Charleston Church Shooting

Date: June 17, 2015 • Location: Charleston, United States

A white supremacist committed a mass shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine people during a prayer service.

White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine of scientific racism and was a key justification for European colonialism.