White Nationalist Terrorism

Another mass shooting, this time in Christchurch New Zealand, left at least fifty people dead and many dozens wounded, proving yet again that white nationalism spreads hate and leads to the vilest of acts.  Let’s call it what it is — terrorism.  For some reason, when Muslim extremists attack a Western target, it is immediately condemned as an act of terrorism.  But when a white man attacks two mosques and kills fifty Muslims, it is considered an isolated act of a mad man.  While no one can be held accountable for these acts other than those that perpetrate these heinous crimes, let’s not fool ourselves that this is solely the random act of a nut job.  He reportedly chose New Zealand precisely because it is arguably the safest country on earth.  His attacks on two mosques where he ruthlessly gunned down children, women and men were not random.  They were intended to send a message and to instill terror.

Western intelligence agencies work together world-wide to follow and thwart such acts by ISIS and al-Qaeda and other Muslim extremist groups.  And well they should.  But there is to date, no similar intelligence effort to follow and thwart acts by white nationalists.  Make no mistake about it, the far right extremists work together via the dark web and other social media avenues to spread their ideology and to share ideas about how to carry out violence.  As explained in a Washington Post article this weekend, white supremacists who are motivated by a right-wing political ideology committed more acts of violence in recent years than any other type of domestic extremist.  It is time to recognize that these are not one time random events but rather that these extremists are connected in that they are motivated by and share the same websites, political views and understanding of world events.  They feed off of each other.  It is a movement, both here in the United States and increasingly in other Western nations around the world. They are connected in ways we may not truly understand. There was a reason this evil person left a 74 page manifesto and live streamed his attack on Facebook.  He wanted to share with those like him and in a way, to brag about his ability to carry out with action what others only talk about.

Be aware of the language.  Words matter and have meaning.  Many experts start with the French writer Renaud Camus and his book “The Great Replacement” which is often referenced by the far right.  Indeed, this shooter named his manifesto in homage to this book.  In his book, Mr. Camus argues that whites in Europe are being replaced by immigrants from non-white countries and most of them are Muslims. He calls it “demographic colonization” and talks about a “counter revolt” to drive them away.  Mr. Camus now has a second book along the same lines called “You Will Not Replace Us!” Remember that in 2017 the white supremacists in Charlottesville marched to the chant “Jews will not replace us!”  Other words like “invasion” and depictions of non-white immigrants as criminals, and disease carriers and generally despicable non-human beings fills the pages of the writings and postings of these far right nationalists.  They come from “shit hole” countries.  They want to take away jobs. Sound familiar?

According to the ADL (formerly the Anti-Defamation League) in the United States from 2008 to 2017 there were 387 domestic extremist murders.  Of those, they report that 71 percent of them were committed by right-wing extremists.  26 percent were by Islamic extremists and three percent were by left-wing extremists.  Please don’t give me the “both sides” argument.  It is time to be realistic about this danger to our citizens.

One might ask where the real “national emergency” is taking place.  It may be that the real threat comes from those trying to “Make America White Again.”

We need to move beyond thinking of these incidents as isolated.  They are not.  Until our leadership realizes that this is a real and present danger these events will continue. When asked if he thought the rise of white nationalists around the world was a growing threat, Mr. Trump said, “I don’t really.  I think it’s a small group of people that have very, very serious problems.  It’s certainly a terrible thing.” To think as the president does about white nationalism is to either condone it, or it is the moral equivalent of having our collective heads in the sand.  From Saturday morning to Sunday night, Mr. Trump put out 50 Tweets or retweets about everything from formulating the idea that the government should investigate Saturday Night Live for colluding with the Russians (?!) to attacking Senator John McCain.  (Still.)  Not one concerned the massacre in New Zealand.

Wake up USA.