captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday june 20: new details emerge about suspected charleston church shooter dylann roof. as charleston continues to cope with the tragedy. >> if that young man thought he was going divide this community or divide this country with his racial hatred, he miserably failed. >> sreenivasan: while other congregations across the country show their support. >> this church, the african methodist episcopal church born out of of the emergent needs of people finding themselves in

difficulties day in and day out. >> sreenivasan: next on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support is provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios in lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening and thanks for joining us. we start with new details about the young man charged with killing nine black parishioners in an historic charleston church. federal authorities are reportedly investigating a website that contains pictures of 21-year old dylann storm roof which were posted along with

what is described as a white supremacist manifesto. roof appears to be posing in dozens of pictures, holding weapons, burning flags and visiting confederate soldiers' graves. some of the photos appear to have been taken just hours before the shooting. it is not clear who wrote the manifesto or took the pictures. but in a section titled "an explanation," the author wrote that charleston doesn't have any skinheads or real kkk, so" well, someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and i guess that has to be me." an african-american friend of the suspect told the associated press that he had been drinking with roof and others last week when roof announced he was planning a mass shooting at the college of charleston. christon scriven said he thought it was just drunken bluster, but another friend hid roof's handgun until roof sobered up. >> i don't even think the church was his primary target, because he went, he told us he was going

for the school, but i think he >> sreenivasan: tonight, we're also learning that roof was able to get that gun through a loophole in the gun laws. federal law prohibits dealers from selling a firearm to someone facing pending felony charges. roof, who was charged with possession of suboxone, a prescription narcotic, had access to the weapon because, according to the "washington post," he got the gun from his father as a gift, making it a private gun transaction with no required background check in the state of south carolina. dylann roof's family issued a statement late last night saying the family is devastated and praying for peace and healing. the judge in the case called for sympathy and help for the victims including roof's family members. last night, church and city leaders in charleston spoke about the impact of the violence on their community: >> we're here to encourage the nine families, the leadership of the church, to acknowledge and wrestle with what must be done about the violence that

took nine lives while they spread the word of god, and fellowship, one with the other. >> if that young man thought he was going divide this community or divide this country with his racial hatred, he miserably failed. congregations across charleston are synchronizing their church bells as a sign of unity to ring them all exactly at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. >> sreenivasan: reuters reporter luciana lopez has been in south carolina covering the story. she joins me now from mount pleasant south carolina. what more do we know today about dylann roof and his motivations? >> well, one interesting thing that surfaced is that what appeared to be a white supremacist manifesto has surfaced, and we're trying to verify that this does, indeed come from dylann roof, but it lays out a little bit about how he was radicalized, looking up information about trayvon martin, and it lays out some of his feelings about other racial

groups as well. again, we're trying to verify that this is, indeed, his but this goes a little bit deeper into his ideology. >> sreenivasan: and what's in there? what does he think of and was there an explanation for why he did this? >> there is an explanation of sort. again, he talks about how he was radicalized and looking up information about different racial and ethnic groups in the united states and he says he's picked charleston, in fact, because of its significance, and because of its historical significance. and he says he felt like he really needed to make a statement and that was really the place to do it. and he also implies that there wasn't anyone else to do this, and so he felt like this was something that he had some sort of mission to go out there to do. >> sreenivasan: you've been reporting there since this tragedy happened. has the discussion started to include the confederate flag or gun control, or is it still just

people grieving right now? >> there's been quite a lot of discussion about the confederate flag. in fact it's emerged as one of the flashpoint here for discussions. so, for example, yesterday at then.a.a.c.p., there was a lot of discussion about how the flag needs to come down because it is viewed as a symbol of hatred and very sad time in american history. i was actually just at a church earlier today and the pastor there nelson rivers talked about the confederate flag, and he directly addressed people who said, "oh, the flag is a symbol of southern heritage." and his response was, "i know what time it is." and he actually called worship of the flag, in a sense, idolatry and he said the lives of the people who were killed in this tragedy are more important. in fact, we even had mitt romney tweeting out today about the confederate flag and about taking it down which was pretty significant. >> sreenivasan: so what about

the conservations on the streets when you talk to people? this is one specific church in one specific parent of town. part of town. how has this impacted all of charleston? >> well, this is one specific church, but it's a church with a long and storied history and it's a church that's viewed as, in some sense belonging to all of charleston, not just the people who attended it. and it's something that i think has really shaken people because there is a strong tradition of churchgoing here in town and there is this idea that church say holy space and that someone could come into this holy space and try to turn it into something else try to take it away that's hit people very close to home. whether or not they go to mother emanuel, whether or not they've ever even set food footthere. for example, i spoke with one man last night who was there for the second day in a row at the church to pay his respects. he doesn't go to that church. he doesn't know anyone, in fact,

who was involved in this tragedy, but what he said was that it's important for him to go there so that he can remember what this feels like, so that he doesn't let this become just part of the background noise of life but that this is in fact something that could spur him toward loving people more and in fact toward living a better life. again, this was someone who was not personally involved in this at all. but it still meant something very deep to him, and something that he very specifically wanted to take with him into the future. >> sreenivasan: all right luciana lopez of reuters joining us from south carolina, thanks so much. >> thanks for having me. >> sreenivasan: we turn now to one of emanuel a.m.e.'s trustees who is also a charleston city councilman william dudley gregorie. he calls the shootings racially motivated terrorism. thanks for joining me. there seem to be competing narratived here, on the onehand that this is a crazy individual and on the other hand that this is a symptom of deeper systemic racism in your city or your state. i think that it is domestic

terrorism because i do think that the basis of terrorism is hate. however, i think it's very important to know that the gunman is not from the city of charleston. the gunman is from about 100, 125 miles away. our city is a city that is one charleston and we clearly feel that with this incident-- what this incident has done is make our one charleston more and more coming together as one. >> sreenivasan: so you've also had the unfortunate case of the walter scott shooting just a couple of months ago. what have you found in the aftermath of the-- in terms of racial tensions that might exist? >> i think so that we have to really separate. there is a difference between the city of charleston and the

city of north charleston where the walter scott incident occurred. and i have a great deal of respect for mayor sumy who from the onset was very clear that that was a wrong deed that occurred and the officer who was involved should be punished accordingly. but i think it's very important to make sure that people know that these are two distinct cities-- the city of charleston and the city of north charleston. >> sreenivasan: even if you looked at your city descraetly from north charleston or the state of south carolina there seem to be these competing or conflicting facts. you have an indian american governor, an african america senator. you, yourself are elected from a majority white community, or the district that you're in.

yet, tame you have a confederate flag flying high next to the steps of the state capitol. >> well, for me right now, we are going to have time to deal with that issue. but as a member of emanuel, a lifelong member what we want to focus on as a church and as a city, burying our dead go through the healing process so that we can get to forgiveness and move forward accordingly. we're going to have a lot of time to discuss the confederate flag and gun control. but right now, what we want to do is focus on our emanuel a.m.e. family as we get through this crisis and heal and forgive. so under no circumstances at least as a member of the emanuel church, are we going to engage

in politicizing the death of nine of our parishioners of which we now have to plan for nine funerals. so we will have a lot of time after we bury our dead to deal with the political issues that you just questioned me on. >> sreenivasan: so yesterday one of the most moving things i think for anyone watching in the country was listening to the audio of family members looking at the person or the suspect who could have taken the looifs of their family members and forgiving them. i mean, just the power of witnessing and hearing someone forgive. what went through your mind? these are-- these are fellow parishioners and members of your community. >> and i was not shocked at all because mother emanuel a.m.e. church is a forgiving body. we know early on that if you fight hate with hate, then you

also have failed. you have to fight hate with love. you have to fight hate with forgiveness. one of the mantras of our church is about hope. we clearly feel that living without hope is like living in continuous darkness. but hope will peer through the darkness, see the light, and wait until morning. this is morning for emanuel a.m.e. church. the sacrifice of nine members of our church will not go in vain. >> sreenivasan: all right, my condolences to your personal loss as well. william dudley gregorie, city councilman of charleston. thank you for joining us. >> and thank you very much for having me. >> sreenivasan: churches across the country are joining in prayer and support for the congregation in charleston. the newshour's stephen fee attended one such gathering, here in new york city.

♪ i do believe that we shall overcome ♪ >> reporter: under rainy skies today, dozens of new yorkers marched down merrick boulevard, part of a morning of prayer and song in memory of those killed in charleston. leading the marchers, new york city mayor bill de blasio. >> this is something that violates every concept we have of decent of accident sceney and civilization and democracy. cold-blooded murders in a house of worship. >> reporter: the mayor called the killingsand act of requested domestic terrorism," and said the country's gun laws need reform. >> we have to be clear this this moment. yes, it was terrorism. yes, it was terrorism based on racism. that does not for a moment negate the fact that this is also a moment to realize that we have a gun problem in this country. ( applause ) >> reporter: just moments

earlier mourners of many faiths gathered for a prayer surface under the roof of the greater alan a.m.e. cathedral. >> yes, we are black. yes, we are christians. yes, we are african methodist episcopals, and there is nothing you can do about it. >> reporter: faith leaders from across new york called on worshipers to celebrate the lives of the fallen and recall that the a.m.e. church was founded in the face of adversity. >> this church the african methodist episcopal church born of a struggle which we are part of, born out of the emergent needs of people finding themselves going through difficulties day in and day out, born out of a need for people for justice. >> reporter: joining those who gathered at the church, new york senator charles schumer. >> not again for charleston's african american community which has known too violent a history.

not again for this thagz. >> reporter: the church's pastor, former congressman floyd flake said the shootings were a moment for the a.m.e. church to move forward. >> we just got started. this boy didn't know what he was doing. ( applause ) we just got started. he doesn't understand us. >> sreenivasan: wednesday's massacre draws attention to the estimated 260,000 suspected hate crimes that in america every year according to the department of justice's bureau of statistics. helping to put this week's attack into perspective is "washington post" reporter christopher ingraham, joining me from baltimore. according to the f.b.i. violent crime numbers have steadily been declining over the last two decades but what about hate crimes? >> hate crimes are basically flat, and that's kind of an interesting-- it's an interesting slice of data. basically, there are numbers from both the f.b.i. and the

bureau of justice statistics. the bureau of justice statistics shows there are about 300,000 hate crimes each year. and that's been pretty steady going all the way back to 2004. and one of the really interesting things is that this number has held steady, even as the number of active hate groups in the united states has decreased according to the southern poverty law center. and one thing that a lot of people thinks is happening is. toints to lone wolf actors, like potentially the situation in charleston. and that's a concerning development for law enforcement officials. >>officials. >> sreenivasan: so are the targets still the same people whether they're from hate groups or lone wolfs? >> yes. so, you know, the numbers and the rates seem to be pretty steady. among racial groups, african americans experience the most hate crime. they're the ones most likely to be targeted. they're basically-- their chances of being target forward a hate attack are roughly double any other group and it's more than 10 times that for white people. so among racial groups, blacks are definitely the most targeted. you also see a fair amount of

attacks based on gender towards gay men and also a fair amount of attacks based on religion towards jewish people primarily. >> sreenivasan: and what about the veracity of the numbers? is there a possibility for undercounting? you said there are multiple agencies that track this. >> absolutely. so the f.b.i.'s numbers, they provide the best breakdowns of individual racial and religious groups. but in terms of the actual numbers that they track, everyone agrees that those are pretty much a very serious undercount because the f.b.i. only tracks crimes that are specifically categorized as a hate crime by them. and so that means that they have to have specific concrete evidence of a racial bias. now, the interesting thing if you look at the bureau of justice statistics numbers, they show about five times more racially biased attacks than the f.b.i. does. and the way they do that is they just go out and they interview victims of all crimes and they ask the victims "do you feel you were targeted based on your race or your religion?"

basically the f.b.i. numbers show about 6,000 hate crimes per year, while the bureau of justice statistics numbers show close to 300,000 hate crimes a year which is just a huge order of magnitude difference, and that difference is because they're interviewing people they are asking them, "do you feel like you were targeted because of your race or your identity or who you are?" >> sreenivasan: and then what about all of the different jurisdictions? are they all required to report every crime potentially a hate crime or not to either the f.b.i. or the other bureau? >> yeah so that's been a big problem with the f.b.i.'s numbers and you see this in a lot of things. you see this with police-involved shootings. you see this in all sorts of areas. the f.b.i. numbers -- basically, local jurisdictions report them voluntarily so they're not mandate to do so by any means, and that can be a real issue. so some states do a much better job of this than other ones do. so that's why if you're looking to get a really good count of the overall magnitude of these

incidents around the u.s. it's good to rely on the bureau of justice statistics, and they-- their sample, it's a national probability sample of criminal-- of crime victims, and so they paint a more accurate picture of the overall magitute tooud. the tradeoff there is they don't have quite as detailed breakdowns of who the victims are or of what the motivations are as the f.b.i. does. >> sreenivasan: christopher ingraham of the "washington post," thanks so much for joining us. >> no problem. thanks for having me. >> sreenivasan: watch an excerpt from the 2012 pbs documentary" the african americans: many rivers to cross with henry louis gates junior" in which the late clementa pinckney, who was killed this week in the charleston shootings, spoke about why black participation in elections matters. >> we bind to this whole idea other people have perpetuated that our vote doesn't count. we don't have that choice. we don't have that-- you know, we don't have that privilege to say "our vote doesn't count"

because history tells us differently. >> sreenivasan: visit pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: also in south carolina, for the second time, a jury failed to agree on a verdict in a police shooting involving an unarmed black man. former police chief of eutawville richard combs, was charged with murdering 54-year old bernard bailey during an argument over his daughter's traffic ticket. bailey had come to the town hall to speak with the police chief. the chief tried to serve him with an arrest warrant for obstruction, and ended up shooting bailey three times. the jury in combs' first trial was also deadlocked. prosecutors aren't sure if they'll try combs again. google says it's taking steps to fight so-called revenge porn, intimate pictures posted on the web without the subject's consent. the company says it will remove nude or sexually explicit images from popping up as a result in a google search if the person in the photo requests it. hawaii is now the first state in the country to raise the smoking age from 18 to 21..pgovernor david

ige signed the bill yesterday, prohibiting anyone under 21 to smoke purchase or even possess cigarettes and smoking devices. the law goes into effect january first. an iowa supreme court decision will allow doctors to dispense abortion-inducing pills using videoconferencing, also known as telemedicine. planned parenthood uses the online technology to help doctors prescribe medicine to patients who live in distant, rural areas. in 2013, the iowa board of medicine started requiring doctors to perform examinations in person. but yesterday, the state supreme court struck down that rule, saying it places an undue burden on a woman's constitutional right to an abortion. in thailand, an elderly man diagnosed with middle east respiratory syndrome or mers is showing signs of improvement. the 175 people who were exposed to the man are being monitored, but have not shown any symptoms so far. in south korea, 25 people have died of mers since may 20. but today, south korean officials said they've had no

new cases for the first time in 16 days. >> this is pbs newshour weekend, saturday. >> sreenivasan: finally tonight, saving the african elephant, by destroying elephant ivory. yesterday, more than one ton of illegal elephant ivory was put on display in the center of times square by the u.s. fish and wildlife service. >> reporter: this lifeless pile of tusks and trinkets and decorations is a stark reminder of the many thousands of elephants that have been slaughtered and continue to be slaughtered to support the global trade in ivory. >> sreenivasan: elephant poaching for ivory is soaring according to conservation groups; a pound of ivory can fetch $1,500 on the black market. and african elephants are listed as threatened under the endangered species act. but the seized ivory was not there just to be looked at, it was there to be crushed. one by one the pieces were

placed on a conveyer belt where they were dropped into an industrial rock crusher. the decorative ivory was turned into a fine powder. the idea is to show there will be no tolerance for the illegal ivory trade and demonstrate to poachers and collectors that living elephants are more valuable than ivory. yesterday was the sixth ivory crush in the last two years. and other countries have followed the u.s.'s lead, including china, which is the largest market for ivory in the world. chinese officials destroyed nearly 1,500 pounds of ivory in may. azzedine downes, who runs the international fund for animal welfare, says raising public awareness through publicity events like this crush will help change behavior. >> this is not a problem of conservation biology. it's not a problem of conservation management. this is a problem that people can solve. don't buy ivory. that's what's going to stop the elephants from being killed. >> sreenivasan: and in case you missed it, be sure to check out newshour's shortwave podcast for more on the illegal ivory trade

in the u.s. >> sreenivasan: before we leave you tonight federal authorities continue to investigate the web site that posted a white sprem set of manifesto and pictures of dylann roof, the man charged with killing nine people at mother emanuel church on wednesday. at the same time leaders at the church say they will reopen for services tomorrow. that's all for tonight. i'm hari sreenivasan. have a dpnt. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

>> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support is provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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