Whiteness or Resilience? Placing Terror by Studying the Charleston, South Carolina Mother Emanuel Church Shooting

ABSTRACT

How do ideas of place support the development of racialized identities in times of terror violence? We situate this paper in the “deep” south via the shooting of 9 black churchgoers by a white supremacist. We explore how the community mobilized after the massacre, and in what ways it relied on ideas of place. While many claimed that the community exemplified resilience, we demonstrate a process of re-racialization.  We analyzed local media to document place framing.  This frame was recirculated in reporting of residents’ expressions about the tragedy. We conducted interviews with community leaders to deepen our understanding. We find that while place played a powerful role in the resilience narrative, the resilience was ultimately one of a city of whiteness. We advance several points: (1) whiteness adapts in times of terror; (2) place is important in the security studies; and (3) place also plays a role in attenuating fear.

KEYWORDS:

• Terrorism
• race
• place
• resilience
• whiteness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Charleston has long been a city concerned with preventing black violence and protest. The Citadel, the military college of South Carolina, has its origins in response to a slave revolt organized by Denmark Vesey in 1822. The forerunner to the Citadel College, known as the Arsenal, was constructed in the center of Charleston, just feet from where Vesey was hanged for his “crimes” (National Park Service. Description of the South Carolina State Arsenal. Retrieved from https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/charleston/ssa.htm. Last accessed 12 January 2018.)

2. U.S. Code, Chapter 38 C.F.R. § 2656f.

3. Data obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts and the American Factfinder for the metropolitan statistical areas (or regions). The QuickFacts are available searching on the U.S. Census Bureau Web site using each city’s name. The MSA data table is available at the following U.S. Census Bureau Web site: https://census.gov/data/tables/2016/demo/popest/total-metro-and-micro-statistical-areas.html#tables last accessed 15 May 2018.

4. US Department of Justice: 84% of Whites killed every year are by other Whites; from 1980 to 2008, a majority (53.3%) of gang-related murders were committed by Whites; in 2013, Whites led all groups in aggravated assault, larceny theft, arson, weapons-carrying, and vandalism.

5. Brock Turner Mugshot: https://thinkprogress.org/the-brock-turner-mug-shot-the-police-really-didnt-want-you-to-see-35d884d30f67.

6. The report is available from the Avery Research Center at the following Web site: http://rsji.cofc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/The-State-of-Racial-Disparities-in-Charleston-County-SC-Rev.-11-14.pdf . Last accessed 19 May 2018.