Domestic terrorism rages on in Trump era

Two months into the era of President Donald Trump, who encouraged supporters to verbally and physically attack people of color and others who disagreed with him during his campaign, the number of attacks by white supremacists on Muslims and people of color continue to rise sharply.

NYC cops told People magazine in a recent article that a self-proclaimed white supremacist from Baltimore told authorities that he stabbed to death a Black homeless man in New York City in a racially motivated attack.

According to People, James Jackson allegedly told investigators he traveled from Maryland and was looking to harm Black men when he encountered Timothy Caughman at around 11:15 p.m. Monday in Manhattan.

JAMES JACKSON

Jackson then allegedly attacked Caughman with a large sword, stabbing him repeatedly.

Caughman, who was reportedly homeless, stumbled into a police department with stab wounds to his chest and back and died later at a hospital, according to a police statement obtained by People.

Jackson, a white Army veteran traveled from Maryland to New York City to kill a Black man to “make a statement” in the media capital of the world, New York Police Department officials said Wednesday. James Harris Jackson, 28, turned himself in at a Manhattan police station after he stabbed his victim on a sidewalk.

Jackson was carrying a handful of knives in his pocket when he arrived at the police station, Reuters reported. Shortly after coming across Timothy Caughman, who was searching through garbage on the street, he stabbed him in the chest and back, police said.

Jackson told police he left Baltimore Friday and traveled to New York City by bus “because it is the media capital of the world and he wanted to make a statement,” Bill Aubrey, a deputy chief at the New York Police Department, told reporters. “It was revealed that the attack on Timothy Caughman was clearly racially motivated. It is believed that he was specifically intending to target male Blacks.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center has warned non-whites living in the U.S. about potential hate crimes. “The country saw a resurgence of white nationalism that imperils the racial progress we’ve made,” said Mark Potok, senior fellow and editor of the report, in a recent statement about racial attacks in 2016.

While attacks against Black Americans are still a major problem, the SPLC said in a recent report that white supremacist groups and individuals have begun targeting Muslims more than Blacks for the first time.

That report came amid efforts by the Trump administration to prevent immigrants from seven Muslim nations from entering the U.S. for a visit or in search of a new home.

This article originally published in the March 27, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.