ARYAN NATIONS DEFLATES ‘SOVEREIGNS’ IN MONTANA

year’s end, 45 people in America had
been killed in “violent jihadist attacks”
since the Al Qaeda massacre of Sept. 11,
2001, just short of the 48 people killed
in the same 14-year period in “far right
wing attacks.” (Unlike the ADL, the foundation
does not count non-political violence
by extremists.)
The impact of terrorism goes far
beyond the body count. Violence motivated
by racial, ethnic or religious animus
fractures society along its most
fragile fault lines, and sends shock
waves through entire targeted communities.
More hatred and fear, particularly
of diversity, are often the response.
Several political figures have harnessed
that fear, calling for bans on mosques,
Muslim immigrants and refugees fleeing
violence in the Middle East. And terror
can breed hate crimes, as evidenced by
a string of physical attacks on mosques
and Muslims, particularly after a jihadist
couple in San Bernardino, Calif., murdered
14 people in December.
From start to finish, the year 2015 was
remarkable for its terrorist violence, the
penetration of the radical right and its
conspiracy theories into mainstream
politics, and the boost far-right ideas
and groups received from pandering
politicians like Donald Trump. And the
situation appears likely to get worse, not
better, as the country continues to come
to terms with its increasing diversity.
What’s Going On?
Eight years after the election of our first
black president, two years after the birth
of the Black Lives Matter movement, and
half a year after same-sex marriage was
legalized, Americans are arguably as
angry as they have been in decades.
The bulk of that anger is coming from
beleaguered working-class and, to a lesser
extent, middle-class white people, especially
the less educated — the very same
groups that most vociferously support
HATE GROUPS 1999–2015
751
708
676
762
803
844
888
926
932
1002
1018
1007
939
784
892
602
457
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006 2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
AP PHOTO/UNION COUNTY, FLA., SHERIFF’S OFFICE/ ALACHUA COUNTY JAIL (KKK); AP PHOTO/JOHN LOCHER (BUNDY)
MARCH 24
A longtime racist skinhead
named Steven Snyder
robs a bank in Wausaukee,
Wis., murders a man as
he hijacks a car a half hour
later, and shoots to death
a pursuing state trooper
even as the trooper fatally
shoots him. It is unclear
what Snyder, who has a
20-year history of violence
and onetime ties to the
neo-Nazi National Alliance,
may have been planning.
MARCH 25
Authorities in St. Louis,
Mo., arrest David Michael
Hagler, seizing a stockpile
of 20 guns and thousands
of rounds of ammunition.
They cite informants
who describe Hagler as a
“Rambo” character who
was living “off the grid” and
plotting “mass attacks on
[police] officers at funerals
or fundraisers.” Four
months later, they accuse
Hagler of a bizarre plot to kill
police, then glue a gun to a
black man’s hand and shout
“gun,” leading officers to kill
the man. The informants
describe Hagler as filled with
hate for the government, law
enforcement, Muslims and
African Americans, whose
protests in nearby Ferguson
infuriated him.
APRIL 2
Three alleged members of
the Traditionalist American
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
who are current or former
employees of the Florida
Department of Corrections
are arrested in a plot to murder
a black former inmate.
Thomas Jordan Driver,
David Elliot Moran and
Charles Thomas Newcomb,
who all worked at one time
at the department’s Lake
Butler intake facility, are
charged with conspiracy.
APRIL 4
Robert Doggart, who in
2014 came in third in a
race to represent the 4th
Congressional District in
Tennessee, is accused of
plotting to use guns and
fire to destroy a community
of black Muslims in
upstate New York. Officials
say Doggart tried to recruit
“patriots” to join him in the
attack on Islamberg, near
Hancock, N.Y., and also said
he would use machetes
to “cut them to shreds.”
Doggart pleads guilty to
communicating threats
shortly after his arrest, but is
indicted later on additional
federal charges that could
bring him 10 years in prison.
APRIL 11-12
Militiamen and fellow
travelers gather at the
Bunkerville, Nev., ranch
of Cliven Bundy. They are
there to celebrate the fact
that a year after their armed
standoff with law enforcement,
no one has been
arrested or charged despite
the promises of authorities
and the fact that several of
Bundy’s entourage pointed
firearms at officials, a felony.
The Bundys’ apparent
imperviousness to arrest
clearly fosters their willingness
to engage in further
antigovernment actions.
spring 2016 37