Roxane Gay's editorial, "Why I Can't Forgive Dylann Roof" was written the in wake of the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in which nine people were massacred by Dylann Roof on June, 17 2015 (CNN). It's a day that will be remembered in American history, for this event made a nation stop and question what we call society. Americans were forced to ask themselves a series of questions containing why, what, when, and how. Many had pondered over whether or not racism still existed, and how is it so violent even in today's society? Roxane Gay's editorial answered those questions, but it wasn't until further research was conducted before a stronger, more sensible interpretation was made. In Gay's text she brushes on several social topics that allow racism to reside within a nation that seems to be oblivious to the cultural constraints placed on the African American community. These social issues/customs of immediate forgiveness, portrayal of specific ethnic or religious groups, ignorance, lack of recognition, and empathetic influences on the law of racist acts and its existence has allowed it to become institutionalized and cause havoc amongst targeted ethnic groups.

Gay specifies as to why the African American community is eager to forgive by stating, "Black people forgive because we need to survive. We have to forgive time and time again while racism or white silence in the face of racism continues to thrive. We have had to forgive slavery, segregation, Jim Crow laws, lynching, inequity in every realm, mass incarceration, voter disenfranchisement, inadequate representation in popular culture ... " (Gay). The only way the African American community was able to survive in a culture of racism and oppression was through submission and utter kindness. Paralleling Stacey Patton's claim, author of "Black America Should Stop Forgiving White Racists", "Forgiveness has become a requirement for those enduring the realities of black death in America." Even throughout the Christian history of African Americans and their independent churches they have been known to harbor qualities of forgiveness in hopes of there being divine intervention and/or freedom in the afterlife. (Patton) The audience is able to notice that as a community the African American community must tolerate these atrocities for the perception is that it will be better soon, contrary to the majority of White America's belief that institutionalized racism is no longer existent. But it is through these thought processes of both races that allow a culture of hate to maintain prevalence. 

  Regardless of the several eras of racial unjust stated by Gay, forgiveness has been essential to the black community. From slavery to stereotypes of African Americans portrayed in pop culture time and time again has shown that the forgiveness of African Americans has been means of appeasing whites in terms of atoning for their racial crimes/offenses. In a society where African Americans' rights are essentially limited and are twelve times more likely to die in the United States than in any other developed country, it's understandable for the African American community to be so ready to forgive. (Silver) When faced with statistics of incarceration demographics and deaths by the police it is truly asinine to believe that equality has been achieved. Although the Civil Rights Movement instilled "equal" laws, not much was done on the behalf of mitigating social prejudices. 

 African American families are often expected to grieve on camera and then surpass their hardships so they can forgive, because as history suggests that's what they've done well, forgiving " ... those who trespass against us." (Gay) Nearly 32% of African Americans killed by the police were unarmed in comparison to 15% of unarmed whites in the United States alone. (theguardian) When racism is institutionalized police profiling is a result of such construed portrayals of African Americans as criminals in the media or in pop culture favorites such as the infamous TV show "Cops". Loved ones of African American victims are asked by reporters if they would forgive their perpetrators, advocates of police brutality, such as the parents of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis. (Patton) "The  ... media... embraced that notion of forgiveness, seeming to believe that if we forgive we have somehow found a way to make sense of the incomprehensible." (Gay) But as Patton explains the problem with this display of forgiveness is that it leads to white atonement and racial denial. Unfortunately this notion of repudiation seems to be inevitable. As explained by Gay, the perception of African Americans customarily forgiving denotes the fact that racism is still a social issue.

Throughout the writings of Roxane Gay and Stacey Patton the use of the word "terrorist", not a, "crazed gunman" or anything of that euphemistic sort, is used widely throughout their writings. Several news sources denied all the racial implications, has been described as an "accident" by former Texas governor Rick Perry, (Patton) and according to the FBI Director James Comey, Dylann Roof is not a terrorist. (Aslan) When Gay states, "Nine people are dead. Nine black people are dead. They were murdered in a terrorist attack." It's best understood through Patton's claim of "Even in a slaughter of innocents, black people have to fight to have their humanity recognized." These nine people who were murdered don't get the proper media attention they deserve, and when the African American community is outraged it's seen as random or over exaggerating (Patton). According to Patton, this is why African Americans should, " ... embrace our full range of human emotions, vocalize our rage, demand to be heard, and expect accountability." This forgiving, almost hereditarily seeming characteristic has only gotten African Americans so far, yet they are still oppressed. Their emphatic manner allows them to forgive before completely recuperating, mourning, or waiting for the final judicial systems to release a verdict has only left them eagerly submissive in the wake of the lack of recognition of racism that is necessary. (Patton) 

As with the relatives of victims of the Charleston Church shooting, they forgave Dylann Roof not even forty-eight hours after the attack. Whether or not their forgiveness stems from their Christian roots or is seen as customary, no apology ever came from Dylan Roof. For someone to be forgiven they must first feel remorse or regret for what they have done and then apologize. Roxane Gay suggests that perceiving certain events as unforgiveable with atrocities needs to be taken into consideration. Strictly replacing hate with love isn't necessarily a good thing when the consequences are severe and detrimental to a community and the nation as a whole. According to Chad Williams, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of African and Afro-American studies at Brandeis University states, "I think the expectation that blacks are always willing to forgive makes it harder to engage in radical transformative social justice work." and that, "Many people mistake black forgiveness for absolution of America's racial sins," This elaborates on the fact that there is no social progression due to assumptions and ignorance of White America and the immediate sense of forgiving by the African American community. 

On the other hand, when the America as a whole is at risk of Islamic terror attacks the United States has a no tolerance policy. There is no such thing as forgiveness, just targeting and death or adequate justice. Throughout every American news source the word "terrorist" is used appropriately. When a "terrorist" is captured they are either killed or trialed through what the American public perceives to be an appropriate judicial system as seen with Osama Bin Laden or Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Tsarnaev was found guilty regardless of a basic sorry note and was sent to death. Whether or not he was truly sorry, he at least portrayed remorse to be forgiven, not like Dylann Roof. Dylann Roof was forgiven due to white sympathy and the fact that he was humanized. Gay mentions the power of whiteness and how the judge at Roof's bond hearing stopped to mention Roof's family and how awful they must feel in combination with the other nine victims' families. (Gay) Before he was determined guilty acts of empathy throughout our justice system were enacted.

When an individual is labeled as a terrorist he is treated as such in accordance to United States law. Reza Aslan, a religious scholar and author depicts the law as "dispassionate" and not easily overturned. It is not something that can be influenced with heart felt sorrows, but it was in Dylann Roof's case. "More than twice as many Americans have died from white supremacists or far right-wing zealots than from Islamic terrorism since 9/11." (Aslan) "Mr. Roof's racism was blunt and raggedly formed. It was bred by a culture in which we constantly have to shout "Black lives matter!" because there is so much evidence to the contrary. This terrorist was raised in this culture." (Gay) This man of inhumane acts was related to others of moral standards because of the dominantly white society he is a part of. Hypocritically, the greatest combatant to terrorism can't acknowledge its own domestic and more destructive terrorism.

 This lack of recognition allows institutionalized racism to pervade. The American public needs to stop perceiving the idea of racism to be eradicated, but as lingering so it can be combatted. If this stigma can be confronted with this new stance and social interactions regarding race, then the American public can reevaluate its ignorance and grow as a nation before something this awful and downright embarrassing repeats itself again.    

