War on Terror Immunity: Colorado NAACP Bombed

Onyx Contributor:  Johnny Silvercloud (@JohnnySilverclo)

Wars on Terror

President No. 43 — George W. Bush — gave us the “War on Terror”.

The early new millennium (2000’s) were fascinating years to live in; you had Jack Bauer on television and he practically served as our terrorist who terrorizes terrorists.  French fries became “freedom fries”, and fuck yeah always followed the name America.  We as Americans then allowed more of our freedoms to be taken and certain brown Americans to be anathematized to fulfill an overall sense of security.  But of course, we were scared shitless before we felt the need for greater security.  A collective, “we”.

America: A History of in-House Terrorism

The reason why I emphasize a “collective we” is because of this one simple fact: Afro-American people have been victims of terrorism ever since the U.S. Constitution was inked.  What differentiated American Slavery from any of the rest in world history?  The acts of terrorism to upkeep the institution of slavery in America.  How did the Deep South get so sparsely populated of blacks when blacks outnumbered whites in the Bible Belt?  Terrorism: the KKK’s reign of terror forced blacks to move into the northern ghettos we now know of today.  How did Emmett Till die?  He wasn’t just murdered, it was TERRORISM that killed him.  Fred Hampton?  Terrorism of the State Sponsored variety.  Black Wallstreet’s demise?  Terrorism… State sponsored.  Lynchings are an act of terrorism being that they placed a murdered, maimed, and mutilated body on display in order to change social behavior.  In fact, this is the exact reason why Michael Brown lying in the street for 4.5 hours receiving no medical attention resonates in a way to blacks in a way that most whites can never fully understand.  Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Jordan Davis, Trayvon Martin, Darrien Hunt, John Crawford III, and Eric Gardner had the effect of a lynching onto the Black American psyche.

While there’s many definitions of terrorism, this is my sociological understanding of it:

Terrorism is the act of using profane violence upon persons, places, and things in order to modify a particular socio-political behavior.  The intent is to send a message.

This is also the reason why I side-eye random nuts who call U.S. military “collateral damage” terrorism; collateral damage is NOT the intended target, in terrorism, it is SUPPOSED to be the target… to change behavior or policy that is.  There’s a huge difference between not accounting for an Iraqi wedding, versus explicit intent on killing everyone to send a message.  Every act of terror has a message; in Emmett Till’s death by white American terrorism, the behavior whites were modifying was “looking at white women”, and thus the message was “Niggers you better stop looking at white women or we will maim and kill you.”  

Because of this, black people know and understand the fear of terrorism long before it became common political jargon.  We were a people who could be killed with immunity to law, and in many cases we still are.

As History Repeats, so does Terrorism

A bomb was detonated on Tuesday at the headquarters of the NAACP of Colorado Springs.  The FBI has stated: “…potential person of interest in this investigation is a Caucasian male, approximately 40 years of age, and balding. He may be driving a 2000 or older model dirty, white pick-up truck with paneling, a dark colored bed liner, open tailgate, and a missing or covered license plate.”  No one was hurt.  The explosive device was placed by a gasoline can to modify it for incendiary attack.  The gasoline did not ignite.  Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC were all late to pick up the story.  I myself found this out on Twitter, with many people lamenting on the fact that there’s minimal national coverage.  Why?

Today I just discovered another card within the white privilege card deck: War on Terror Immunity.

Here’s the deal: No matter how many white terrorists we know, you are NEVER going to see an all-out attempt to demonize and execrate all whites for it.  While a Muslim terrorist forces all Muslims to “speak out” and “condemn” Islamic terrorism, you will never see a day where Fox News for example, begs the white community to speak out on the acts domestic terrorism of white individuals.  Why? Because of three factors:

1. Whites see others (nonwhites) as groups thus judges them as groups.
2. Whites do not self-reflect on how they do this.
3. Whites control the mainstream train of thought and ARE the default train of thought.

Out of all of the scare given to the totality of America, I just realized this one thing:  America only invokes a “war on terror” response only when you scare the shit out of white people.  Scaring Black people?  No, America is just fine with black people living in fear.  So yes, mainstream media will neglect this obvious terrorism attack on American soil… in the same manner they neglect to actually listen to the protesters who only want police to stop using fear as a means of policing our streets.  So once again, black people (or an entity associated with black people) has been struck by an act of terror and American mainstream media doesn’t even care.   Old news, and that’s being brutally honest.

#TerrorismWhileWhite