A weak link between politics and extremism

FOR a host of reasons, there’s been an increased focus on the white nationalist fringe in recent years with some commentators implying the U.S. political environment is somehow inspiring people to embrace racism and violence.

This theory is undermined when one peruses a report by the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism that examined extremists, including white supremacists, who committed murders. In many instances, those individuals appear little more than thugs, not people who took their cues from national political rhetoric.

Extremists killed at least 34 people in 2017, the ADL reports, conceding that figure comprises “only a small fraction of the total number of homicides in the United States each year.” But the report argues the public impact of such killings can be far greater than for a typical homicide. That’s certainly true of two events included in the 2017 total: the killing of a woman at a white nationalist event in Charlottesville, Virginia, and an Islamic extremist’s killing of eight people on a New York City bike path, both via vehicular homicide.

But other cases involve extremists who were a greater danger to their family and associates than to strangers.

In Greeley, Colorado, reputed white supremacist gang member Kelly Raisley was arrested for the killing of his uncle, Randy Gene Baker. Baker’s wife and sister were similarly arrested. The ADL notes, “The motive was apparently personal.”

In Samish Island, Washington, Lane Maurice Davis, who posted racist material online, was accused of killing his father.

In Putnam County, Georgia, Ricky Dubose, reportedly a member of a white supremacist prison gang, was accused of killing two corrections officers while trying to escape from a prison bus.

In Tampa, Florida, Devon Arthurs shot and killed two of his roommates “for making fun of his recent conversion to Islam.” The roommates were all reportedly members of a neo-Nazi group.

In Leadwood, Missouri, the head of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was shot to death. His wife and her son were charged for the murder.

In North Judson, Indiana, a member of the Aryan Circle was accused of shooting and killing a man who was dating his ex-girlfriend.

Those cases appear driven far more by toxic personal dysfunction than political inspiration. And where politics does arise in the report, the messages can be mixed.

In Portland, Oregon, Jeremy Christian stabbed to death two people who came to the aid of two teenaged girls he was harassing. One of the girls was black and the other was Muslim. The ADL reports that Christian had attended “right-wing events in the Portland area” but had also been “a supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.”

Extremism can lead adherents down dark paths that end in violence against innocents, as Oklahoma City learned in April 1995. Thus, it should always be condemned. But faulty attempts to blame one’s mainstream political opponents for the twisted acts of extremists dilute that message and inadvertently give true extremism more room to grow.