From The Hill:
On June 17, a gunman shot and killed nine black Christians in the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, S.C. “Mother Emanuel” as the church has come to be affectionately known, was built by slaves and is the oldest AME congregation in the South. Given the stature of the church, along with the races of the victims and the perpetrator, very soon after the shooting, state, local, and federal officials and the media began to refer to the incident as a hate crime. The assailant’s animus against black Americans is not in doubt, and this incident most certainly can be classified as a hate crime. However, it is also most certainly an act of domestic terrorism.
