Radical White Terrorism and Denial
If you turn on your TV or check social media, you're bound to hear or read about terrorism - specifically terrorism committed in the name of Islam - but what about terrorism committed by white supremacists, nationalists, and other right wing radicals?
Almost two weeks ago, a White Supremacist by the name of Jeremy Christian stabbed three men on a MAX train in Portland, Oregon. The three men, two of whom would die from their stab wounds that day, intervened when Christian was harrassing two young Muslim teenagers, telling them to get out of the country.
On November 27, 2015, Robert Dear, a white man, shot up a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing three people and injuring nine more. His motive was his opposition to abortion.
On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof, a white man, shot up Emnauel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine people and injuring one more. His motive was to start a race war between black people and white people. Before he killed the nine church goers, which included an 87 year old woman, Roof said to them "I have to do it. You rape our women and you're taking over our country. And you have to go."
On June 8, 2014, Jerad and Amanda Miller, a white couple, went on a shooting spree in Las Vegas, Nevada, killing three people. They were inspiried by the Bundy standoff against the U.S. Federal Government that had occured just outside of Las Vegas and held anti-government views.
On April 13, 2014, Fraizer Glenn Miller Jr., a white man, shot up a Jewish Community Center/Retirement Community in Overland Park, Kansas, killing three people. He espoused white supremacist views and was an active Neo Nazi. When he was arrested, he repeatedly exclaimed "Heil Hitler!"
On November 1, 2013, Paul Anthony Ciancia, a white man, shot and killed one person and injured six more at the Los Angeles International Airport. He wanted to kill TSA Agents, calling them "pigs" and labeling them as part of the New World Order conspiracy theory.
On August 5, 2012, Wade Page, a white man, shot and killed six people and injured three more at a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. He was an active member of white supremacist groups.
On June 1, 2009, James Wenneker von Brunn, a white man, shot and kille one person and injured another at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. He was a white supremacist and a Holocaust denier who previously tried but failed to kidnap Federal Reserve employees in 1981.
On May 31, 2009, Scott Roeder, a white man, shot and killed George Tiller while he attended church in Wichita, Kansas. His motive behind murdering Tiller was because Tiller was only one of four doctors in the United States that provided late-term abortions.
These are just some examples from the past 10 years or so. This doesn't even touch on the arson attacks on Black churches, which numbered over 30 in an 18 month period from 1995-1996; nor does it touch on the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, which killed 168 people and injured over 680 more; nor does it include lynchings committed by the KKK and other white supremacist groups.
"So what?" You might ask. "Those are only a few people. Just because they're white and happen to commit these acts because of white supremacy, etc. does not mean that they represent all white people." That is exactly my point.
To demonize one group of people because of the actions of a few isn't right. The terrorists who commit these heinous acts in the name of Islam do not represent all Muslims. That is the same for those who commit these heinous acts in the name of being white - they do not represent all white people.
Many people want to attribute terrorism only to Muslim people, but there have been many white terrorists who have committed acts of terrorism in the name of such things like white supremacy, right wing politics, christian theology, nationalism, etc. To only talk about "Radical Islamic Terrorism" is only addressing a small part of our terrorist problem.
A terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist. Period. Lets not demonize entire religious or ethnic groups because of the actions of a few.
At the same time however, while we should not be demonizing each other, we do have a responsibility to nip this kind of thinking in our communities in the bud before they result in the senseless killings of innocent people, like in the examples I listed above. We have to address our bigotry and racism. We have to confront our prejudices and realize that they are wrong. And to do that, we have to be aware of our history.
In the United States, people would prefer not to talk about racism, slavery, segregation, and other mistreament towards people of color. Why? The first step in solving any problem, but especially this one, is by confronting it head on and realizing that we have a problem. We beat around the bush when it comes to this.
Even more disgusting, we try to tone down conversations on racism by "celebrating our Confederate heritage" and by ignorning the fact that we had a Civil War because of slavery, and not because of some vague notion of "states rights". If you're going to say we had a Civil War because of "states rights", then you must acknowledge that "states rights" in this context means a state's right to decide whether or not to have slavery. Period. Slavery should not be equated to something like Common Core Curriculum or Recreational Marijuana: actual states rights issues. Slavery is the enslavement of an entire group of people, not a debate over how many grams of marijuana you can have on your person.
Last Word: Germany does a good job in confronting its past as the former home of Nazism and Adolf Hitler. All of the children in German schools learn about the Holocaust. They get to meet Holocaust survivors and visit concentration camps, which unlike most remaining slave plantations in the United States, are not boutique bed and breakfasts and places where people go to get married. All over German cities, there are plaques and monuments on houses that belonged to Jews that were deported and murdered in concentration camps or in ghettos.
The German people have to face these facts every day and live with them, because we made them do it. When the United States Army liberated concentration camps that were littered through out Germany and Western Europe, they made the local German populations that lived near by tour these camps and even made them bury the rotting corpses in mass graves. Most Germans feigned ignorance, claiming they had no idea what had gone on in the camps, but then we made them learn.
More than 75 years later, Germany is today one of the most humane and tolerant countries in the world, and its because we made that possible. If the Germans can do it, so can we.
Almost two weeks ago, a White Supremacist by the name of Jeremy Christian stabbed three men on a MAX train in Portland, Oregon. The three men, two of whom would die from their stab wounds that day, intervened when Christian was harrassing two young Muslim teenagers, telling them to get out of the country.
On November 27, 2015, Robert Dear, a white man, shot up a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing three people and injuring nine more. His motive was his opposition to abortion.
On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof, a white man, shot up Emnauel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine people and injuring one more. His motive was to start a race war between black people and white people. Before he killed the nine church goers, which included an 87 year old woman, Roof said to them "I have to do it. You rape our women and you're taking over our country. And you have to go."
On June 8, 2014, Jerad and Amanda Miller, a white couple, went on a shooting spree in Las Vegas, Nevada, killing three people. They were inspiried by the Bundy standoff against the U.S. Federal Government that had occured just outside of Las Vegas and held anti-government views.
On April 13, 2014, Fraizer Glenn Miller Jr., a white man, shot up a Jewish Community Center/Retirement Community in Overland Park, Kansas, killing three people. He espoused white supremacist views and was an active Neo Nazi. When he was arrested, he repeatedly exclaimed "Heil Hitler!"
On November 1, 2013, Paul Anthony Ciancia, a white man, shot and killed one person and injured six more at the Los Angeles International Airport. He wanted to kill TSA Agents, calling them "pigs" and labeling them as part of the New World Order conspiracy theory.
On August 5, 2012, Wade Page, a white man, shot and killed six people and injured three more at a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. He was an active member of white supremacist groups.
On June 1, 2009, James Wenneker von Brunn, a white man, shot and kille one person and injured another at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. He was a white supremacist and a Holocaust denier who previously tried but failed to kidnap Federal Reserve employees in 1981.
On May 31, 2009, Scott Roeder, a white man, shot and killed George Tiller while he attended church in Wichita, Kansas. His motive behind murdering Tiller was because Tiller was only one of four doctors in the United States that provided late-term abortions.
These are just some examples from the past 10 years or so. This doesn't even touch on the arson attacks on Black churches, which numbered over 30 in an 18 month period from 1995-1996; nor does it touch on the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, which killed 168 people and injured over 680 more; nor does it include lynchings committed by the KKK and other white supremacist groups.
"So what?" You might ask. "Those are only a few people. Just because they're white and happen to commit these acts because of white supremacy, etc. does not mean that they represent all white people." That is exactly my point.
To demonize one group of people because of the actions of a few isn't right. The terrorists who commit these heinous acts in the name of Islam do not represent all Muslims. That is the same for those who commit these heinous acts in the name of being white - they do not represent all white people.
Many people want to attribute terrorism only to Muslim people, but there have been many white terrorists who have committed acts of terrorism in the name of such things like white supremacy, right wing politics, christian theology, nationalism, etc. To only talk about "Radical Islamic Terrorism" is only addressing a small part of our terrorist problem.
A terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist. Period. Lets not demonize entire religious or ethnic groups because of the actions of a few.
At the same time however, while we should not be demonizing each other, we do have a responsibility to nip this kind of thinking in our communities in the bud before they result in the senseless killings of innocent people, like in the examples I listed above. We have to address our bigotry and racism. We have to confront our prejudices and realize that they are wrong. And to do that, we have to be aware of our history.
In the United States, people would prefer not to talk about racism, slavery, segregation, and other mistreament towards people of color. Why? The first step in solving any problem, but especially this one, is by confronting it head on and realizing that we have a problem. We beat around the bush when it comes to this.
Even more disgusting, we try to tone down conversations on racism by "celebrating our Confederate heritage" and by ignorning the fact that we had a Civil War because of slavery, and not because of some vague notion of "states rights". If you're going to say we had a Civil War because of "states rights", then you must acknowledge that "states rights" in this context means a state's right to decide whether or not to have slavery. Period. Slavery should not be equated to something like Common Core Curriculum or Recreational Marijuana: actual states rights issues. Slavery is the enslavement of an entire group of people, not a debate over how many grams of marijuana you can have on your person.
Last Word: Germany does a good job in confronting its past as the former home of Nazism and Adolf Hitler. All of the children in German schools learn about the Holocaust. They get to meet Holocaust survivors and visit concentration camps, which unlike most remaining slave plantations in the United States, are not boutique bed and breakfasts and places where people go to get married. All over German cities, there are plaques and monuments on houses that belonged to Jews that were deported and murdered in concentration camps or in ghettos.
The German people have to face these facts every day and live with them, because we made them do it. When the United States Army liberated concentration camps that were littered through out Germany and Western Europe, they made the local German populations that lived near by tour these camps and even made them bury the rotting corpses in mass graves. Most Germans feigned ignorance, claiming they had no idea what had gone on in the camps, but then we made them learn.
More than 75 years later, Germany is today one of the most humane and tolerant countries in the world, and its because we made that possible. If the Germans can do it, so can we.
Excellent points Ocean. Carrie Wolfe
ReplyDeleteGermany also has strict anti-hate speech laws. For example, Holocaust denial can get you into jail. "Free speech" (as known in the USA) is not protected under German constitition. Instead we have the concept of freedom of expression, which excludes hateful opinions.
ReplyDelete