Report: Domestic extremists deadlier than Jihadists since 9/11 attacks

By Zenitha Prince
Contributing Writer

(Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper) — In the years since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, nearly twice as many Americans have been killed by domestic terrorists than by Muslim extremists, according to a new report by New America, a Washington, D.C.-based research center.

Forty-eight persons have been killed in plots designed by white supremacists, anti-government zealots and other non-Muslim fanatics, compared to 26 killed by jihadists, according to the report’s tally. The most recent and one of the most devastating homegrown terror acts occurred in Charleston, S.C., where nine members of an African-American church were slain by a self-avowed white supremacist. Other plots often target police officers, members of other minority and religious groups and civilians.

The lethal attack on South Carolina’s Emanuel AME Church was one of 19 carried out by non-jihadists since 9/11, compared to seven by Muslim extremists, according to the count, compiled by David Sterman, a New America program associate, and supervised by Peter Bergen, a terrorism expert. The new report highlights the gulf between public perception and the reality faced by law enforcement, said John J. Horgan, who studies terrorism at the University of Massachusetts.

“There is an acceptance now of the idea that the threat from jihadi terrorism in the United States has been overblown,” Horgan told The New York Times. “And there’s a belief that the threat of right-wing, anti-government violence has been underestimated.” A demographic breakdown of the 183 homegrown extremists identified in the period examined showed them to be overwhelmingly U.S.-born citizens of an average age of 34. The majority are male (88.5 percent) and Caucasian (90.7 percent).

This article originally published in the July 6, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.