A website purportedly created by Charleston church shooting suspect Dylan Roof surfaced Saturday. The site contains numerous disturbing photographs of Roof, presumably from his personal collection, and a manifesto filled with racist language.
The site’s URL is “lastrhodesian.com,” an apparent reference to Rhodesia, the Apartheid-era white supremacist regime in what is now Zimbabwe. Rhodesia is admired by modern white supremacists, and the 21-year-old Roof was previously seen wearing a Rhodesian flag on his jacket in his Facebook profile photo.
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VICE News could not independently confirm the authenticity of the website, which began circulating on social media Saturday morning.
A Reverse Whois search — a tool that provides information about web domain ownership — shows that “lastrhodesian.com” was registered to an administrator named Dylann Roof on February 2, 2015. The administrator registered with the address 10428 Garners Ferry Road, South Carolina, which is located about 20 miles east of Columbia, South Carolina. The site is set to expire on February 2, 2016.
A spokesman for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) was not aware of the website’s existence when contacted Saturday by VICE News, and declined to comment. An FBI spokesperson said the agency is not allowed to release any information about the site, but they are reportedly investigating.
The website’s homepage features an image of actor Russell Crowe in the 1992 film Romper Stomper. The image shows Crowe’s character lying dead and bloodied on a beach. Two links in plain white text are below the image, one labeled “Photos” and the other “Text.”
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Photo via lastrhodesian.com
The “Photos” link goes to a .zip file that contains 60 images. Many show Roof taking selfies, often glaring at the camera, and others show him at the Confederate Soldiers Cemetery and the Sacred Burial Site of African Ancestors. One image appears to show Roof in his bedroom aiming his .45 caliber pistol at the camera. A separate standalone shot shows the pistol — the same caliber used in the Emanuel AME Chruch shooting —and seven bullets. Another menacing image in the collection shows Roof setting fire to the American flag.
Exif data analysis of the images shows that 33 of them are high resolution and were taken with a Kodak Easyshare Camera C1530. Roof can be seen holding what appears to be a Kodak camera of that model in one image. The remaining 26 images appear to have been modified and or downloaded from social media.
The “Text” link on the homepage directs users to a simple .txt file that contains a lengthy manifesto and racist screed. Containing several grammatical errors and misspellings, the manifesto begins with the author stating that he was not raised in a racist home or environment.
“Living in the South, almost every White person has a small amount of racial awareness, simply beause [sic] of the numbers of negroes in this part of the country. But it is a superficial awareness,” it says.
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Photo via lastrhodesian.com
The writing goes on to describe the event that “truly awakened” the author: the Trayvon Martin case.
“It was obvious that Zimmerman was in the right,” the document states, claiming it led the author to research “black on white crimes.” The author claims to “have never been the same since that day,” and states that “I can say today that I am completely racially aware.”
The manifesto says the author delved into similar research on England, France, and other Western European countries, and found that “the situation is even worse there.” This led him to examine several other communities, including Jews, Hispanics and East Asians. He calls Hispanics “enemies,” and Jews an “enigma.”
‘I hate the sight of the American flag. Modern American patriotism is an absolute joke.’
The document is filled with hateful language toward African-Americans, a group the author refers to as the “biggest problem for Americans.”
“Niggers are stupid and violent,” the document states. “At the same time they have the capacity to be very slick.”
The author also calls black people “inferior.”
“Even today, blacks are subconsciously viewed by White people are lower beings. They are held to a lower standard in general,” the document says. “This is why they are able to get away with things like obnoxious behavior in public. Because it is expected of them.”
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Photo via lastrhodesian.com
The author also supports segregation, writing that it “was not a bad thing. It was a defensive measure. Segregation did not exist to hold back negroes. It existed to protect us from them.”
The author justifies his actions by saying that the fear of black people leads “white parents” to move to the suburbs and send their children to “good schools.” Under this premise, he talks about being an advocate for white people that are “left behind.”
“And who is fighting for him? Who is fighting for these White people forced by economic circumstances to live among negroes? No one, but someone has to,” the document states.
The manifesto goes on to talk about Apartheid in South Africa, and how whites and black are different, with white people having more a “unique culture” or “world culture.”
Photo via lastrhodesian.com
“Negroes have lower Iqs, lower impulse control, and higher testosterone levels in generals,” it says with typos typical of the work. “These three things alone are a recipe for violent behavior.”
The author’s views on patriotism are filled with hateful vitriol.
“I hate the sight of the American flag,” he says. “Modern American patriotism is an absolute joke. People pretending like they have something to be proud while White people are being murdered daily in the streets.”
Approximately 2,000 words long, the manifesto concludes with an attempt at an explanation.
“I have no choice,” it says. “I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.”
