Crime – Extremist Mass Murder – Tutorial – Proud Boys and Others Pose Threat.

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My bad. I’ve overlooked extremist mass murder in recent posts. However, in my blog tutorial about multicide, I covered many types of mass murder in the US. And using data from the GunViolence.org Archive, I showed how many mass shootings we’ve had in recent years. Also, using CNN data, I showed how many Rampage Killings we’ve also had going back to the 1940s.

Extremist Mass Murder

President Trump’s message to extremists during the first Presidential Debate to “Stand Down and Stand By” plus the threat to kidnap and terrorize Michigan Governor Whitmer brought me up short.  And it reminded me that I’d left out an important type of mass violence in my multicide tutorial.  Namely, Extremist Mass Murder.

This kind of violence goes back many decades, but the most egregious case has to be the Oklahoma City Bombing.

The Oklahoma City bombing in 1995

That bombing, the largest deliberate mass casualty on mainland American soil between Pearl Harbor and 9/11.  People still think of it as the work of lone wolves*  like Timothy McVeigh who was a radicalized military vet unhappy about the FBI taking “innocent” lives during the Ruby Ridge, Idaho and Waco, Texas incidents.
Extremist Mass Murder

Extremist Mass Murder

Many, including a few scholars,*  allege the  Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people — including 19 infants and  children — was the work of the white power movement. What we do know is McVeigh (who was later executed) had an accomplice Terry Nichols (given 12 years) and had informed others (Michael and  Fortiers) about his plans.
Extremist Mass Murder

Extremist Mass Murder

When people talk about the white power movement extremists, they often lump together
  • Supremacists (white usually, tho sometime Black)
  • Militias (anti-government with a large variety of causes)
  • Separatists (white, but again, sometimes Black)
  • Tax resisters, and
  • Survivalists.
Thanks to Professor Kathleen Belew of the U. of Chicago, we can note some of the violence white power activists have caused or attempted since the early 1980s:

Bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building.
Bombing of gas lines.
Bombing of the Hoover Dam.
Bombing of an ethnic studies classroom.
Bombing of synagogues.

Polarization.

And much of this came from polarization of American society due to the rise of conservatism and the start of President Ronald Reagan’s term in 1981. Extremists have capitalized on these divides and the Internet and social media have helped them increase in numbers. Moreover, polarization has grown exponentially since the most fractious president in recent memory took office in 2017. 
I’m happy to email you a free chapter book about the root causes and consequences of polarization in the US – independent of who’s president. To receive it, please enter your email whenever the subscribe dialogue box appears while you’re browsing this website.  (Please let me know what you think after you receive the freebie. I always welcome feedback, esp regarding blogs like today’s.)

The plot to abduct Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

The aforementioned professor believes the white extremists arrested for plotting to kidnap Gov. whitmer is not just a one-off situation.  She cites a Department of Homeland Security  threat assessment report, released earlier this week that states the ‘White power movement violence and affiliated extremism is, by far, the greatest terrorist threat to our nation.

According to Professor Belew, “Not only does this kind of extremist violence outstrip any violence carried out by what President Trump has referred to as “antifa and the left,” but white power violence now also exceeds the threat of radical Islamist terror. The DHS assessment makes clear that ‘2019 was the most lethal year for extremism in the United States since the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.'”

She continues, saying, “The attempted kidnapping of Whitmer is linked to the call to arms of the Proud Boys, the underground training of other white power groups, the militias and “boogaloo boys” on the march and the string of mass shooters motivated by this ideology.”

You’ve probably heard some of these names before, including the Wolverine Watchmen. Just who are they?

Proud Boys

The Proud Boys is a far-right and neo-fascist, male-only organization that promotes and engages in political violence in North America. While the group officially rejects racism, several members have been affiliated with white supremacy.

The Proud Boys have been described by US intelligence organizations as “a dangerous white supremacist group.”  It takes its name from the song “Proud of Your Boy” from the 2011 Disney musical Aladdin.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has said that “[w]hile the group can be described as violent, nationalistic, Islamophobic, transphobic and misogynistic, its members represent a range of ethnic backgrounds, and its leaders vehemently protest any allegations of racism.”

Wolverine Watchmen

Federal officials say   several men in the Whitmer case are tied to the Wolverine Watchmen militia group — Paul Bellar, Shawn Fix, Eric Molitor, Michael Null, William Null, Pete Musico and Joseph Morrison — and they support the “boogaloo” movement.

FBI agents claim they disrupted and stopped what they say was a conspiracy by militia movement members to kidnap   Gov.   Whitmer. They also discussed arson of her vacation home and other targets and kidnapping her for a “trial.”

Wolverine Watchmen

Wolverine Watchmen

The Boogaloo Movement

According to the US Department of Justice, boogaloo is a term “used by extremists to signify a coming civil war and/or collapse of society.”

The Department of Homeland Security has called the boogaloo movement as being comprised of “simply violent extremists.”

The boogaloo movement is a loosely organized far-right extremist movement with members advocating for a second Civil War. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the current boogaloo movement was first noticed by extremism researchers in 2019. The boogaloo title in use to a second American Civil War is a reference to the 1984 movie “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo.”

According to NBC News, boogaloo extremists have used social media to share instructions for explosives and 3D-printed firearms, distribute illegal firearm modifications and strategize a potential uprising.

What do you think?

So there you have it. Some tutorial basics regarding past, present, and possibly future extremist mass murder.
Pretty scary, and I don’t mean Halloween pretend scary.
 ___
*According to Wiki, lone wolf attacks are far more rare than attacks carried out by groups. Since 1940, there have only been around 100 successful lone wolf attacks in the United States. The number of attacks is increasing, however, and has grown each year since 2000. According to studies, lone wolves have more in common with mass murderers than they do with members of the organized terrorist groups that often inspire them.
**Kathleen Belew is author of “Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America” and is assistant professor of history at the University of Chicago.

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