June 19, 2015

• White Americans need to have an honest discussion about white culture. Because that isn't happening.
• Today was the 14th time President Obama has given a speech following a mass shooting.
• Lindsay Graham says the Confederate flag "works" in South Carolina—the shootings disprove that.
• Dylann Roof legally had a gun because South Carolina doesn't require background checks for private sales.
• "Bizarrely, a number of conservative figures have treated Roof’s motives as unknowable."
• These are the nine people who were murdered in Charleston.
• South Carolina governor wants death penalty for church shootings.
• Mass killings in America are like pollution in China: a problem officials aren't willing to address.
• No way to prevent this, says only nation where this regularly happens.
• "In the picture, he wears a black jacket that features the flags of Rhodesia...and apartheid-era South Africa."
• Dylann Storm Roof is a terrorist, not a "troubled youth" who perpetuated "gun violence."
• "Language shapes our perception of the root causes of violent acts, and determines the appropriate response."
• After the Charleston shootings, there's no time for officials' tactful statements anymore.
• Letter to my mother after Charleston.
• "You couldn't help but sense how submerged [Obama's] emotions were."
• NRA board director blames pastor's anti-gun beliefs for church deaths.
• White supremacists are concerned the South Carolina shootings will damage their image.
• Outside a church in Richmond last night, a man beat on the doors and yelled racial slurs.
• Take down the Confederate flag.
• Supreme Court upholds Texas's right to reject Confederate flag license plates.
• "The African Church, as black Charlestonians called it, promptly attracted the animosity of the authorities."
• Census Bureau may drop the word "race" from future surveys, citing confusion.
• When raising the age for trial as an adult, policymakers must decide what constitutes justice for teen murderers.
• Nearly $2 billion withdrawn from Greek banks as debt repayment talks break down.
• Baseball is ready for an openly gay player.