The Charleston Shootings and the Protests against the Confederate Flag in the United States

On 17 June 2015, nine people were shot and killed at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church—an African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina—in what is being described as a “hate crime”. The victims included Clementa C. Pinckney, the church pastor, along with eight members of his bible study group. The suspect, Dylann Roof, a white American, had previously posted pictures of himself online wearing white supremacist iconography, and had written a ‘manifesto’ containing multiple racist views. In the aftermath of the shooting, debate has reopened on both gun control in the United States, and the use of arguably potent and divisive symbols, particularly the Confederate flag.