MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Online evidence showed Dylann Roof’s hatred of African-Americans was aligned with, and sometimes formed by, the website of an organization called the Council of Conservative Citizens.
Investigators said right now, the only explanation why Dylann Roof shot and killed nine people in a historic African-American church in Charleston, is his manifesto posted online.
Roof claimed he was influenced by the group and its views that included no mixing races and that American people and government should remain European.
WREG discovered people right here in the Mid-South have ties to it.
The organization was formed in the 1980s.
Some civil rights groups called it a white supremacist organization.
WREG pulled the group’s most recent registration form filed in 2013 in Missouri, and found out three men from Memphis, Bartlett and Horn Lake were listed as directors.
One director listed was 85-year-old Arthur Furniss living in Horn Lake, Mississippi.
He didn’t want to go on camera, but did tell us he’s still a member who didn’t go to meetings anymore.
He said the organization was a good group.
Another director, who was home but didn’t answer the door, lives in Midtown.
Keith Alexander ran as a Republican candidate for Shelby County Property Assessor last year.
We also went to the Bartlett address for James Edwards, who was also listed as a director.
The building was empty.
No luck calling or emailing him either.
Edwards is the host of a conservative radio show.
On his blog, he posted a statement from the CofCC president saying the organization is not responsible “for the actions of this deranged individual” merely because he glanced at “accurate information from our website.”
Edwards later sent us the following statement:
“I unequivocally condemn Dylann Roof’s murderous actions, but in no way was there a legitimate “link” between the alleged shooter and the Council of Conservative Citizens. To say that there is a “link” because he once visited the website reeks of Soviet-era smear tactics. The C of CC cannot reasonably be held accountable for the psychotic reaction this deranged individual had in response to reading truthful statements regarding interracial crime.
According to the Department of Justice, every year there are approximately 500,000 violent, interracial crimes (completed or attempted / threatened). Of these, nearly 83 percent are committed by blacks against whites.
Every year, there are some 20,000 rapes or sexual assaults (including threats) of white women by blacks, but crimes of this sort by white men against black women are so unusual, they scarcely appear in crime statistics.
My prayers go out to the families of the victims in Charleston. After the healing begins to occur it is my sincere hope that mature Americans can finally begin to have an honest conversation about race, rather than being subjected to a one-sided lecture.”
