Holocaust Museum Shooter Raises Concerns About ‘Crazed Conspiracies’ From Hate Groups
Holocaust Museum Shooter Raises Concerns About ‘Crazed Conspiracies’ From Hate Groups
Shortly after opening fire at the National Holocaust Museum today, James Wenneker von Brunn, the suspected shooter, was identified as a white supremacist with a “history of associations with prominent neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Brunn’s hateful rhetoric followed by today’s violent outburst chillingly echoes a controversial warning issued by the Department of Homeland Security concerning a rise in “rightwing extremist activity.”
In his book, “Kill the Best Gentiles,” Brunn wrote:
We are witnessing today on the world stage a tragedy of enormous proportions: the calculated destruction of the White Race and the incomparable culture it represents.
Brunn’s supremacist views weren’t limited to anti-semitism, he also condemned the “browning of America” in a public email:
Millions of low-IQ non-whites are encouraged to illegally invade the USA. They are provided sanctuary, jobs, health-care schooling, by those intent upon destroying Western Civilization.
SPLC’s Heidi Beirich spoke with Fox New’s Shep Smith this afternoon about the shooting and the warning signs it poses for the U.S.:
SMITH: There’s these crazies out there. And we know it’s absolutely — there is no truth whatsoever — zero to any of those ideas. Yet, they live within the computer and they fester within people’s minds.
BEIRICH: Shepard, you’re hitting the nail on the head. We’re extremely concerned about these kinds of crazed conspiracies, whether they’re about the President, or the fact — we’re hearing things like FEMA setting up camps to round up Americans and put them in. I’m getting bad sort of deja vu from the 1990s, when anti-government militias were on the rise, when Tim McVeigh committed that violence in Oklahoma City. I’m really hoping we’re not going through a repeat of that.
Watch it:
A DHS report leaked earlier this year warned of “Rightwing extremist groups’ frustration over a perceived lack of government action on illegal immigration has the potential to incite individuals or small groups toward violence.” The DHS cited the rise in right-wing extremist ideology as “the most dangerous domestic terrorism threat.”
25 Responses to “Holocaust Museum Shooter Raises Concerns About ‘Crazed Conspiracies’ From Hate Groups”
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These guys are all nutcases. They are one of the biggest threats to security in this country but it seems that few people take them seriously.
June 10th, 2009 at 5:40 pmOnce again, we are proved that we need to take very seriously these extremist groups (including anti-immigrant groups like the Minutemen) because of their potential to provoke violence.
June 10th, 2009 at 5:50 pmVermin like von Brunn are terrorists. It would be much easier to keep track of the kind of threats that he and Scott Roeder present than of those hypothetically presented by the foreign born, because the former live in this country, they publish white supremacist materials in English, and they have easy access to firearms. If Faux is calling these types “crazed,” what does that tell us? Even they are paying attention.
And even if von Brunn is targeting Jews, sheer mathematics makes it a fair bet that the guard whom he shot was not Jewish. The act of protecting a museum honoring those who died in the Holocaust puts anyone present in the crosshairs. Think of all the grieving families left behind when everyone becomes collateral damage. What does it take to get serious law enforcement monitoring and prosecution of Americans who hate everyone who isn’t exactly like them?
June 10th, 2009 at 6:03 pmHeidi of SPLC has said that many of these extremist groups are hiding behind and manupulating immigration (since anti-immigrant rhetoric has become, tragically, an acceptable way to advance hate) to grow their ranks. While some may be willing to look the other way when extremists are ranting against immigrants, the sad reality is that hate rarely stops at the door step of one group. We cannot let hate against any community go unchecked.
June 10th, 2009 at 6:27 pmI hope this gets a lot of attention. You can digg it here: http://digg.com/d1tUFV
June 10th, 2009 at 6:42 pmWhat a tragedy. Thank God it was no worse.
Not surprising, alas. Many of us who spend time discussing immigration in various public spaces are haunted by the suspicion that something like this often lurks behind the mask of “I only care about legality.”
I hope that this may cause some folks to reconsider their opinions & associations.
June 10th, 2009 at 7:02 pmThis is a tragic reminder that the SPLC and DHS reports are not to be taken lightly. The involvement of white supremacist groups with the anti-immigrant movement and the recent “tea party” protests, and now yesterday’s shooting at the Holocaust Memorial, are all recent reminders of a startling rise in home-grown terrorism.
A very important post.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:45 amYou should def check this out… Called an
June 11th, 2009 at 10:41 amelectronic cigarette Tobacco companies are trying to keep it a secret
Donald Arthur King (D.A. King), a convicted felon in Georgia who runs the Dustin Inman Society and formerly the American Resistance, is perpetuating a conspiracy theory of the “North American Union” where the United States of America “merges” with Canada and Mexico. He says that solving illegal immigration would lead towards our dissolution of our sovereignty as a nation. This felon advises our Senate Majority Leader, Senator Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), and also advises Governor Sonny Perdue. When these types of hate groups are given credibility by elected officials, then what does that do to those who are likely less stable?
June 11th, 2009 at 11:18 amSir Charles said:
How in the world can you equate peaceful, Constitutionally guaranteed rights to peaceably assemble with terrorism? It’s false, incendiary talk like that which drives people to do what von Brunn did.
People are tired of having the Holocaust™ forced down their throats, and von Brunn did something about it, whether right or wrong.
June 11th, 2009 at 11:26 amActually, “racism” exists in the liberal sense. This is no way associated with either right-wing or left. Here we go again, the media is trying to demonize the right.
June 11th, 2009 at 11:27 amI’ve been seeing a lot of comments by Smith online. I will take Smith’s comments as being sincere. But call me cynical, when I see FOX News letting his voice come forward to back away from all the rhetoric that their mouth pieces have spewed. Most of it meant to inflame the same right-wing nuts that Smith is denouncing. Let see if O’rielly, Hannity, and Beck ease up on their rhetoric and nonsense. I doubt it.
June 11th, 2009 at 11:35 am@johnny5
You’re the perfect example of paranoid. This isn’t a forum for your theories. It’s a discussion of white ignorance. Now before you think I’m anything other than white, I’m half Italian and half English. It’s a “gray” thing, you wouldn’t understand. Basically, find another outlet for your brand of tripe
June 11th, 2009 at 11:49 amAnother brain-dead-killer provides yet another excuse to censor the internet and monitor everyone’s speech.
The difference between hate groups and do-gooders is the same as that between liberals and conservatives:
They burn different books.
June 11th, 2009 at 12:14 pmThe real scary thing about these sorts of events is that they will be used as excuses to further infringe on our rights, by illegally confiscating weapons, restricting free speech, etc.
These conspiracy nuts have been around forever. They found their voice on the Internet. And it’s not limited to the “right” – read some threads at Democratic Underground and realize stupidity knows no ideological bounds. How many wackos blamed George Bush for pretty much everything under the sub over his 8 years in office? I can here all the far-left wackos now – “But these were all true!”
June 11th, 2009 at 12:42 pm@Sir Charles
The problem is that these “grassroots protests” were chock-full of paranoid and racist propaganda. Legal and protected, yes, and I support their rights to do so, but there are also consequences to this sort of fire-brand behavior.
@Johndough
Two things:
June 11th, 2009 at 12:44 pm1 – the shooter was a member of several right-wing web forums like Free Republic, so was obviously yet another right-winger.
2 – Please provide an example of current left-wing killers/terrorists. I’m not seeing this behavior from the Left at all. Let’s have some honesty with our balance, please.
@Iris
I’ve never known a liberal to burn a book.
This hate-mongering terrorist shot someone, not burned their books.
June 11th, 2009 at 12:46 pmYou are mostly a bunch of fools so far. Reason does not post here yet I see. Learn to think for yourselves rather than regurgitate pablum that you heard on the news or upon which you have been indoctrinated and of which you truly know nothing, you are no better to hate a (so called and PC) “hate” group. Read your history oh ignorant ones. There is a name for you, useful idiots, look it up.
So it is ok for Israel to demand a homeland for Jews but not a Germany for Germans eh? Fools, blind fools.
Have any one of you ever read the Torah, Talmud, Koran, or Bible? Ever heard of Rep. D-California Jane Harmon? Fools, you would open the city gates and welcome your enemies with a parade.
You don’t have to listen to the voice of experience, at least listen to your founders:
(WASHINGTON) The JEWS work more effectively against us than the enemy’s armies.
(JEFFERSON) Dispersed as JEWS they still form one nation, foreign to the land they live in.
(FRANKLIN) I fully agree with General Washington that we must protect this young nation from an insidious influence and penetration. That menace, gentlemen, is the JEWS.
(U. S. GRANT) The JEWS, as a class, violating every regulation
established by the Treasury are hereby expelled from that department.
and
(LORD HARRINGTON) JEWS have ever been the greatest enemies of freedom.
(LINDBERGH) We are disturbed about the effect of the JEWISH influence in our press, radio, and motion pictures.
(NESTA WEBSTER) England is no longer controlled by Britons. We are under an invisible JEWISH dictatorship.
(MALCOM X)You can’t even say JEW without him accusing you of anti-Semitism.
(JUNG)The JEW has never created a cultural form of his own and as far as we can see never will.
Go ahead, attack the experts you faithless idiots.
You don’t have to take my word but at least listen to those who would know. Folks had better wake up or we will find ourselves homeless in the nation our fathers conquered. Nations have been trying to rid themselves of the Jew since 1215, READ YOUR DAMNED HISTORY!!!!
June 11th, 2009 at 12:58 pmWhat an incredible piece of propaganda crap this article is. How can you twist the actions of one crazed individual so much as to have us believe that there are large groups of these people waiting to attack us? I just became an anti-fan of your website for your irresponsible journalism.
June 11th, 2009 at 1:54 pmOf course, we ignore shootings from Muslim nutjobs
June 11th, 2009 at 1:57 pmSo another crazy right-winger has taken the law into his own hands and committed murder. This is the third such killing and I’m sure I’m missing a couple. Donnie Baker in Florida, who opened fire on Chilean exchange students gathered for a party, was anti-immigrant and involved in local conservative politics. The guy in Pennsylvania who killed those cops was a member of a supremacist group, as was Scott Roeder, the guy who killed Dr. George Tiller.
Anyone who follows the news can see that when such “random” acts of violence occur, they are usually committed against members of some group that is despised by the supremacists—immigrants, homosexuals, Black people, Jews, women, etc. Mainstream conservative groups should bend over backwards to denounce these hateful acts and distance themselves from the people who commit them. It’s not written anywhere that conservatism MUST be allied with hate and cultural/religious/gender supremacy so there is no logical reason for these groups to find a voice in mainstream conservative movements. The proof in the pudding, then, will be the reaction of the mainstream conservative movement to these heinous acts.
All this back and forth makes me think of the confederate flag, which many conservatives and southerners see as a symbol of pride. But where were these people when their symbol of pride was taken over as a symbol of hate by the white supremacists?
After all, this is not a question of both sides (liberal and conservative) being equally guilty. For sure, the Left has its share of wackos but—if news reports are anything to go by—when these types of killings take place, the perpetrators are very, very seldom (if ever) affiliated with a liberal or progressive movement.
Conservativism certainly does not make someone go out and kill, but it appears that these killers feel more at home within one ideological camp.
June 11th, 2009 at 2:19 pmAs a “non-white” citizen of this country, it always amuses me when extremists like Brunn call anyone of color “illiterate” or “low-IQ”. Several names come to mind at such times: Cervantes, Chavez, Morrison, Angelou, oh, and who’s that other guy? Oh, that’s right – Obama. Illiterate and/or low IQ? Don’t think so.
June 11th, 2009 at 5:42 pmI wish homeland security would tone down the hate speech. What are they trying to gain by this? It just creates a rough culture in the US. It was no fun being laughed at by TSA agents for being disabled. It is not a culture of help your fellow man, but suspicion of those who are different, wiretaps, cameras, and useless million man suspect list.
June 12th, 2009 at 12:18 am@ Renegade 6/11 – 12:58 PM
Anyone foolish enough to doubt that right-wing extremists represent the most dangerous terrorist threat facing our nation need do no more than read your insane rant.
June 13th, 2009 at 8:41 amAt one time, African-Americans were considered property. Today, we have chosen one as our President. This happened because intelligent humans are capable of refining their understanding of racial, ethnic, & religious differences. Only ignorant bigots stubbornly cling to obsolete & discredited ideas like the ones in your selective reading of history.
For thousands of years, Jews have successfully resisted the misguided efforts of paranoids like “Renegade.” These are the people who are most likely to commit terrorist attacks. The Dept. of Homeland Security is absolutely correct to target them for greater scrutiny.
@ Doctor B,
Very well put.
“Renegade” seems to have wasted a great education on his over inflated self worth.
People need to remember that repubs came from the “white trash” remnants of the civil war. All deep southern roots. Scares the shit out of me to think that Americans never think what the word “republic” means. Rome was a republic. It fell due to corruption, over inflated self worth of the emperors, and the ever present attitude of, “if I can’t own it, subject it, or benefit by it, then kill it.”
June 13th, 2009 at 10:35 am