Kash Patel’s ignorance of Dylann Roof is offensive — and frightening

On June 17, 2015, at Wednesday-night Bible study, members of Charleston’s Mother Emanuel A.M.E. were studying the Parable of the Sower when they welcomed a 21-year-old stranger named Dylann Roof with a Bible and a study sheet for that night’s lesson. About 45 minutes later, those members (all of them Black) stood and closed their eyes for a final prayer. At that moment, Roof, who is white, pulled out a .45-caliber Glock pistol. He said, “You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go.” He then coldly murdered the Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Cynthia Graham Hurd, Susie J. Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, Pastor (and South Carolina state senator) Clementa C. Pinckney, Tywanza Kibwe Diop Sanders, the Rev. Daniel Lee Simmons Sr., the Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton and Myra Singleton Quarles Thompson.

They welcomed a 21-year-old stranger named Dylann Roof with a Bible and a study sheet for that night’s lesson.

FBI Director Kash Patel was then a prosecutor with the Department of Justicewhich secured a 33-count indictment against Roof, successfully convicted him of every charge and persuaded a jury to sentence him to death. This past Wednesday, though, Patel confessed to not knowing that story.

His ignorance to a question about Dylann Roof not only typifies a general incompetence among President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, it exemplifies the administration’s callous disregard for news that doesn’t jibe with the story of America it wants to tell. A glaring example is the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice being led by Harmeet Dhillonwhom voting rights activists have long seen as an adversary, and who has expressed more interest in fighting DEI programs than addressing discrimination against Black people.

That upside-down view of things is also consistent with Vice President JD Vance’s false claim Monday that “people on the left are much likelier to defend and celebrate political violence.” A 2023 report by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution, for example, found that 41% of Trump supporters agreed with the statement that “true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save the country.” Only 7% of Democrats agreed.

The day after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed, the libertarian Cato Institute reported, “Since January 1, 2020, terrorists have murdered 79 people in attacks on US soil. … Right-wing terrorists account for over half of those murdersIslamists for 21 percent, left-wingers for 22 percent, and 1 percent had unknown or other motivations.” Reports from the Anti-Defamation League and the University of Maryland have similarly concluded that right-wing violence is a far bigger problem.

At a congressional hearing Wednesday, Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., was challenging Patel’s assertion that political violence is a consistent problem on both sides of the political spectrum. She began listing one horrible hate crime after another that arose from the right. “These are not gotcha questions,” she said. “Just deny what you deem to be false.”

“Dylann Roof, who followed white supremacist propaganda, murdered nine Black parishioners in Charleston in 2015,” she said to Patel. “Do you deny this?”

Respectfully, Patel’s not knowing isn’t fine. It’s egregious, it’s disqualifying, and it’s an offense to the memory of those who died.

“I’m sorry,” Patel stammered, “Dylan Ruth?” When the lawmaker corrected his mispronunciation, Patel said, “Can you give me some more information?”

What more information did he need? She used the words “white supremacist,” “murdered,” “nine Black parishioners,” “Charleston” and “2015.”

“You’re head of the FBI, you probably know this,” Kamlager-Dove said. “If you don’t know, that’s fine.”

Respectfully, Patel’s not knowing isn’t fine. It’s egregious, it’s disqualifying, and it’s an offense to the memory of those who died, to Emanuel A.M.E. and to the survivors of those who were massacred. It’s an offense to Black Americans across the country who took Roof at his word that he was trying to ignite a race warand an offense to all Americans who expect the director of the FBI to be knowledgeable about the threats that Americans face.

As infuriating as the FBI director’s ignorance was, Kamlager-Dove appeared calm in response, so in an email to her office the following day, I asked her what she was thinking when Patel expressed confusion to her question about the murderous attack in Charleston. Her response:

“You can give me a reminder. I’ve got a lot in front of me,” Patel told Kamlager-Dove, who said in response, “It was national news.” When she was done reading her list of crimes committed by right-wing extremists and asked him if he was denying that any of them had happened, Patel said, “I’ll take your presentation as accurate.”

Patel’s lack of qualifications has been clear from the start, but his exchange with Kamlager-Dove suggests that he’s wearing an ideological blindfold that leaves our country more vulnerable. And he’s not alone. The same week the FBI director was testifying before Congress, the Justice Department removed from its website a study that found that “far-right attacks continue to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism.”

This administration’s war with reality puts Americans in danger. If the Department of Justice cannot stomach a report on its own website that the far-right is the main driver of violent extremism, and if the head of the FBI doesn’t know about Dylann Roof, then we shouldn’t have any confidence that they’ll be able to prevent the next Dylann Roof.

Jarvis DeBerry

Jarvis DeBerry is an opinion editor for BLN Daily. He was previously editor-in-chief at the Louisiana Illuminator and a columnist and deputy opinion editor at The Times-Picayune.