Since the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20 this year, ethnic relations may have improved on average, but there is currently more danger than before from the violent extremism of the right. After the attack on the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City in April 1995, in which 168 were murdered, it had diminished. However, since late 2008, extremism from the right is making itself heard very clearly, once again.
Black president
To account for the phenomenon, four reasons are mentioned, namely: the election of a black president; the economic crisis; the growing number of completely disillusioned war veterans back from Iraq and Afghanistan; and, finally, the fear that this government will be addressing the virtually unregulated possession of weapons. That last reason is based in conspiracy theory, because – however desperately needed – there are no plans to strongly restrict the possession of guns.
Only this year, shootings took place in – among others – a liberal church and an abortion clinic. Even more ominous was the discovery in December 2008, after Obama had already been elected, that a man in Maine had made considerable progress in making a “dirty bomb”. He was a collector of Nazi memorabilia and had four barrels of radioactive material in his basement. It was his intention to kill the new president.
Neo-Nazi
Last week, James von Brunn, an old neo-Nazi, as much anti-Jewish as anti-black, shot a black security agent to death in the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. That museum is in the vicinity of the White House. The thought intrudes that extremists will eventually attempt an attack on the president, himself. Among the documents in the car of James von Brunn was a handwritten note with the text: “The Holocaust is a lie. Obama was created by the Jews.”
Foam
On April 7, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano issued a report on right extremism. In their indignation, some prominent members of conservative groups came close to suffocation from foaming at the mouth. A conservative think tank even sued the secretary. Their report would have been greatly exaggerated. Some even perceived an insult to the armed forces.
But the facts were decided in Napolitano’s favor. Also, serious conservatiive newspapers, like the Washington Times, acknowledge this now. On June 11, that paper quoted a professor of criminal law who talked about a “disaster waiting to happen”. By the way, this professor was more afraid of “Christian extremists than of Islamic terrorists on our own turf”.
This is Liberal Hysteria. Napalitano’s report was way over the top politically biased. Basically, it said any conservative/Republican was potentially a national security threat. Get a grip. The real threat to this country is the spending by Obama and the Pelosi/Reid Democrats. Where is the Obama bipartisanship that was promised?