"Segretgation was not a bad thing," Roof wrote in the manifesto. "It was a defensive measure. Segregation did not exist to hold back negroes. It existed to protect us from them. And I mean that in multiple ways. Not only did it protect us from having to interact with them, and from being physically harmed by them, but it protected us from being brought down to their level. Integration has done nothing but bring whites down to (the) level of brute animals. The best example of this is obviously our school system."