Washington, June 19 (RHC)-- The massacre of nine Black people by a white gunman in South Carolina illustrates that Anglo-Americans are waging a "war" on African Americans, a researcher and historian in Washington says.

"There's an existential hatred of African American people by tens of millions of people who are armed and dangerous in this country," said Dr. Randy Short, a member of the Black Autonomy Network Community Organization. "We have no help from nowhere except from God Almighty."

"You will see more African Americans slaughtered and killed," Short said in an interview with Press TV on Thursday. "This was organized, this was a systematic attack." And he added: "War has been declared on African Americans by the Anglo-American, Nazi terrorist groups and the U.S. government is in denial."

Police on Thursday captured a 21-year-old white man in connection with the shooting deaths of nine people in a historic African-American church in Charleston on Wednesday night.

The mayor and police of Charleston have described the deadly attack as a hate crime. Six females and three males died in the shooting.

Dylann Roof sat with churchgoers inside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church for about an hour before opening fire, Police Chief Gregory Mullen said. "This is an unfathomable and unspeakable act by somebody filled with hate and with a deranged mind," Charleston Mayor Joe Riley told reporters.

The shooting was reminiscent of the 1963 bombing of an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four girls and fueled the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

The Charleston church is one of the largest and oldest black congregations in the American South, according to its website. The church has its roots in the early 19th century, and was founded in part by a freed Black slave who was later executed for organizing a revolt.

Dr. Short said African Americans "have a human right to defend" themselves. "Sometimes you must fight to attain peace."