A New Act of “Domestic Terrorism” in the US

The FBI is investigating a killing that took place in a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, leaving 6 people dead and 3 wounded in an “act of domestic terrorism.”

At first, this possibility had to be considered because, after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, members of the Sikh community have often been mistaken for Muslims and, consequently, have been assaulted and harassed.

“Sikh-Americans are too often the victims of intolerance and hate,” said Rep. Joseph Crowley in a statement after the killing on Sunday.

The Sikh religion has its origin in Southeast Asia and it is popular in some parts of India where, according to tradition, men wear long hair and wrap it in a turban.

“Most people are so ignorant they don’t know the difference between religions,” Ravi Chawla told The New York Times, “Just because they see the turban they think you’re Taliban.”

Wade Michael Page, the author of the massacre, was a former soldier who worked in psychological operations in Afghanistan, which means it would be difficult for him to mistake a Sikh for Taliban. However, this does not mean that the crime he committed is not a type of racist crime.

U.S. laws provide a great distinction between domestic terrorism and massacres perpetrated by unbalanced individuals, as recently occurred during the premiere of the Batman film in Colorado.

According to the Patriot Act, established after 9/11, domestic terrorism involves “acts dangerous to human life (…) intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.”

For example, the FBI considered the attack by Timothy McVeigh against a public building in Oklahoma and caused 168 deaths in 1999* an act of domestic terrorism. McVeigh was part of the militia movement fighting the federal government at that time.

The attack against the Jewish Defense League in 2004 was also considered an act of domestic terrorism. More recently in 2009, the attack at Fort Hood, where 13 soldiers were killed and over 30 were injured by a fervent Muslim, Lieutenant Nidal Malik Hasan, was also considered by the FBI to be an act of domestic terrorism.

*Editor’s note: the Oklahoma City bombing occurred in 1995.