Why America’s ‘war on terror’ is blind to white terror

It makes for chilling reading, but it’s entirely necessary. Recently, yet another former FBI agent blew the whistle on the deadly and growing threat posed by white supremacist extremism in the United States.

Scott, whose full name Rolling Stone decided to keep in confidence, was an undercover spy for the FBI. He infiltrated far-right domestic terror groups over decades. His work is not for the faint-hearted.

Now imagine that, even for a man of his character, the things he saw and the people he met. They are so dangerous that in the midst of his retirement the scale and threat posed by white supremacy to the security of the United States still keeps him up at night.

He can’t unsee. In the article, he points out there are millions more white supremacists plotting murder and carnage. That’s juxtaposed with a comparative handful of FBI agents tasked with tracking them.

The FBI already uses most of the resources allotted for monitoring white supremacists. But by Scott’s estimation, those resources are clearly insufficient to keeping pace with the size of the threat.

Not only that, but according to the FBI, white supremacy is the fastest growing form of domestic terror. When we consider the fact that the FBI itself has a problem of white supremacists corrupting its ranks, it's obvious why former agents like Scott are losing sleep over the danger.

All of the above suggests that unless a plan of action is implemented to tackle the vast scale of white supremacist terror in the United States, the country is on a collision course with the enemy from within.

It would be comforting to beieve that the world's most sophisticated security services have a secret plan to counteract the white supremacist terror. But I’m more than dubious. Why?

We know terror campaigns against Black people by white supremacists have been supported by police or in conjunction with the police.

Moreover, January 6, 2021, which had white supremacy written all over it, is yet to be accounted for and we know police had prior knowledge. The Proud Boys and their knuckle-dragging brethren have yet to be classified as domestic terrorists. A dozen white supremacists even plotted to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

It’s no wonder that former operatives like Scott are deeply concerned about white supremacist terror and the free reign being given.

He told Rolling Stone about his conversations with Klan members. He moreover recalled stoner teenagers with axes to grind who were full of sublime ignorance and fortified with an intense hatred for anyone non-white. They saw themselves as guardians of the “master race.”

These people had conviction. Tons of it.

And they aren’t aging hillbillies either.

They are in terror cells, Scott said. Yet the right-wing media treats them as patriots who love their country. These fanatics are validated by mainstream media and even some politicians while their hatred incubates on far-right websites, echo chambers and chat rooms.

Indeed, the part that hits home for me was this:

Scott fetches up a meme he pulled off one of the apps where rageful kids meet up. It is a viral poster of the so-called saints who inspire white terrorists worldwide. At the top is Saint Breivik — as in Anders Breivik, the Norwegian who slaughtered 69 people at a summer camp for kids, and another eight in Oslo with a van bomb.

Just below him is Saint Tarrant — as in Brenton Tarrant, the Australian who murdered 51 people in a pair of New Zealand mosques.

Two down from him is Robert Bowers, the Pennsylvania trucker who allegedly slew 11 at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

This meme is a totem pole for Nazi youth in training, the standings in a pennant race of killers. Bracketing their stat lines is a phrase in block chalk: “Will you make it onto the leaderboard … ?”

These fascist red-hats feel their moment has come. They are as emboldened as ever. They might yet see Donald Trump back in office. That would further validate their mission to fight for “white survival.”

This is America’s new war on terror. In the past, it did not apply to white supremacists. Black and Brown countries abroad, rich with oil and resources? They apply. The price for such blindness is high.

Not only is white supremacy not being treated like the domestic terror threat, which is obvious, but it’s often rewarded or treated with kid gloves. Lives depend on the government getting a handle on this.

Decent people must demand it.