American society today has said the face of violence and terror is either black or Muslim. The perception when you watch the news and hear stories about Muslim extremists, and black nationalists, is they are ready to undermine these United States. That is the reason God-fearing, reasonably minded Americans with subscriptions to “The American Rifle” magazine buy 33 guns in a year with enough ammunition to assault a city. The face American terror is not what you think it is.
The face of terror in America is not urban shootings in Chicago ghettoes by black people. These shootings in Chicago are part of a culture that has existed in Chicago for over a century since the days of Al Capone. During the days of Prohibition and the gangster era this culture existed in Chicago, not once was it called white-on-white crime. It was called merely a crime, and today the gangster era is glorified. In practical terms, the gangland killings were the beginning of 20th-century American terror. In our society terror is when the masses are confronted with possibilities of mass murder, or disregard for the safety of all innocent victims.
We have been convinced by the mass media and our politicians that the face of terror in America is a Muslim with guns and bombs. Outside the terroristic attacks committed on 9/11 in New York City, most of the major large-scale violence has been committed by middle-aged white men with unknown grievances. At least that’s what we are led to believe. The Charlestown shooter who left a “manifesto” a written document indicating he wanted to kill blacks. This assassin is largely dismissed as misguided, not the terrorist that he is. “What the hell went wrong?” America says we didn’t have a clue that he would do that. This month America remains clueless as it says of the Las Vegas assassin “Why would he do that?”
America has shortsightedness when it comes to distinguishing mass murder committed by white males as a terroristic event. Whether this terror is committed specifically on black citizens as a hate crime or in mass murder that is directed at all of humanity. This myopic vision of the criminalization of America’s minorities makes any crime committed by a minority to be heinous, while crimes committed by white people are placed in the category of the unknown or misguided adventures.
The only exception is when mass murders or terroristic acts particularly heinous. American media and politicians will offer a qualified excuse to this violence. The phrase uttered is the phrase “a crazed “or “mentally ill “figure intent upon harming society. This term is not justified and is discriminatory towards the mentally ill. The term implies that no right-minded European-American would stoop to the abysmally low level of violence that was committed. What is known, however not said is the mentally ill are largely a danger to themselves. The mentally ill according to the background checks can’t obtain guns anyway, alas they become scapegoats.
The scapegoat in America is our common sense. The reality is that American terror is committed by middle-aged white men, with an obsession towards creating violence and mayhem. More than anything else we need to change the culture of violence that embraces our country. Mass murder and terror is colorized in shades other than white, and that’s straight talk.
Ed Gray, the host of The Commish Radio Show airing Saturdays 3-5 p.m. on FBRN.net, can be reached at eegray62@att.net.
