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Richard Schmidt gets out in 2018. Remember him? Despite targeting African-Americans and Jews, he's the guy who wasn't convicted of terrorism, despite his plans, motives, and arsenal.
As a sign of how big our right-wing terrorism blind spot is, Schmidt was only caught because the FBI suspected him of trading counterfeit NFL jerseys.
After a 2009 report by the Department of Homeland Security identified right-wing terrorism as a growing threat, Tea Party backlash put the issue on the back burner.
But the white terrorists didn't go away. In fact, an Intercept investigation showed the FBI is increasingly concerned about white supremacists and terrorists joining police departments, which lack the resources and often the will to screen applicants.
Related: The Southern Poverty Law Center had already reported on extremists in the military.
America's biggest act of terror before 2001 was the Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168. The combined death toll in the worst attacks of the three decades prior was 14.
But as a new documentary makes clear, "the factions McVeigh represents, however marginalized they may be, continue to be a major bulwark of support for the newly inaugurated president, who is quicker to insult John Lewis than to cast off the affections of David Duke."
Feb 9, 2017Had he tried before he killed a bunch of worshipers, the Canadian suspect would've been welcomed across our borders. Rather than emboldening the case for Trump's executive order, the Quebec City case destroyed it.
↩︎ MTV
Under Obama, Homeland Security's "Countering Violent Extremism" worked closely with community leaders and web giants to surface extremists of all stripes. Under Trump, "Countering Islamic Extremism" will "target a faith group and cast it under a net of suspicion."
House Republicans also recently voted to make it easier for people in hate groups to buy guns.
Feb 9, 2017Tulsa has been in denial over the fact that people were cruel enough to bomb the black community from the air, in private planes, and that black people were machine-gunned down in the streets.
↩︎ Smithsonian
Feb 9, 2017The urge to tell their stories, to try to make sense of their paths is natural. What’s wrong is our failure to give equal time, energy, emotional and narrative consideration to the experiences of those figures who are not white and male.
↩︎ New York
