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By JTTC

For almost twenty years the U.S. has been dedicating extensive resources and manpower to combatting terrorism. These efforts have been largely focused on targeting hostile foreign terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. While the focus on terrorism was significantly expanded in the wake of the attacks on the towers of the World Trade Center on the Sept. 11, the U.S. has allocated significant resources to similar causes in the past. This was especially true when combating ideologically or politically oppositional groups from communist insurgents in South America to Irish militants in Ireland. While the U.S. has shown no compunction about targeting these types of terrorist groups, it has shown something akin to tolerance to others. To be specific these others are white supremacist domestic terrorist groups. Not only has the U.S. done little to stamp out these groups they have even refused to denounce them or even label them as terrorist organizations. This is not an accident but a result of deep wounds in the American political system stemming from the Civil War. These domestic terrorist cells function like an infection on the body of our Republic. Without a strong remedy this infection will continue to fester and cause even further harm to the U.S.    

The average American can certainly think of an organization that would be widely considered a terrorist organization regardless of an individual’s political alignment. In fact, the U.S. even defines what domestic terrorism is in the federal legal code where it explains terrorism generally and the FBI has its own somewhat simplified explanation. While most people would agree on the definition, who fits that definition is hotly contested. Even the United Nations doesn’t have a specific terrorist list, only a sanctions list that can include people wanted for terrorism in certain countries. Some of these organizations like the Islamic State are so agreed upon that the UN has passed unique unanimous resolutions embargoing everything from money to arms to these organizations. On the other hand some of these organizations like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia and the Irish Republican Army or their splinter groups continue to be designated as terrorists by the U.S. while also maintaining legitimate political power within the state they operate in. One may be inclined to believe that this disunity is a result of the international system. However, this disunity is present in our domestic policy especially when it comes to the perpetrators of domestic terrorist attacks.

The deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil was the Sep. 11 attacks with nearly three thousand dead and tens of thousands wounded. This attack was uniquely devastating as was the U.S. response to it, resulting in an invasion and protracted insurgent war that has lasted nearly twenty years. Not only was the U.S. federal government drawn into a war, but Americans accepted legislation that has significantly limited their first and fourth amendment rights. The most deadly domestic terror attack was the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 where 168 people were killed and over 500 were wounded by a fertilizer bomb created and placed by a lone wolf anti-government actor. Since this incident, domestic terror attacks have largely been mass shootings. 48 people died to a lone wolf Islamic extremist gunman in Orlando in 2016 and 23 people were killed by a lone wolf white supremacist in El Paso just over a year ago in 2019. Some attacks like the Las Vegas shooting where 58 people lost their lives seem like they could fit the profile of a domestic terrorist attack, but have never had a confirmed motive. If one were to only look at the highest few death tolls of domestic terror plots than one could believe that a diverse set of groups perpetrate these attacks, sadly this is largely inaccurate especially in recent years. There has been an upward trend of a specific brand of domestic terrorism in the last few years, one that plays on the racial wounds of our nation’s past.  

The largest share of total victims has been a result of Islamic extremist terrorist groups, yet this trend has changed significantly in the last decade. Over the last decade right-wing white supremacist aligned extremists have killed some 330 people, which is over 75% of all domestic terrorist related killings in the last decade. While the U.S. has lost many to terrorism over several decades, the federal government has usually heavily pursued and punished the perpetrators of these crimes. However, in recent years the threat of white supremacist terrorism has been largely downplayed by the executive branch of the government even assigning partial blame to the victims. While the Department of Homeland Security has acknowledged that domestic white supremacist terrorist are the most pressing terror threat facing the U.S., the president and many others have not. Instead they have attempted to blame anti-fascist groups as well as having the federal government focus exclusively on Islamic groups. In the last four years nearly every single domestic terrorist attack has been perpetrated by a white supremacist. Despite this, the current presidential administration has gutted federal agencies focused on countering white supremacist domestic terror threats. Nonwhite supremacist terrorist organizations are certainly a threat to the U.S. However, only white supremacist organizations have enjoyed the seemingly intentional negligence of the federal government. 

The U.S. has a long history of dealing with terrorism from the Sep. 11 attacks and the Oklahoma City bombing to the recent trend of mass shootings. By nature, terrorist attacks inevitably lead to political divisions as can be seen in the confusing almost semi-legitimized place that some international terrorist organizations exist in. In the U.S. these divisions present themselves in the erratic response from the federal government on white supremacist domestic terror. While white supremacist domestic terrorists are hardly alone, they are unique in being nearly tolerated by the federal government. Even the sitting President of the U.S. was reluctant to disavow an endorsement by the Ku Klux Klan. This tolerance allows these kinds of terrorists to propagate, expand and enact their attacks with little to no resistance from the federal government. While not always completely successful, other terrorist groups and actors have been doggedly tracked, condemned and stopped by the federal government. Yet, white supremacist groups have largely escaped these actions. This has allowed them to serve as the festering infection on the deep racial wounds the nation has had for its entire history. Without decisive denunciation and action against many of these terrorist groups they will continue to harm the larger body of our nation. Given a long enough time they may cause irreparable harm to the body of this nation, if they haven’t already.

JTTC is a political writer for La Tonique.