Remember the controversy in April when someone leaked a report from the Department of Homeland Security warning against the threat of right-wing extremism and domestic terrorism? Fox News, for example, reported that the intelligence document was aimed at Republicans — and military veterans.
Look at the report yourself (using the pdf link above). It warns specifically against “Threats from white supremacist and violent antigovernment groups.” A bit later, the DHS report says:
Anti-Semitic extremists attribute these losses to a deliberate conspiracy conducted by a cabal of Jewish “financial elites.”
The report also noted “white supremacists’ longstanding exploitation of social issues such as abortion.”
Within the last two weeks, a radical anti-abortion advocate gunned down a Wichita, Kansas doctor outside a church — and then warned that more violence would be forthcoming so long as abortion is legal.
Today, a neo-Nazi opened fire with a rifle inside the Holocaust Museum in DC. He killed a security guard after firing up to 5 shots. Fox:
Law enforcement officials identified the suspect to FOX News as James W. Von Brunn, who has a history of virulent racism, ties to white supremacy groups and a criminal record that includes an attempt to take members of the Federal Reserve board hostage,
So, it appears as if DHS was on to something.
Rodger A. Payne is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Louisville. He serves on the University’s Sustainability Council and was a co-founder of the Peace, Conflict, and Social Justice program. He is the author of dozens of journal articles and book chapters and coauthor, with Nayef Samhat, of Democratizing Global Politics: Discourse Norms, International Regimes, and Political Community (SUNY, 2004). He is currently working on two major projects, one exploring the role of narratives in international politics and the other examining the implications of America First foreign policy.
0 Comments