Saying It with a Gun
ROSS, LORETTA J.
MILITIA NATION SAYING IT WITH A GUN BY LORETTA J. ROSS The bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City was no isolated incident. Extremist rightwing groups around the country have been...
...Weaver's trial (he was acquitted of the murder of the federal marshal but convicted on the original weapons violations) sparked a frenzy of organizing by white supremacists, who pointed to his case as a symbol of government abuse...
...That's why I wasn't surprised by the bombing...
...Some militia members are more openly racist and anti-Semitic, while others may be simply extremist patriots...
...They have been known to force confrontations with local sheriffs and have threatened to lynch any elected official they believe is a traitor...
...First, they had to build a national network of activists, supporters, resources, and information, with the goal of launching militia activities in all fifty states...
...Attorney General Janet Reno, in particular, has been vilified by these people, and her personal security should be sharply increased...
...Duke has used his political platform to become a leader of the national Patriot movement...
...Two months after the Weaver siege, Pete Peters of the Christian Identity movement organized a closed-door meeting in the Rocky Mountains attended by 150 leaders of different far-right groups...
...And they are acting in violation of laws against paramilitary activity in twenty-four states...
...Representatives Helen Chenoweth, Republican of Idaho, Robert Dornan, Republican of California, Karen Thurman, Democrat of Florida, Mac Collins, Republican of Georgia, and James Hansen, Republican of Utah, as well as Senators Larry Craig, Republican of Utah, and Lauch Faircloth, Republican of North Carolina, have sent letters to the Justice Department or other agencies detailing the concerns of militia groups...
...A federal marshal was also killed...
...Militia activists developed a two-pronged strategy...
...These groups are dead serious about avenging Waco, which they viewed as a direct threat to them...
...Many visited Waco during the siege...
...More hard-core extremists are likely to refill the ranks with new recruits from the white-supremacist movement...
...Calling himself a "state representative and a part-time revolutionary," Duke spoke at a Constitutionalist convention in Colorado, saying citizen militias are prepared to fight U.N...
...White supremacists quickly rallied to support the Branch Da-vidians against the federal government...
...It was also advertised in the pages of Spotlight, a racist and anti-Semitic newspaper published out of Washington, D.C., with approximately 125,000 subscribers...
...Colorado State Senator Charles Duke, California State Representative Don Rogers, and Georgia State Senator Pam Glanton spoke at a Georgia militia convention in March...
...The second part of the strategy is obvious in the aftermath of the Oklahoma bombing...
...Several militia leaders want to provoke a confrontation with law enforcement...
...It has become their Mecca, their Alamo...
...Several of the hatelines operated by white supremacists and militia groups announced that April 19 would be a "Day of Remembrance...
...Second, they had to be ready to deny what they were up to, so they identify themselves publicly as "unorganized militias," or uncoordinated groups of citizens independent of each other...
...This is critical because many of the militias' activities are criminally treasonous...
...They are also united by some bizarre conspiracy theories, which include that the United States is at risk of invasion by the United Nations...
...The resurgence of the militias dates from the August 1992 siege of Randy Weaver's compound in Idaho, provoked by Weaver's weapons violations...
...What unites them, however, is their belief that peaceful democratic processes are not a viable solution...
...Militias have been around since the Civil War in the form of the Ku Klux Klan, but their current popularity is a new phenomenon...
...In the wake of the bombing, they will probably lose some supporters and gain others...
...and that citizens, unless armed, will be rounded up and herded into concentration camps if they disagree with the government...
...troops on Colorado soil...
...To militia members, armed confrontation with the government is inevitable...
...that the federal government is aiding and abetting this invasion...
...Through a concept called "Leaderless Resistance," promoted by former Klans-man Louis Beam, small, secretive cells of six to eight people are kept ignorant of each other, so that if one group is arrested, they cannot lead authorities to others...
...Extremist rightwing groups around the country have been getting bigger and bolder for some time...
...All of the militia spokesmen have denied having any connection with each other or the suspect arrested in the bombing...
...Some of their "softer" members—those not committed to the violent agenda—will quit the movement...
...They also engage in phony financial schemes and possibly gun-running to finance their movement...
...We were warned that something big might happen on April 19 to commemorate the anniversary of Waco...
...After the Waco disaster, hundreds of white supremacists and militia members made pilgrimages there, vowing revenge...
...While militia leaders are scrambling to distance themselves from Oklahoma, these groups pose a serious threat to our society...
...CHRIS FERRANTELLO Many do not pay their taxes and barricade themselves in fortresses, tactics guaranteed to bring government attention to them...
...Unless we treat the growth of the far right as a serious problem, enforce laws against paramilitary activity that are already on the books, and counter inflammatory rhetoric, the Oklahoma City bombing may be seen by future generations as a beginning, not an end.e Loretta J. Ross is the research director of the Center for Democratic Renewal in Atlanta, Georgia...
...They are attempting to form a citizens' army to overthrow the United States government...
...They prefer to say it with a gun...
...There will be further violence...
...Elected officials associated with the militias have helped their cause...
...During the ten-day standoff, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms killed Weaver's wife and son...
...The cells commit the criminal activity and are unknown to the vast majority of the membership...
Vol. 59 • June 1995 • No. 6
