Today and tomorrow mark the 40th anniversary of the murders that made Charles Manson an icon of evil. In Helter Skelter, prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi writes about his interviews with talent scout Gregg Jakobson, who spent many hours, over the course of a year and a half (1968-69), talking with Manson about his philosophy. Manson foresaw a race war pitting blacks against whites, and some have speculated that his motive in directing the murders was to hasten the inevitable conflict. Bugliosi asked:

What was Manson’s attitude toward blacks?

Gregg replied that Charlie “believed there were different levels when it came to race, and the white man occupied a higher level than the black.” This was why Charlie was so strongly opposed to black-white sex; “you would be interfering with the path of evolution, you would be mixing up nervous systems, less evolved with more evolved.”

Manson follower Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme added:

“I never heard Charlie utter the words ‘helter skelter,'” [but] she went on to say that “it is a matter of evolution and balance” and “the black people are coming to the top, as it should be.”