CHRISTIAN TERROR: 12 EXAMPLES OF TERRORISM FROM THE RIGHT
The right-wing media is, of course, going wild as it does following any attack by Muslims. If you watch the news you’d almost think that every terrorist in the history of terrorism was an Islamic extremist.
That’s just silly, so we thought we’d make a nifty little list of the worst of the right-wing U.S. domestic terrorists:
12. 2009 Holocaust Memorial Museum Shooting: Neo-Nazi James Von Brunn entered the museum and shot and killed security guard Stephen Johns. Von Brunn was a lifetime Holocaust denier and had previously served six years in prison for a 1981 attempt to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board.
11. 2009 Home Invasion Murder: Shawna Forde, executive director of Minutemen American Defense (MAD), orchestrated the home invasion murders of a 9-year-old Latina girl and her father in their home. MAD is a violent anti-immigrant group that operates along the Mexican-American border.
10. July 1, 1999: A gay couple is shot and killed in the bed of their California home. Their murderers, Benjamin Matthew Williams and James Tyler Williams, also carried out arson attacks at three synagogues and an abortion clinic in the weeks prior to the murders.
9. Texas IRS Attack: On February 18, 2010, Joseph Andrew Stack flew his single engine plane into an Austin building that housed IRS offices. Stack and an IRS manager were killed and 13 others were injured. Before he carried out his attack he left a long rant about the IRS and politicians online.
8. Three “Phineas Priests”: In 1996 three men, Charles Barbee, Robert Berry, and Jay Merelle, were charged with two bank robberies and bombings at the banks, a Spokane newspaper, and a Planned Parenthood office. The men were anti-Semetic Christian Identity theorists who believed God wanted them to carry out violent attacks.
7. Buffalo Abortion Doctor’s Murder: On October 23, 1998, Dr. Barnett Slepian was assassinated by James Charles Kopp. Kopp was affiliated with the Roman-Catholic anti-abortion group “The Lambs of Christ.”
6. Jackson Mississippi Shooting Spree: On April 12, 1996, Neo-nazi Larry Wayne Shoemake went on a shooting rampage in a predominantly black neighborhood, killing one and wounding ten others.
5. George Tiller Murder: On May 9, 2009, Scott Roeder, an anti-abortion extremist, shot and killed Dr. Tiller, a late term abortion provider. Tiller had long been a target of the right-wing nuts; Bill O’Reilly even referred to him as “Tiller the baby killer.” In 1986 his office was firebombed and in 1993 he was shot five times by another Christian terrorist. It was really only a matter of time before the rhetoric on the right led to his death.
4. Jewish Community Center Murders: On April 13, 2014, Frazier Glenn Miller opened fire at a Jewish community center and Jewish retirement community, killing three people. Miller was the founder and former leader of the Carolina Knights of the KKK and White Patriot Party.
3. Sikh Temple Shooting: On August 5, 2012, Neo-nazi Wade Michael Page opened fire in a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, killing six and injuring three. Sikhs are often confused by extremists as Muslims and have been targets of violence many times in the post 9/11 Muslims-hating frenzy.
2. 1997 Olympic Bombing: Eric Robert Rudolph detonated a nail packed bomb at the 1997 Olympics held in Atlanta. The bomb killed one and injured more than 100. Rudolph wasn’t apprehended until 2003, and on his years on the run he carried out attacks on two abortion clinics and a gay bar. He was another follower of the anti-Semitic Christian Identity theology.
1. The Oklahoma City Bombing: Probably the most well known terrorist attack was in 1995 in Oklahoma. Timothy McVeigh and accomplice Terry Nichols blew up a 7,000-pound truck bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The blast killed 168 people, including 19 children and injured 500 more.
These are only 12 attacks, but there are countless others, not only that were carried out, but many that the FBI was able to stop. You don’t hear about these often because they don’t fit the media’s picture of a terrorist. They were all carried out by Caucasians who were some sort of “Christian.”
The right will say that we are excusing Islamic extremists and just trying to blame the white guy, but that is disingenuous. We a merely pointing out the extreme media bias when it comes to reporting on terrorism.
Terrorism is not exclusively a Middle Eastern thing, as we have been led to believe for more than a decade. None of it is acceptable, whether it be from Islamic terrorists or right-wing terrorists.
There is a common thread, though: religion.
Religion is to blame for more deaths than anything else in the history of man.
So, before the right talks about Islamic terrorists from other countries, they should remember: people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
H/T: Raw Story | Featured image: via Oklahomacitybombing.com
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