Several Acts Of Domestic Terrorism In The US - Essay Example

Several Acts Of Domestic Terrorism In The US “Terror from the right….”. This item from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) website details several acts of domestic terrorism in the US from Timothy McVeigh’s 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City to the present. This bombing is the advent of a new kind of domestic terrorism for the US whereby the perpetrators no longer limited themselves to attacking targets of political significance, but also randomly killing as many innocent people as possible in an effort to make their particular point and change America according to their ideology. The violence from the extreme right ranged from racist rampages to anarchists hating authority figures especially those of various agencies and levels of government. To me these attacks bear a striking resemblance to those elsewhere in the world where if the disgruntled are unable to effectively vent their anger on the source of their hatred they will do so against loathed symbols and kill as many people as possible whether innocent or not to intimidate society at large hoping to hasten the change they desire. To me such violence is simply the extreme manifestation of a deep distrust for authority especially government since colonial times. The Constitution was written on the basis citizens had to be protected from government abuse and each other and hence the 4th Amendment was written giving the right to bear arms which ironically encourages violence to take place. 2) “Alleged LAX shooter referenced antigovernment manifesto”. A second SPLC news item discusses the recent LAX Airport shooting by Paul Ciancia. He focused his anti government sentiment on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) especially the Transportation Safety Administration branch. Although not known to be an actual member of the “Patriot” movement the manifest Ciancia was carrying seems to indicate that his views paralleled theirs, namely that the DHS with its’ intelligence gathering capability is a collaborator in a global elite plot to set up a New World Order, a socialist world government which would crush American freedoms including the right to bear arms. This is obviously an extreme manifestation of a deep seated fear that, for example, proposed Democratic fire arm limitation legislation represents government overreaching against 4th Amendment right to bear arms freedom. Although Ciancia’s anti government motivation seems similar to other US domestic terrorism attacks, his execution differs in at least one respect. He appeared bent on randomly shooting as many TSA officers as possible, but he tried to avoid targeting the traveling public. 3) Finally in the third news item, “SPLC victorious against Alabama Anti Immigrant Law” the SPLC boasts that along with other civil rights groups, by agreement with the state under threat of a federal lawsuit, it has successfully blocked key provisions of the Alabama law it considers anti immigrant, draconian and unconstitutional. The provisions blocked include police holding people during a traffic stop solely to check immigration status, requiring schools to verify the immigration status of newly enrolled K-12 students, criminalizing the solicitation of work bu unauthorized immigrants, a provision that makes it a crime to provide a ride to undocumented immigrants or to rent to them, a provision that infringed on the ability of individuals to contract with someone who was undocumented and a provision that criminalized failing to register one’s immigration status. The SPLC also seeks to ensure police do not engage in racial profiling, immigrants have equal access to services in the state and Congress passes meaningful immigration reform. I believe legislators in Alabama and other states were responding to public pressure to pass such anti immigrant laws because of the belief that immigrants’ acceptance of menial low paying jobs restricted peoples’ access to employment opportunities and that immigrants, especially Mexican I near the border, were involved in drug trafficking and other criminal activity. The SPLC in 2012 completed a listing by state of over 1000 hate groups in the US. Not all of them advocate violence as some limit their activities to marches, rallies, speeches and publications, etc. but all have beliefs or practices that malign or attack an entire class of people. The 3 states I have chosen to analyze for a sociological informed opinion are Texas, Maine and New York. 1) Texas. A quick glance at the provided map shows that Texas has 62 hate groups, apparently second only to California with 82. The listing states the name, type and in most cases city of each group. Almost half of the groups are Klu Klux Klan (KKK) in various cities. There are also a number of racist skinheads, Neo-Nazis, Christian Identity and White Nationalist groups which likely share anti black sentiments. To counter these factions are some branches of the Nation of Islam who advocate the creation of a state for black people only separate from whites. There are also a few groups classified as “general hate” such as the Jewish Defense League (JDF) who focus their wrath on the Arabs. The Christian Identity groups espouse practices which seem counter to Christian values of peace and love as they hate evangelists and are profoundly anti Jewish and racist. Many of the hate groups in Texas are violent and are based on racist and pseudo religious attitudes. Most of the racism is white versus black and vice versa but hate is also directed at other races such as Hispanic (Mexican) and Arabs and even other segments of the same race. In any event the proliferation of hate groups in Texas suggests to me a profoundly dysfunctional society and a far cry from the notions of a melting pot or more recently multi cultural America where various races and religions can function together in peace. In contrast it seems to me to indicate the ascendancy of the conflict theory where groups see their power, privilege and economic status eroded and choose to lash out at the group they feel is responsible inviting a backlash. I suspect that Texas history of conflict as a frontier state wrestling control from the Mexicans has something to do with the prevailing confrontational attitudes. 2) Maine. In contrast the SPLC listing shows only 3 hate groups in this state, 2 Neo-Nazi and a racist skinhead Although both Texas and Maine are border states, I believe the following factors account for the much lower number of hate groups in Maine, lower population, fewer blacks and the absence of a history of slavery at least to the extent of Texas. Also, although it is a border state it is not confronted with a massive influx of illegal immigrants seeking a better economic life as in Texas. Maine is a functional society with less discord but not completely without disharmony as the existence of the 3 hate groups indicate. 3) New York. Even though it is a state with a high population including the metropolis of New York City, the map shows that there are a middle range number of 38 hate groups resident there. New York according to the SPLC has many of the same type of hate groups as Texas, particularly white nationalist and Neo-Nazi. However, it is noted that it has only one KKK and one racist skinhead group. It also has a few black separation groups and probably not surprisingly because of the 9/11 attacks, some anti Muslim groups. However, I would argue that it doesn’t have as many hate groups as one would expect in a state with such a large divers population. I attribute this to the following factors. I think that the freer New York society with somewhat more opportunities for blacks tempers the black/white hated to some degree. Also, Ellis Island with its’ view of the iconic Statute of Liberty has long been the welcoming destination for thousands of immigrants from all over the world. I suspect that unlike in Texas, most were more likely to be legal, better educated and more tolerant and therefore they did not have to replace local workers in menial low paying jobs fostering their resentment. Work Cited 1). “Hate and Extremism” SPLC Southern Poverty Law Center retrieved on Nov. 5, 2013 from http://www.splcenter.org/what-we-do/hate-and-extremism. Read More