this approach differently to

achieve their goals. In the past, lone operators have killed prime ministers and presidents in an
attempt to overturn what they called an oppressive government. In 2015, right-wing extremist

Dylann Roof murdered nine worshipers and injured 6 others. Since then, the number of lone

anarchists has been on the rise. The increase in these cases can be attributed to Trump’s rise,

media, and social platforms like Chans. Due to the modes of operations and how unstructured

these people are, it becomes very difficult if not impossible to detect and arrest lone individuals.

The growing number of white supremacists and neo-Nazis in the United States has made people

feel powerless, and naming as well as shaming them is the only available tactic for them to fight

back. While this strategy may be successful, if not done right it breaches the privacy and

confidentiality of information especially when it contains identifiable information like social

security numbers, telephone numbers, and addresses.

Although lone wolves cannot be completely being done away with, their numbers can be

significantly reduced and the ultimate threat vanished. Primary, secondary, and tertiary counter-

terrorism measures as outlined in the National Security Critical Issue Task Force (NSCITF)

framework can be used to stop extremist violence. Keeping the actors as lonely as possible

through arrests and intelligence gatherings will block them from getting the required training.

Exploiting social media is also critical in identifying possible group members and disrupting

their activities. Community support after the attack is also vital for ethnic groups living in the

country. Good community relations reduce motivations for violence and inspire local

cooperation with authorities. Other preventive approaches include ensuring good family

relations, arrest and prosecution, and the creation of public awareness concerning the effects of

such attacks.
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Dylann roof's journal. (2016, December 14). Post and Courier. https://www.postandcourier.com/dylann-

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pathways to forge prevention strategies. Retrieved from National Institute of Justice website
https://www. ncjrs. gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/248691. pdf.

Hampton, O. (2016, December 10). US jury sees Hitler-supporting church shooter’s calm confession.
The Times of Israel | News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish
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confession/

Hawes, J. B. (2017, January 6). Dylann roof jailhouse journal. Post and

Courier. https://www.postandcourier.com/dylann-roof-jailhouse-journal/pdf_da3e19b8-d3b3-
11e6-b040-03089263e67c.html

Hewitt, C. (2014). Jeffrey d. simon. lone wolf terrorism: Understanding the growing threat.

Jepkins, J. P. (2016). White supremacy. Encyclopedia

Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/white-supremacy/

Miller, G. D. (2019). Blurred Lines. Perspectives on Terrorism, 13(3), 63-75.

Munro, A. (2021). Shooting of Trayvon Martin. Encyclopedia

Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/shooting-of-Trayvon-Martin

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WATCH: Dylann roof's confession FBI agents. (2016, December 9).

YouTube. https://youtu.be/JKRoFoy_Hpc/