Chapter 30: Terror

126      gunned down twelve people  Dan Bilefsky and Maïa de la Baume, “Terrorists Strike Charlie Hebdo Newspaper in Paris, Leaving 12 Dead,” New York Times, January 7, 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/world/europe/charlie-hebdo-paris-shooting.html.

126      “We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad”  Chérif and Said Kouachi quoted in Bilefsky and de la Baume, “Terrorists Strike Charlie Hebdo Newspaper in Paris, Leaving 12 Dead,” www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/world/europe/charlie-hebdo-paris-shooting.html.

126      Islamophobic depictions of Muhammad One of the slain cartoonists, for example, “stoked controversy and drew the ire of many in the Muslim community in 2006 when he republished satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that had been published in a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten. His last cartoon for Charlie Hebdo featured an armed man who appeared to be a Muslim fighter with a headline that read: ‘Still no attacks in France. Wait! We have until the end of January to offer our wishes.’” Bilefsky and de la Baume, “Terrorists Strike Charlie Hebdo Newspaper in Paris, Leaving 12 Dead,” www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/world/europe/charlie-hebdo-paris-shooting.html.

126      lampooned Muslim terrorists and Islamic fundamentalism  See “French Cartoons Editor Acquitted,” BBC News, March 22, 2007, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6479673.stm.

126      four out of ten . . . “a threat to our national identity” Susan Dominus, “The National Front’s Post-Charlie Hebdo Moment,” New York Times Magazine, February 18, 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/magazine/the-national-fronts-post-charlie-hebdo-moment.html.

126      claimed responsibility Catherine E. Shoichet and Josh Levs, “Al Qaeda Branch Claims Charlie Hebdo Attack Was Years in the Making,” CNN, January 21, 2015, edition.cnn.com/2015/01/14/europe/charlie-hebdo-france-attacks/index.html.

126      two brothers of Algerian descent who were born in France “2015 Charlie Hebdo Attacks Fast Facts,” CNN, December 19, 2024, www.cnn.com/2015/01/21/europe/2015-paris-terror-attacks-fast-facts/index.html.

126      “We must not be scared of words . . .” Reuters, “Marine Le Pen Blames Radical Islamism for Charlie Hebdo Attack—Video,” The Guardian, January 8, 2015, www.theguardian.com/world/video/2015/jan/08/marine-le-pen-radical-islamism-charlie-hebdo-attack-video, 0:28–0:35.

126      “the Islamification of our society is what’s causing this”  Geert Wilders quoted in Winston Ross, “Geert Wilders: The ‘Prophet’ Who Hates Muhammad,” Newsweek, January 19, 2015, www.newsweek.com/2015/01/30/geert-wilders-prophet-who-hates-muhammad-300266.html.

126–127 “The biggest disease we have faced . . .”  Wilders quoted in Ross, “Geert Wilders: The ‘Prophet’ Who Hates Muhammad,” www.newsweek.com/2015/01/30/geert-wilders-prophet-who-hates-muhammad-300266.html.

127      “Our culture . . . it’s a better culture”  Wilders quoted in Ross, “Geert Wilders: The ‘Prophet’ Who Hates Muhammad,” www.newsweek.com/2015/01/30/geert-wilders-prophet-who-hates-muhammad-300266.html.

127      attended a rally in Paris  “Hungary PM Orban Says Immigration a Threat, Must Be Stopped,” Reuters, January 12, 2015, www.reuters.com/article/world/hungary-pm-orban-says-immigration-a-threat-must-be-stopped-idUSKBN0KL0L3/.

127      “We do not want to see a significant minority . . .”  Viktor Orbán quoted in “Hungary PM Orban Says Immigration a Threat, Must Be Stopped,” www.reuters.com/article/world/hungary-pm-orban-says-immigration-a-threat-must-be-stopped-idUSKBN0KL0L3/.

127      “Europe must have the courage to forcefully . . .”  Giorgia Meloni, Twitter, January 11, 2015, 9:21 a.m., x.com/GiorgiaMeloni/status/554281918683185152, archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/a729D.

127      entered the basement  Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, “A Most American Terrorist: The Making of Dylann Roof,” GQ, August 21, 2017, www.gq.com/story/dylann-roof-making-of-an-american-terrorist.

127      “blessed with a significant amount of German . . .”  Roof wrote, “My blood is mostly from the British Isles, but I have been blessed with a significant amount of German blood and a German surname. My blood is representative of America.” Dylann Roof, handwritten manifesto, 2015, 12.

127      high school . . . from job to job . . . drank and . . . drugs . . . strip clubs  Frances Robles and Nikita Stewart, “Dylann Roof’s Past Reveals Trouble at Home and School,” New York Times, July 16, 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/us/charleston-shooting-dylann-roof-troubled-past.html; and Ghansah, “A Most American Terrorist,” www.gq.com/story/dylann-roof-making-of-an-american-terrorist.

127      preferred Black strippers “Occasionally he went to strip clubs; in an interview with the Charlotte Observer, [Roof’s friend Joey] Meek's girlfriend recalled that Dylann had a preference for black strippers.” Ghansah, “A Most American Terrorist,” www.gq.com/story/dylann-roof-making-of-an-american-terrorist.

127      reading websites spouting great replacement theory  Robles and Stewart, “Dylann Roof’s Past Reveals Trouble at Home and School,” www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/us/charleston-shooting-dylann-roof-troubled-past.html; Ghansah, “A Most American Terrorist,” www.gq.com/story/dylann-roof-making-of-an-american-terrorist; Rebecca Hersher, “What Happened When Dylann Roof Asked Google for Information About Race?” The Two-Way, NPR, January 10, 2017, www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/10/508363607/what-happened-when-dylann-roof-asked-google-for-information-about-race; and Abby Phillip, “Dylann Roof Was Active on White Supremacist Web Forum, Group says,” Washington Post, June 22, 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/06/22/dylann-roof-was-active-on-white-supremacist-web-forum-southern-poverty-law-center-says/.

127      telling friends he wanted to start a race war  Robles and Stewart, “Dylann Roof’s Past Reveals Trouble at Home and School,” www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/us/charleston-shooting-dylann-roof-troubled-past.html.

127      “88” . . . “Heil Hitler" “88 is a white supremacist numerical code for ‘Heil Hitler.’ H is the eighth letter of the alphabet, so 88 = HH = Heil Hitler. One of the most common white supremacist symbols, 88 is used throughout the entire white supremacist movement, not just neo-Nazis.” “88,” Hate on Display Symbols Database, Anti-Defamation League (ADL), accessed January 23, 2025, www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/88.

127      88 Facebook friends . . . 88 bullets  Ghansah, “A Most American Terrorist,” www.gq.com/story/dylann-roof-making-of-an-american-terrorist.

127      the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church in the U.S. South “South Carolina: Mother Emanuel AME Church,” National Park Service, accessed January 23, 2025, www.nps.gov/places/south-carolina-mother-emanuel-ame-church.htm.

127      came upon twelve African Americans  Ghansah, “A Most American Terrorist,” www.gq.com/story/dylann-roof-making-of-an-american-terrorist.

127      welcomed him into their Bible study  Wayne Drash, “Inside the Bible Study Massacre: A Mom ‘Laid in her Son’s Blood,’” CNN, December 17, 2015, www.cnn.com/2015/06/19/us/inside-charleston-bible-study-massacre/index.html.

127      seat next to the pastor . . . prayed together . . . pulled a gun Drash, “Inside the Bible Study Massacre,” www.cnn.com/2015/06/19/us/inside-charleston-bible-study-massacre/index.html.

127      murdered nine of the Bible study participants, leaving  Ghansah, “A Most American Terrorist,” www.gq.com/story/dylann-roof-making-of-an-american-terrorist.

127      “to tell the story” Dylann Roof’s words to survivor Polly Sheppard, as recalled by Sheppard. Ghansah, “A Most American Terrorist,” www.gq.com/story/dylann-roof-making-of-an-american-terrorist. 

127      deadliest attack at a place of worship in U.S. history Sarah Pulliam Bailey, “The Charleston Shooting Is the Largest Mass Shooting in a House of Worship Since 1991,” Washington Post, June 18, 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/06/18/the-charleston-shooting-is-the-largest-mass-shooting-in-a-house-of-worship-since-1991/.

127–128 “Anyone who thinks that White and black people . . .” Dylann Roof, online manifesto, 2015.

128      called Jews an “enigma”  Roof, online manifesto.

128      contended Latinos “have respect for White beauty”  Roof, online manifesto.

128      “good White blood” worth “saving in Uruguay . . . still our enemies”  Roof, online manifesto.

128      “. . .allies with the Northeast Asian races”  Roof, online manifesto.

128      “They are by nature very racist” Roof, online manifesto.

128      “I have no choice”  Roof, online manifesto.

128      visiting the website of the Council of Conservative Citizens  Roof, online manifesto.

128      “. . . brutal black on White murders” Roof, online manifesto.

128      “I saw that the same things were happening . . .” Roof, online manifesto.

128      murderers of White people in the United States and Europe . . .  According to the most recent available data for the United States, 78.6 percent of White murder victims were killed by other White people. In England and Wales, 83.4 percent of White murder victims were killed by other White people. “Expanded Homicide Data Table 6: Race, Sex, and Ethnicity of Victim by Race, Sex, and Ethnicity of Offender, 2019,” Crime in the United States, 2019, FBI, accessed January 24, 2025, ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-6.xls; and Office for National Statistics, “Appendix Table 28: Principal Suspects Convicted of Homicide, by Ethnic Appearance of Victim and Principal Suspect, Combined Data for Year Ending March 2018 to Year Ending March 2020,” February 10, 2022, 2021, available at www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/appendixtableshomicideinenglandandwales/current/previous/v7/homicideinewyemar20v2.xlsx.

128      “unequivocally condemns Roof’s murderous actions” Council of Conservative Citizens quoted in Tom Loftus, “Paul to Give Racist’s Money to Victim Families,” Courier Journal (Louisville), June 22, 2015, www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/rand-paul/2015/06/22/paul-give-racists-money-victims-families/29116205/.

128      “unshakably behind the facts on its website . . .”  Council of Conservative Citizens quoted in Loftus, “Paul to Give Racist’s Money to Victim Families,” www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/rand-paul/2015/06/22/paul-give-racists-money-victims-families/29116205/.

128      as “fighters”  Payton Gendron, manifesto, May 12, 2022, 13.

128      “These men fought for me and had the same goals I did”  Gendron, manifesto, 13.

128–129 almost three times as many terror attacks . . . as attackers who practice Islam Vera Bergengruen and W.J. Hennigan, “We Are Being Eaten From Within.’ Why America Is Losing the Battle Against White Nationalist Terrorism,” Time, August 8, 2019, time.com/5647304/white-nationalist-terrorism-united-states/.

129      many more homicides than attackers who practice Islam “Since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists, including 227 events that took more than 520 lives.” Steven Chermak et al., “What NIJ Research Tells Us About Domestic Terrorism,” National Institute of Justice (NIJ), January 4, 2024, accessed via Wayback Machine, September 11, 2025 capture, web.archive.org/web/20250911012550/https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/what-nij-research-tells-us-about-domestic-terrorism.

129      “The tragedy in South Carolina is incomprehensible . . .”  Donald J. Trump, Twitter, June 18, 2015, 12:58 p.m., x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/611578826745847809, archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/ji5Ys.

129      promote his appearance . . .  Donald J. Trump, Twitter, June 18, 2015, 1:35 p.m., x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/611588010614915072, archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/qBI3j.