Homegrown terrorist numbers rise after Trump takes office
6th March 2017 · 0 Comments
With President Donald Trump and his entire administration focused squarely on preventing anti-U.S. terrorist attacks by banning Muslim immigrants and visitors from seven Middle Eastern countries, the number of white supremacists in the U.S. attempting to commit acts of violence against Muslims and other people of color continues to rise steadily.
On Feb. 9, authorities arrested Mark Charles Barnett, 48, in Ocala, Florida after he attempted to place 10 explosive devices in Target stores from New York to Florida. He hoped the explosions would cause Target’s stock prices to plummet, making it possible for him to purchase stocks at a significantly reduced price.
Barnett is charged with possession of a firearm (destructive device) affecting commerce by a previously convicted felon. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.
On Feb. 16, the FBI reported the arrest of Benjamin McDowell, a white supremacist in South Carolina with felony convictions who bought a gun from an undercover agent and reportedly said that he planned an attack “in the spirit of Dylann Roof,” the white supremacist who fatally shot nine Black worshippers in Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, SC in 2015.
FBI agent Grant Lowe said that the 29-year-old McDowell didn’t have a specific target in mind but said he might just shoot at a party of Black people.
McDowell also reportedly posted anti-Semitic remarks on Facebook and said that white supremacists who don’t have the courage to “fight for Yahweh like Dylann Roof did” should “shut the f— up.”
The Washington Post recently reported about a shooting incident at a bar in Olathe, a city 20 miles outside of Kansas City, during which two patrons from India were shot, including one man who was killed. Witnesses told authorities that the gunman, who was white, shouted “Get out of my country!” before firing on the two patrons.
Although authorities said they had not yet identified a motive for the shootings, relatives of the victims attributed it to a climate of fear and xenophobia in America prompted in part by the rise and election of President Donald Trump.
Reuters News Service reported that the Trump administration called the attempt to link the shootings to Trump and his message absurd.
Meanwhile. William Christopher Gibbs, 27, of Morganton, Georgia, was arrested on state charges of reckless conduct and probation violation last month after going to a local hospital.
His hospitalization triggered 100 police and hazardous material experts to respond and search Gibbs’ home and car for traces of the poison. Fannin County Sheriff Dane Kirby confirmed a search of Gibbs’ car tested positive for
The FBI hasn’t commented other than to confirm agents are investigating Gibbs’ background and how he came into possession of ricin, a relatively easy to produce toxin rendered from castor beans.
Gibbs also faces the possibility of more serious federal charges.
Gibbs claims membership in the “Georgia Church of Creativity,” a white supremacy sect that professes “race is our religion,” that the “white race is nature’s finest,” and that “racial loyalty is the greatest of all honors, and racial treason is the worst of all crimes.”
Also in February, a Georgia judge sentenced a couple to prison for threatening a group of Black people with weapons and the Confederate flag at a an eight-year-old child’s birthday party.
Jose Torres, 26, and Kayla Norton, 25, were convicted last month of aggravated assault, terroristic threats and street-gang terrorism for a July 2015 confrontation in Douglas County near Atlanta. The duo apparently drove up to a birthday party in trucks, waving the American, military and Confederate flags.
Georgia Superior Court Judge William McClain sentenced Torres to 13 years in prison and Norton to six years in prison, according to Douglas County District Attorney Brian Fortner. They were also ousted from Douglas County and will face probation after their release.
The Southern Poverty Law Center said in a recent report that anti-Muslim hate groups have grown exponentially in recent years, rising from five documented anti-Muslim groups in 2010 to 101 in 2016. The biggest jump took place last year when the number rose from 34 groups in 2015 to 101 in 2016.
Muslims are now the top target of white supremacists in the U.S., according to the SPLC report.
Jewish Americans were on edge last week after a series of nationwide threats made against Jewish community centers and other gathering places.
This article originally published in the March 6, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
