Sons of Confederate Veterans: Dylann Roof got the race war he wanted

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A representative of one of the South’s oldest Civil War remembrance organizations lashed out at attempts to remove the Confederate flag from the public arena.

At a news briefing Thursday, the group’s commander said they are grieving with the families of those who were killed in Charleston, and that they were as happy as anyone when Dylann Roof was apprehended.

Speaking underneath the flag on the South Carolina statehouse grounds in Columbia, Commander Leland Summers said efforts to remove the flag are shameful.

“Attempting to use this horrible crime that occurred in Emanuel Baptist Church to remove historical markers and monuments and to deface them is despicable, shameful and disrespects them,” he said, adding later: "(Dylann Roof) is, this very day, getting what he wanted. We played right into his malicious hands. He has been given the race war he desired.”

The Sons of Confederate Veterans is an association of male descendants of Confederate soldiers and sailors, and is the oldest of its kind, according to a website for the organization. There are chapters in many states, including Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi.