Two courts in the city of Charleston are currently overseeing high-profile, racially charged murder trials–that of Michael Slager and Dylann Roof–and although the cases differ in their particulars, both of these crimes speak to the pervasiveness of white supremacy locally and nationally. In an interview with Brandon Patterson, a reporter with the nonprofit news organization Mother Jones, Professor Mari N. Crabtree discusses the meaning and significance of the Slager and Roof trials. She also cautions against complacency in the wake of the verdicts, for the best memorial that Charlestonians could erect for the victims is not carved into granite but forged out of a serious confrontation with the systemic issues that produced these heinous acts of racial violence in the first place.

“But from past conversations I’ve had, I don’t think many black people here believed Slager’s trial was going to be a fair one. They weren’t surprised by the fact that the jury is nearly all white. It reaffirmed for them that the justice system is racist. But I don’t know what they anticipate the outcome to be. There’s a desire for Dylann Roof to be held accountable. But for many black people there’s also a trepidation that when his trial is complete, that will end any conversation about race. Or that if Slager is convicted, that people here will get the feeling that they are absolved of dealing with the issues that many black people believe produced Slager’s behavior.” – Professor Mari N. Crabtree

View the full interview here.