NDG’s View
The tragic San Bernardino shootings, has once again shaken our country, was deemed to be a domestic terrorist attack on the citizens of the United States of America. This horrific event, has not only caused us loss and grief once again as citizens of this country, but it has raised the bar on our level of awareness, and heightened our fear beyond what we’d possibly imagined as the powerful country we proclaim to be. Our prayers are with our fellow citizens who have lost loved ones, and those who will forever carry the scars from this tragedy.
However, we must pause in this time to take heed to the words spoken by President Barack Obama far too many times already. The president acknowledges prayer is needed in times like these, but prayer is not enough. It also takes action from every citizen to stand up and contribute to the good of our country. It is our responsibility as citizens to fight against domestic terrorism. As with any battle, one must know their enemy in order to defeat their enemy. Therefore, we must understand what defines the enemy and how the enemy thinks through their actions.
Below is the definition of “Domestic Terrorism” from the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
Definitions of Terrorism in the U.S. Code
18 U.S.C. § 2331 defines “international terrorism” and “domestic terrorism” for purposes of Chapter 113B of the Code, entitled “Terrorism”:
“Domestic terrorism” means activities with the following three characteristics:
- Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law;
- Appear intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination. or kidnapping; and
- Occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S.
With the understanding of this definition, awareness of another kind of domestic terrorist (one who influences, intimidates and coerces civilian population to hate and discriminate by creating acts of danger which could violate federal law). Republican presidential hopeful, Donald Trump, displays acts of terrorism against citizens of the United States. The openly racist, sexist and hate filled comments he has spewed to the masses has already caused chaos, fear and misguided vigilantism to take place via the protests at Islamic Center in Irving, Texas.
Maybe Donald Trump’s platform of hate towards President Obama’s race, and his relentless pursuit to scandalize the authenticity of the president’s birth certificate, has had some impact on why #BlackLivesMatter has taken root and grown across the country and locally. Certain Donald Trump’s bully platform seeks to damage, hurt and cause division among Americans.
Locally as supporters prepare to meet in protest, the hate filled opponents of the Islamic Center in Irving this weekend, we must keep in mind that we as a community and a country cannot allow the blatant bigotry and hate towards women, Hispanics, Muslims and all others must not be tolerated.
A society encircled in chaos, fueled with anger, saturated in fear and armed with weaponry awaiting to be discharged by hate, proves to be the perfect setting for domestic terrorists to rally their troops. The terrorists’ agenda for power, greed and control is publicized over and over again through every media outlet, inciting the public with confusion, fear and an avenue to openly discriminate in the name of white supremacy racism. All of which is contributing to concern by local citizens and law enforcement on the potential outcome during the protests in Irving this weekend.
Yet, these domestic terrorists whose boisterous, vile words being spewed out to the public are not being challenged. There is no plan to destroy their agenda. There stands not one in the United States Congress who even suggests bringing a lawsuit against these kinds of actions of domestic terrorism, and the ones who choose to terrorize their fellow man.
It is the responsibility of every citizen to stand up and fight domestic terrorism. We cannot allow this hate to continue to spread and cause fear and division among our people. Since we recognize the enemy, we must stand and fight this public enemy by allowing our voice to be heard through our vote, or we will certainly fall into the hands of a known domestic terrorist.
