
How the Charleston church massacre victims settlement is a symbolic blow to White supremacists
CNN
The $88 million settlement announced Thursday with survivors and the families of nine people fatally shot in 2015 at a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, is a "big 'F-you' to White supremacists," an attorney for the victims' families said.
White supremacists have used the number "88" as a hate symbol for decades, but on Thursday, that number was reflected in the millions of dollars that the Justice Department will pay over FBI lapses that allowed Dylann Roof, an avowed White supremacist, to buy the semi-automatic pistol used in the massacre.
"Today, we get to give a big 'F-you' to the White supremacists and racists in this country by saying that we are taking this tragedy that they tried to tear our country apart with and build Black communities and generational wealth," said Bakari Sellers, an attorney who helped broker the agreement and a CNN political commentator.