ABSTRACT
On the evening of June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof summarily executed nine people in the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in the hope of instigating a race war. But Roof also partook in a multimonth road trip visiting heritage and memorial sites in two States, over hundreds of miles, and with multiple visits. We have been conditioned to “look away” from trauma and violence, particularly looking away from the perpetrators of that trauma and violence. Such avoidance has resulted in a lack of understanding of how the State deputizes everyday citizens through sanctioned violence. Just as the history of Black Rage (Tulsa) and even examples of White Rage (Ireland) have been laundered, the history and occurrences of White violence have also been laundered through its obscurity. Black Rage and White violence are situated on two opposing ends of a social control spectrum by the State: one is never allowed and at all costs is suppressed or, in the case of our book, is laundered, while another is managed, directed, or even stoked. Here, we emphasize and remind the readers (and ourselves) that the State is the only entity that grants violence its existence in society.
