Unfortunately I think those statistics are unreliable. I fully agree that outsiders (e.g. Al Qaeda) have done miniscule damage in comparison to, say, the tobacco industry.
But if you want to look at the history of terrorism in our country, don't look to Al Qaeda or whatever. Start closer to home, with the Ku Klux Klan. They were unequivocally a terrorist group; indeed, their entire raison d'etre was terrorism.
As I pointed out in a thread yesterday, here [1] is an example of homegrown terrorism, absent from your list. Ben Tillman [2], who played a leading role in the murders (or, at least, who claimed to; perhaps he was too chickenshit to do his own dirty work) was rewarded for his efforts by election to the South Carolina governorship and, later, the United States Senate.
African-American participation in voting in the South was virtually nil from around 1880 to the 1960's. Why? Terrorism played a major role.
I can't really find any ground on which it feels like this argument has any bearing or weight in the overall discussion. Anything can be redefined to terrorism by your measure as hindsight is apparently blind to context.
"Terrorism"! Just the word strikes fear into the hearts of many Americans. It has led us to suffer indignities at airport lines, spend billions on ill-conceived wars, and spy on everyone's internet communications.
And yet, terrorism has been an extremely widespread and common phenomenon throughout our history, even on our own shores, which has been aided, abetted, and welcomed by government. It is, in some ways, easy to overlook because privileged Americans were not targets. But African-Americans have endured terrorism in this country on an overwhelming scale and with far-reaching consequences.
Although I dispute the statistics in the link I mentioned, ultimately I agree with the basic point: to be excessively frightened of terrorism, in its current guise, shows a lack of perspective both on statistics and on our nation's history.
>Anything can be redefined to terrorism
Wikipedia defines terrorism as "Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, often violent, especially as a means of coercion." Do you dispute that the KKK systematically engaged in this?
Leaving out the major premise that the Wikipedia definition is to be accepted. There is no definition of terrorism: UN resolutions to the effect are regularly overturned. Different branches of US military use different definitions. Short a definition, your qualification argument is meaningless.
I do not wish to diminish the horrors the KKK afflicted on the US, in particular the blacks. However, gun violence amongst the inner city peoples has brought death and fear beyond anything the KKK could have hope for.
The KKK wasn't just one peculiar agent of white supremacy: it was the keystone that made it so effective.
If you were a black man engaged in any kind of political, economic, or social organizing, you stood a decent chance of being murdered by the KKK, which was implicitly supported by the white-dominated State. This created a system where people were too scared to even begin organizing, leading to all kinds of disempowerment and social malaise.
Those inner city gun deaths have the KKK in their genealogy.
I agree with you, but there is no such thing as gun violence. A gun is just a tool. The violence in most cases that hurts blacks is caused by the insane, racist, never-ending war on drugs specifically designed to put brown people behind bars.
The overall level of crime and violence in the USA has dropped dramatically over the past few decades despite the prevalence of guns. End the war on drugs in America and the place would be one of the most peaceful places on the planet.
I can't speak for anywhere else, but I know that in Chicago, most gun violence is about settling scores, not about drug trafficking. Ending the war on drugs would keep a lot of non-violent offenders out of jail, but when teenagers who have never been to jail in the first place are shooting each other, you have to take a different approach.
Just last night -
"A 17-year-old boy was shot in the 2100 block of North Mulligan Avenue about 9:50 p.m. He was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in good condition with a wound to his thigh, Police News Affairs Officer Ron Gaines said.
Another 17-year-old boy was shot in the back near 70th Street and Perry Avenue about 8 p.m. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized."
The KKK was actually formed for the purpose of protecting women's rights iirc. There were black members in some area's and they lynched Caucasians occasionally.
edit: Still terrorism and what they did was despicable, just saying that it wasn't their original purpose.
I think he might be referring to the WKKK (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_of_the_Ku_Klux_Klan) but its still a far fetched leap to claim that the KKK was founded for the sole purpose of protecting women's rights. That most certainly is not true.
But if you want to look at the history of terrorism in our country, don't look to Al Qaeda or whatever. Start closer to home, with the Ku Klux Klan. They were unequivocally a terrorist group; indeed, their entire raison d'etre was terrorism.
As I pointed out in a thread yesterday, here [1] is an example of homegrown terrorism, absent from your list. Ben Tillman [2], who played a leading role in the murders (or, at least, who claimed to; perhaps he was too chickenshit to do his own dirty work) was rewarded for his efforts by election to the South Carolina governorship and, later, the United States Senate.
African-American participation in voting in the South was virtually nil from around 1880 to the 1960's. Why? Terrorism played a major role.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg_Massacre
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Ryan_Tillman