A legal definition has everything to with public discourse on important criminal justice issues in societies that are based on the rule of law. Terrorist acts as not misdemeanors. They are crimes. They are crimes not because the public says so but because the law says they are.
oa
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of kenneth harrow
Sent: Sunday, June 21, 2015 2:06 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Many Ask, Why Not Call Church Shooting Terrorism?
a legal definition has nothing to do with public discourse. it would be blinkered not to recognize has this term has been used since Bush invented the "war on terrorism"
On 6/21/15 5:14 AM, Anunoby, Ogugua wrote:
"to call this an act of terrorism is not to acknowledge more truthfully its import, but to buy into the increasingly ubiquitous rhetoric of "terrorism," a term used everywhere to signify an enemy of a regime." Ken
"I would argue that "to call this an act of terrorism is to acknowledge more truthfully its import"- the self-confessed Charleston slaughterer, took decided it was his duty to his race to kill African Americans. He himself said he wanted to start a race war.
18 U.S.C. § 2331 defines "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. Kyrgyzstan
The man is a terrorist- a domestic terrorist. The man made clear what his motivation, purpose, and influences were. There is no need in my opinion to claim to want to attempt to understand his motivation and influences. Like other terrorists, he was self-motivated, believe in the rightness of his cause, had neither love nor respect for his chosen victims, and was unrepentant. He picked his target just as the Tsarnaevs did. Like them he was determined to cause pain and death so mindless as to shock decent and peace loving people all over the country and elsewhere. I do not see how his brutal act is different than an Al Queda terrorist's. He has advantages over the Tsarnaevs though. They include:
i) he is not Muslim; the Tsarnaev are.
ii) he is a privileged Caucasian man born in the U.S; the Tsarnaevs are Caucasian men born in Kyrgyzstan (Russia).
iii) he is a Southerner entitled to historical/generational hatred of African American; the Tsarnaevs are not.
It is all very well to try to be cerebral and enlightened in public discourse. There are times though when to be those is to be insincere and seemingly duplicitous. This is one of those times. That the rhetoric of terrorism is "ubiquitous" is not to say that acts of terrorism are less so or not at all. Things are what they are regardless of the veneer they are glossed with.
oa
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of kenneth harrow
Sent: Friday, June 19, 2015 2:15 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Many Ask, Why Not Call Church Shooting Terrorism?
to call this an act of terrorism is not to acknowledge more truthfully its import, but to buy into the increasingly ubiquitous rhetoric of "terrorism," a term used everywhere to signify an enemy of a regime. it is a heinous crime, a mass murder by a white supremicist bigot who deserves to be punished to the limit. we could go on forever saying how awful his act was, how horrible that nutcases like him can get killing machines to kill as many innocent people as possible, and we'd never really end it.
time to mourn now, and to direct our anger at those whose verbiage helps make these acts seem possible, and who political policies make it easier for crazy people to kill innocent victims. i agree with obama; something should be done to curb the easy access to guns in this country, and more needs to be done to marginalize white supremicists and their rhetoric.
kenOn 6/19/15 6:01 PM, Dhikru Yagboyaju wrote:
That has always been the problem.
On 19 Jun 2015 16:10, "Toyin Falola" <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:
Many Ask, Why Not Call Church Shooting Terrorism?
By RICK GLADSTONE
June 18, 2015
The massacre of nine African-Americans in Charleston has been classified as a possible hate crime, apparently carried out by a 21-year-old white man who once wore an apartheid badge and other symbols of white supremacy. But many civil rights advocates are asking why the attack has not officially been called terrorism.
Against the backdrop of rising worries about violent Muslim extremism in the United States, advocates see hypocrisy in the way the attack and the man under arrest in the shooting have been described by law enforcement officials and the news media.
Assaults like the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 and the attack on an anti-Islamic gathering in Garland, Tex., last month have been widely portrayed as acts of terrorism carried out by Islamic extremists. Critics say, however, that assaults against African-Americans and Muslim Americans are rarely if ever called terrorism.
Moreover, they argue, assailants who are white are far less likely to be described by the authorities as terrorists.
- The New York Times Company
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--kenneth w. harrowfaculty excellence advocateprofessor of englishmichigan state universitydepartment of english619 red cedar roadroom C-614 wells halleast lansing, mi 48824ph. 517 803 8839harrow@msu.edu--
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kenneth w. harrow
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room C-614 wells hall
east lansing, mi 48824
ph. 517 803 8839
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