The eCrozier

I fit the basic profile of the type of person the FBI should be profiling as a potential terrorist: I’m white, male, and upset with the government. Now, I write that rather tongue in cheek, since as a follower of Jesus I’m committed to, literally, “turning the other cheek.” Jesus tells me I have to love my enemies rather than kill them. There’s no fine print below the Sermon on the Mount that says: “just kidding.” No, he’s quite serious about what he expects of me. So, I guess I don’t fully match the profile of a domestic terrorist. While I’m upset with the government, I won’t resort to violence. And yet, many people with my basic profile are being ignored even though the data shows we shouldn’t be ignoring them. Angry white males, who are also white supremacists, are engaging in a growing number of extremist-related killings.

The Anti-Defamation League earlier this year reported that in the U.S. white supremacists “collectively have been responsible for more than 70 percent of the 427 extremist-related killings over the past 10 years.” There’s no other single demographic group that even comes close to that percentage. You can read their report here.So, it defies common sense that of the 5000 current terrorism investigations, only about 18% are focused on white supremacists, especially since such people comprise 70% of the people who have committed terrorist acts. After what happened in Charlottesville 18 months ago, one would think that would’ve been a “wake-up call.” But what actually happened is this: Federal monies that had helped local law enforcement address this crisis have been redirected for other purposes.

None of that makes any sense until we think about it. It’s actually something we don’t want to think about. A small, but growing percentage of white males in our country are the number one terrorism threat we face. We’re not dealing with the threat because we don’t want to believe it’s true. If some other demographic group comprised 70% of all extremist-related killings (maybe one with browner skin?), then our leaders would be screaming for something to be done about “those people.” But, of course, that’s not happening. And since we don’t now have the political will to limit white supremacist’s access to weapons designed to kill as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time, then our only recourse is to focus on stopping these bad actors before they act. And that can’t be done until we admit who is the problem.

51 years ago yesterday, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated by a white supremacist. So, this isn’t a new problem. But it’s a growing one that was incubated in racial myths of the past and perpetuated today by a continued distorted reading of history. I’m not suggesting a mass round-up of angry white males (even if I were, it would be impractical given that our growing number of for-profit detainment centers are over-capacity with families seeking asylum in the U.S.). Besides, we thankfully still do have a Bill of Rights. But I am suggesting we need to act on what’s actually happening. America is threatened by white supremacists and our leaders aren’t taking it seriously enough. How many more souls will die before they do?

+Scott