The Terrorist Threat of White Supremacy

Reports from across the United States suggest that in recent years, the size and strength of white supremacist organizations has been rising rapidly. In light of unprecedented spikes in immigration into the US, many disaffected young white men are turning to ideologies like white nationalism and white supremacism that promise to defend their status as the demographic majority and power center of the US. But what exactly should the rest of us expect of this growing strain of racism? What sort of threat do white supremacist organizations pose to America?

The explosive growth of white supremacism can be best analyzed by breaking it down into its various segments. The majority of the adherents to this growing movement are simply young white men who feel they have been marginalized by American society. Eight years spent living in Obama’s America have forced ordinary Americans to cling to identity politics in ways that haven’t been seen on this scale since the mid-20^th Century. The push to corral people into broad identity groups (including by race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and nationality) has inadvertently driven some white men to adopting this group identity. They feel victimized by the modern Left and want only to defend their own group interests. Though most of these people spew vitriolic rhetoric and cling to hateful ideologies, not many pose a real danger to broader American society.

The real threat coming from this explosive growth in white nationalist sentiment is in the small but deadly faction that support neo-Nazism and are willing to use violence to advance their ideological goals. A recent article by Fox 5 Vegas delves deep into the workings of a particularly violent extremist group known as ‘Atomwaffen Division’ (German for ‘nuclear weapons division’). Atomwaffen Division (AWD) is a neo-Nazi group that follows the writings of James Mason, a former member of the American Nazi Party who wrote extensively on his ideas for the use of terrorism to establish a fascist state in America. Members idolize domestic terrorists like Timothy McVeigh, Charles Manson, and Dylann Roof. The group’s primary goal is to incite a race war in the United States and to cripple the American Government, paving the way for the establishment of a totalitarian National Socialist state. Some members of AWD have already been linked to several murders targeting homosexuals and, in at least one instance, other AWD members. While AWD has not committed any major terrorist attacks yet, it may be only a matter of time until they or others like them become an active terrorist threat.

To successfully counter this growing neo-Nazi terror threat in the United States before it leads to a major attack like the Oklahoma City Bombing requires not only increased law enforcement activity targeting these groups, but also a change in the attitudes of ordinary Americans. It’s no question that the reason young white men are driven to these violent and hateful ideologies is a reaction to the marginalization that they feel they’ve experienced at the hands of the mainstream Left. Adjusting the rhetoric of politicians and academics to be more inclusive of white men would go a long way toward stemming the problem at its source. Identity politics is a very dangerous game, and creating violent neo-Nazi terrorist organizations is one of its chief risks.

Reference:
http://www.fox5vegas.com/story/38134119/investigating-a-hate-group-preparing-for-a-race-war-in-southern-nevada