The most disturbing revelation from Dylann Roof's jailhouse manifesto
The trial of 22-year-old Dylann Roof, who was found guilty last month of 33 federal charges in the June 2015 massacre of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, has entered its sentencing phase — but new details about Roof are still coming to light.
On Thursday, Roof's jailhouse diary, written over the summer, was introduced as evidence, and it contains disturbing drawings of crosses and swastikas, racist tirades against Jews, Muslims, Hispanics, his fantasies of global white supremacy and a list of his favorite films.
But by far the most disturbing revelation of his jailhouse writings is the insistence, yet again, that Roof is patently unremorseful about committing mass murder.
Not only does Roof claim to be completely unapologetic, in the manifesto he also implies that murdering black people was something he "had to do," painting himself as a victim.
"Sometimes, sitting in my cell, I think about how nice it would be to watch a movie, or eat some good food, or drive my car somewhere, but then I remember how I felt when I did these things, and how I knew I had to do something," Roof wrote. "And then I realize it was worth it."
The manifesto continues:
I would like to make it crystal clear, I do not regret what I did. I am not sorry. I have not shed a tear for the innocent people I killed. I do feel sorry for the innocent white children forced to live in this sick country, and I do feel sorry for the innocent white people killed daily at the hands of the lower races. I have shed a tear of self pity for myself. I feel pity that I had to give up my life because of a situation that should never have existed.
In the 42 diary pages entered into evidence this week, Roof also railed against immigration and expressed admiration for Russia as a "conservative, racially aware country."
Roof, who on Wednesday told jurors "there is nothing wrong with me psychologically," also wrote that homosexuality "should be re-instated as a mental illness, and a severe one at that," and said he "will not lower myself to even comment on transgenderism."
In one particularly jumbled paragraph, Roof touched on a laundry list of complaints. "Feminism is bad," he wrote. "Modern psychology is bad and Jewish and evil. Abortion of white children is wrong. Social services are evil, sometimes." Roof's jailhouse writings range from the appalling to the bizarre — he included The Notebook on his list of favorite films.
He went on to say that he would have "liked to adopt a white child." Roof's jailhouse writings also contained a series of drawings, depicting Jesus and white supremacist symbols.
The sentencing phase is expected to continue into next week.
