Imagine If Armed Black Lives Matter Protesters Occupied a Federal Building
NB Commentary: Yeah, tell me about it.
Here’s a
question worth asking right now: What would happen if 150 armed Black Lives
Matter protesters occupied a federal building?
This is exactly what an armed
white militia did when they took
over the headquarters at the Malheur
National Wildlife Refuge headquarters in Burns, Oregon. Known in some
circles as #YallQaeda, who
are waging #YeHawd, they reportedly took the
action to protest the government control of land in the West, and punishment of
two local ranchers who refused to sell their land. Specifically, Dwight
and Steven Hammond, father and son, were convicted of arson on federal
land. A member of the group, Ammon Bundy, son of Nevada anti-government
rancher Cliven Bundy, said the group is “planning on staying here for years”
and told the Oregonian they are “willing
to kill and be killed if necessary.” Another
militia member said, “I didn’t come here to
shoot, I came here to die.”
Meanwhile, also joining Bundy is Ryan
Payne, an Army vet who claimed he organized
militia snipers to target federal agents during the Bundy standoff in Nevada
last year.
Political protest, which is free speech, is one thing, as
was the original protest throughout Burns. But when you and your
boys get your guns, form a splinter group and take over a federal building,
that is terrorism. And yet, law enforcement is taking a low-key
approach to the whole thing. No
national guard has been called in. Nothing to see here. Is this not
the country that seeks to end terrorism?
And while the media are all too eager to cover a terrorism
story, in this case, not so much. Some media outlets painted the ongoing
armed standoff as an innocuous
event, more like a campfire gathering of guys
roasting marshmallows in the woods:
When the Black Panthers walked into a government building
armed, the state of California changed the gun laws OVERNIGHT #OregonUnderAttack
What is terrorism? The FBI defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of force or violence against
persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian
population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social
objectives.” J. Edgar Hoover terrorized the black community for years, so
the FBI should be a dependable source.
And yet, the working definition of terrorism does not apply
in actual practice. Remember, in the U.S., whether it actually counts
as terrorism depends on the skin tone and religion of those doing the
terrorizing. So, black and brown people are painted as thugs, gangbangers
and terrorists, in a nation that has empathy even for white mass murderers, who
are captured alive. Charleston shooter Dylann
Roof—certainly a terrorist yet not called one—was
even treated to Burger King on his way to jail, hours after the white
supremacist had murdered nine black people at the Emanuel AME Church.
This, in a nation that has declared walking while black an offense
punishable by death, as unarmed black women, men and children are shot for no
good reason, left to die in a pool of their blood.
In the case of Oregon, the double standard of color coded
terrorism speaks for itself. At least one CNN expert was honest and
embraced the double standard. Law enforcement analyst Art
Rodericksaid this white militia was not being
treated like Black Lives Matter protesters or Muslims because they were not
looting.
“This is
a very rural area,” Roderick argued. “It is out in the middle of nowhere. What
are they actually doing? They’re not destroying property, they’re not looting
anything.”
“The
last thing we need is some type of large confrontation because that’s when
stuff goes bad,” he added. “And I think in this particular instance, if we just
wait them out, see what they’ve got to say, then eventually, they’re all going
to go home.”
Go
home? If Black Lives Matter protesters were to take over a federal
building, armed to the teeth with firepower–and they certainly would not do
this—they would wind up dead, or in prison for life on terrorism charges.
And it is almost fitting that Oregon provides the backdrop
for this latest case of white domestic terrorism. Known for its violent
history of oppression against Native peoples, Oregon was established as a white
racist utopia. It was the only state whose
founding constitution forbade black people from living within its boundaries,
which was the case until 1926. And today, Oregon is only 2 percent black.
Meanwhile, America is no stranger to white domestic
terrorists. For African Americans, the Ku Klux Klan was our ISIS.
They were praised in the
White House, and controlled
state governments throughout the country,
including Oregon. We faced the lynching and firebombing, and the aerial
bombing of Black Wall Street. Even today, black people fear for their
lives, as America normalizes the violence against them. This, as angry
white men–uneducated, disaffected and wanting to “make America great
again”—threaten to use their guns, their only manhood, against their perceived
enemies.
But
white terrorists are not taken seriously, because (white) boys will be boys.
Follow David A. Love on Twitter at @davidalove
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Thanks for your comment. Peace, NB