White Aryan Resistance: Toeing the Line between Extremism and Domestic Violence - Admission/Application Essay Example

White Aryan Resistance: Toeing the Line between Extremism and Domestic Violence OUTLINE: I. Introduction A. Domestic terrorism is no less than a threat even compared to international terrorism B. Domestic terrorism is bred from extremism C. The White Aryan Resistance emerged as a formidable group of extreme white supremacists II. History of the White Aryan Resistance A. White Aryan Resistance was founded by ex-Ku Klux Klan leader, Tom Metzger B. Metzger’s vision for the White Aryan Resistance is a purely racist organization III. White Aryan Resistance and Domestic Terrorism A. White Aryan Resistance was placed under the category of domestic terrorists when they incited violence to do their “civic duty” B. White Aryan Resistance’s use technology to reach a wider audience C. Metzger promotes “Lone Wolf” activism IV. Conclusion A. The extremist and especially the domestic terrorist continues to be a menace to society with nothing good coming out of it. SYNOPSIS: The reason people no longer know feel secure within their homes and communities is because terrorism rages within – Americans killing Americans on U.S. soil. Such is the act of domestic terrorism and mostly, it stems from extreme ideology, and perpetrated mostly by right-wingers, pro-segregationists, white supremacist, and their ilk. The White Aryan Resistance is one such; they may not be as big a name as was the Ku Klux Klan but that doesn’t make them any less of a threat. They are a formidable group of proud racists and hate-mongers whose existence is centered on race issues and they campaign against those who they believed are the “lesser race” – Jews, Blacks, Mexicans, and all non-whites. The power of technology is in their hands and they use cable television access and the Internet to reach out to like-minded individuals. They also use it to promote “Lone Wolfism”, a strategy wherein leaderless resistance is encouraged. Domestic terrorism is brought to a new front because of this; the prosecution of responsible groups has become almost impossible with terrorism acts carried out by individuals and passed off as the criminal act of one instead of a racist group. Racism may have evolved in itself but in these times, the ideologies of racism are fast becoming obsolete. Although they remain a threat, racism has been shunted off to the fringes of society because America is working hard to prove that it is indeed the land of the free. The bottom line ultimately is that racism, throughout history, has only succeeded in fomenting discord and encouraging distrust and hate within the society thus causing a greater social divide that’s the true hindrance to real peace and harmony. White Aryan Resistance: Toeing the Line between Extremism and Domestic Violence America is a young country with a proud history. But too many of the American youth today, as with young people around the world, believed history is not much far back than 9/11 and its aftermath, or the Iraq War and the wrestle for control over the Middle East’s oil supply, or the Vietnam War, or the Civil Rights Movement that saw rioting in the streets with disturbing consequences. The older generation may also recall World War I and World War II and the devastating assault these wrought on humanity. Indeed, for much of today’s populace, history is marked by bloodshed – warfare, abuse, and violence – and, more ominously, history is at this generation’s doorstep and the world is living in a time of fear and worry. The nation has cause for dread with terror being waged to rack at the foundations of America’s dominance as a superpower economy. But terror has not been always been beyond the borders of U.S. soil. The reason that the people no longer know what it is like to feel secure within their homes and communities is because terrorism rages within. True, none of the incidents caused by home-grown terrorists have been as devastating if measured against the chaos and the death toll of 9/11; nevertheless, domestic terrorist have just as ambitious plans to bring the nation to heel. Worse, no one is giving this the attention it needs because everyone believes the only villain is the Islamic guy without (Copeland, 2004). Most domestic terrorism stem from extreme ideologists. These are people and groups whose range of creeds and principles widely vary, “from white supremacists, anti-government types and militia members to eco-terrorists and people who hate corporations; they also include violent anti-abortionists and black and brown nationalists who envision a separate state for blacks and Latinos” (Copeland, 2004). They are either clinging to the far left policy or the far right, although some claim to waver between the two. The far left may have been traditionally viewed as the more menacing of the two, their communist and socialist inclination anathema to US democracy. But the far right should not be dismissed so casually. After all, these are people who believe they can take the law into their own hands, their goals leaning more to drastic social reforms rather than political. Just the same, holding on to an ideology tenaciously does not make one a terrorist but a fine line does separate the two: acts of violence and sabotage. Some of these groups and their “demonstrations” have been well publicized. Whether they court for themselves ruthless criticisms and harsh opinions from the unsympathetic public or praise from like-minded groups, they have used their public image to create for themselves a more sinister picture for those who don’t believe their dogma and a more urgent call to those who do. Their sensationalism is such that they manage to breed fear and public distrust that eats away what little remains in the cohesion of America as a nation. Of these, the more pronounced and the greater majority has, at its core, the issue of race – Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, and Christian Identity to name a few. The White Aryan Resistance may not be as big a name as was the Ku Klux Klan but that doesn’t make them any less of a threat. They are a formidable group of proud racists and hate-mongers whose ideology is the very same that gave Hitler the power to exterminate Jews in the early 1900s and the very same creed that led to the violent riots during the Civil Rights Movement half a century ago. Definitely, the world will not tolerate another Holocaust nor will the present America surrender the civil war gains of its past; the cost has been too great. But racism is deeply ingrained in society and largely ignored. Hatred and distrust has been allowed to breed and even the relative few that they have infected with their extremist views may prove someday to be one too many. This, as we shall see, is the danger of the new era of domestic terrorism. This and the way technology can be manipulated to their advantage. The virtual world has no borders and thoughts as weapons can easily fly from one corner to the far side. The rest of America, even more so the world, may have been misled into thinking that they have silenced the protests of Tom Metzger and his White Aryan Resistance movement and that they’re racist propaganda has been toned down to a buzz that’s no more than an annoyance. But the White Aryan Resistance, and other like-minded groups and individuals, infiltrate the society deeply still. And they have evolved; that may prove to be more ominous as yet. But the bottom line ultimately is that racism, throughout history, has only succeeded in fomenting discord and encouraging distrust and hate within the society thus causing a greater social divide that’s the true hindrance to real peace and harmony. The White Aryan Resistance is an extremist organization of white supremacists founded and led by Tom Metzger. Metzger had a long history for right-wing extremism. He was a member of the John Birch Society in 1961 but left before long because he was disillusioned with the group – he “soon found out you could not criticize the Jews" (Anti-Defamation League [ADL], 2002). He joined the Ku Klux Klan in 1975 wherein his brand of anti-Semitism fitted much better. He rose through the ranks and was also ordained as a minister of the Christian Identity movement. In his time as the Grand Dragon for the Klan in California, he became involved in violent clashes with police and anti-Klan demonstrators. He left the Klan in 1980 after he was defeated in his bid for a Congressional seat (ADL, 2002). Metzger soon formed his own group in the early 1980s, calling themselves the White American Political Association; that was soon changed to White American Resistance before they finally settled with White Aryan Resistance. It was to be Metzger’s platform for his overt and increasingly violent verbal attacks and rhetoric against Blacks, Mexicans, Jews, and other non-whites. Despite his inclinations, Metzger denied being a right-winger and despised the media’s lumping together of anyone who is a racist or who are critical of Jews as leaning to the extreme right (“Tom Metzger Interview”, 2005, n.p.). He places himself in what he called the “Third Position”, a synthesis of totalitarian and revolutionary left- and right-wing ideas (ADL, 2002), the core of his White Aryan Resistance propaganda. In their platform, White Aryan Resistance integrates such principles as concern for the environment, contempt for capitalism, and rejection of socialism as well as Marxism; but beyond these, the White Aryan is a purely racist organization, and their so-called “Third Position” is all about the issue of race. As an electronic technician, Metzger was very adept with the setting up and use of radio and other electronic communications paraphernalia. He used his talent to the advantage of his organization. Apart from distributing racist literature, their propaganda has reached a wider audience when they aired a cable access show called Race and Reason. It was highly controversial because they used it to flaunt their explicitly racist propaganda and aired interviews with several neo-Nazi leaders, as well as other hard core right-wingers – anti-abortionist, white supremacist, pro-segregation lawyers and movement leaders. With the advent of the Internet, Metzger and his White Aryan Resistance was quick to find a new venue to wage their war, again displaying their overt and oftentimes brutal racist attacks through cartoons, videos, and various articles. According to Sauter and Carafano (2005), “white supremacist groups are often accused of using their propaganda to incite violence”. The White Aryan Movement was no different and an incident in November 12, 1988 was proof of this when members of the East Side White Pride who had ties to the White Aryan Resistance attacked two young black men, subsequently killing one, Mulugeta Seraw. White Aryan Resistance leader, Tom Metzger, lauded the killing, calling it a “civic duty” (http://www.splcenter.org/index.jsp) even when people took to the streets to condemn such acts of racial violation (Portland, 1990). In response, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) sued Metzger and his son, who was his co-operator for the White Aryan Movement, winning a civil case for the family of Seraw (London, 1990). SPLC and the Anti-Defamation League shouldered the cost of the trial. For SLPC, it was taking their own steps to fight the racist groups (Sauter and Carafano, 2005). The violence of the act may have triggered the outpouring of response from the nation in condemnation of it but the real issue is hate and the passion with which white supremacists, especially the young people, take themselves to the task of fulfilling their “civic duty”. The violence is what made extremists toe the line, pushing them to the other side, which in this case is domestic terrorism. This is clear now from the definitions of extremism and domestic terrorism. The Dictionary of Political Thought (Scronton, 1982) defines extremism as any of these three: 1) Taking a political idea to its limits, regardless of unfortunate repercussions, impracticalities, arguments and feelings to the contrary, and with the intention not only to confront, but also to eliminate opposition; 2) Intolerance towards all views other than ones own; 3) Adoption of means to political ends which show disregard for the life, liberty, and human rights of others. Domestic terrorism on the other hand was described by the United States Department of Justice (1994) as: “The unlawful use of force or violence, committed by a group(s) of two or more individuals, against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.” According to Sauter and Carafano (2005), domestic terrorism is actually the most common form of terrorism in the United States; and until 9/11, it was also the most deadly. Between 1980 and 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recorded 353 incidents of terrorism and 264 of these were traced back to domestic terrorists. And the number is foreseen to increase in the near future. According to the official website of the SPLC (http://www.splcenter.org/index.jsp), there has been a 54% rise in the number of hate groups in America since 2001 “fueled by immigration fears, a failing economy and the successful campaign of Barack Obama”. Although extremism runs rampant – more so with the aid of technological advances such as cable television and the internet – domestic terrorism might become harder to track and recognized for what it is. A new form has been taking place: it is no longer carried out by groups of threes and fours, seeking out people to lynch or bludgeon to death. Benjamin Smith, with links to white supremacist World Church of the Creator, launched a shooting spree across Indiana and Illionois, targeting blacks, Jews, and Asians. In the same year, Buford Furrow, who had links to the violent white supremacist group Aryan Nations, opened fire in a Jewish community in Los Angeles, California. Both were initially seen as criminal acts of individuals because in neither case were they seen to act as part of a destabilization plot (Sauter and Carafano, 2005). There was no question though, upon closer inspection, that however deranged the individual might seem, ideology pushed such persons to make the leap from protest to terrorism. The fine line makes it all the more difficult to identify domestic terrorism and to prosecute the organization responsible. White Aryan Resistance leader Tom Metzger promotes this technique of one person acting on his own. He calls the strategy the “Lone Wolf” activism. In April 2000, he lauded Richard Baumhammer’s racially-motivated killing spree that left five people dead; Metzger called it a model for lone wolfism. This is a type of leaderless resistance of small groups – a cell consisting of three members – or even individuals acting on their own (Thomas, 1999). Hate groups provide the philosophical framework shared and exchanged through the Internet; those who do the killings usually don’t have tangible connections to racist groups. In whatever form, domestic terrorism has proven itself a menace to society. In his treatise on multi-culturalism, Machan (1996) pointed out that “the demand for fairness to all cultures is predicated on a misunderstanding, namely, that cultures consist mainly of benign characteristics, nothing mean and nasty…Few people take the time and trouble to consider more stable and universal standards than those they have picked up in their own cultures”. And none of the effects of extremism, more so of domestic terrorism, can be considered benign. Racial divide affects the society as a whole. One glaring example would be America’s social welfare system. According to Sachs (2008), “social spending tends to be highest where social and racial cleavages are the smallest”; social welfare states like Sweden are proof of this, wherein ethnic homogeneity equates to greater trust among its people. The converse is true for the United States, where cultural and racial cleavages are deep and wide; in this case, racial discord plays a critical role in determining social spending and “racial fragmentation is a powerful predictor of redistribution” (Alesina, Glaeser, and Sacerdote, 2001). Prejudice, hatred and violence, especially when racially or ethnically motivated does the country and society more harm than good – that much we have learned from history. What do hate groups gain when they resort to violence and brutal killings to purge the nation of what they call the “lesser race”? Only dissent, and the real hindrance to peace, harmony and progress. Racism has existed as far back as history can recall, and some groups still insist on evolving in order for their propaganda to reach a greater audience and the possibility of greater acceptance. What policies have been influenced when activists launched their riots, shooting sprees, and bombings? Only more laws to tauten homeland security and a tightening noose around the necks of racist movements. It’s true what McGuire (1990) said of the continuing supremacist movement, that: “as long as Christians feel superior to Jews (or is it actually vice-versa?) and Catholics feel superior to Protestants (or is it actually vice-versa?) and Ashkenazic Jews feel superior to Sephardic Jews (or is it actually vice-versa?) and men feel superior to women (or is it actually vice-versa?) and whites feel superior to blacks/browns/yellows/reds and so on ... the phenomenon will be with us”. In the land of the free, it goes both ways. Racism exists because of the rights to free speech; but racism is also made obsolete by the freedom secured for the marginalized race by their forebears. Especially now that every person is a free man, no longer subject to slavery and bondage, racism has been delegated to the fringes of society. But for all its seeming obscurity, it is still a national security threat. Nevertheless, racism in this times – particularly the ideology of white supremacists – has been rendered moot because in this generation, each individual has been born equal. Racists of this generation are merely riding the coattails of their fathers and hardly making a significant contribution to society, unless fomenting discord may be called as such. REFERENCE LIST Alesina, A., Glaeser, E., Sacerdote, B. (2001). Why doesn’t the U.S. have a European-style welfare system? NBER Working Paper Series, no. 8524 Anti-Defamation League (2002). Metzger’s many faces. Retrieved March 20, 2009, from http://www.adl.org/learn/Ext_US/Metzger.asp Copeland, L. (2004, November). Domestic terrorism: New trouble at home. USA Today. London, R. (1990, October). Sending a $12.5 Million message to a hate group. The New York Times. Machan, T. (1996). Fallacies of uncritical multiculturalism. The Freeman, 46(3): 134-135 McGuire, F.G. (1990). Security Intelligence Sourcebook. Silver Spring, MD: Interests, Ltd. Portland, J.W. (1990, October). Making War on WAR. Time Magazine. Sachs, J. (2008). Common Wealth: Economics for a crowded planet. New York: The Penguin Press. Sauter, M.A., Carafano, J.J. (2005). Homeland security: A complete guide to understanding, preventing, and surviving terrorism. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. Scronton, R. (1982) Dictionary of political thought. New York: Hill and Wang. Thomas, J. (1999, August). New face of terror rrimes: Lone Wolf weaned on hate. The New York Times. Tom Metzger Interview (2005, May). Retrieved March 20, 2009, from http://www.resist.com (official website of White Aryan Movement) U.S. Department of Justice, National Security Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Terrorist Research and Analytical Center (1994). Terrorism in the United States. Washington, DC. Read More