Connect the dots of hatred: Turns out, the feds were dead right about right-wing craziesConnect the dots of hatred: Turns out, the feds were dead right about right-wing crazies
by Errol Louis
Earlier this year, when the Department of Homeland Security issued a warning to local police departments to watch for a possible upsurge in violence by right-wing extremists, a roar of complaint went up from Republican pols and conservative pundits.
But a spate of terrorist murders in Kansas and Washington, and elsewhere - including some that haven't made big headlines and took place well before the recent carnage - make clear that the original memo from DHS was a timely and accurate warning that America must take seriously.
The April 7 report was brief, clear and plausible. It warned that four factors - Obama's election as the first black President, the economic hardship of the recession, disillusionment among some veterans and proposed gun control measures - could "attract new members into the ranks of right-wing extremist groups."
The report also said "the high volume of purchases and stockpiling of weapons and ammunition by right-wing extremists ... continue to be a primary concern to law enforcement" and that attacks might come from lone-wolf individuals.
Conservatives promptly slammed the report as politically motivated. Republican Rep. Peter King of Long Island, who until recently chaired the Homeland Security Committee in Congress, demanded an investigation. Other GOP members, calling the memo a slur against the military, asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to step down, even though much of the research was prepared under the Bush administration.
A Michigan-based conservative think tank, the Thomas More Center, filed a federal lawsuit against Napolitano. And the echo-chamber of right-wing pundits went berserk on cue (in a typical freak-out, commentator Michelle Malkin described it as a "piece of crap report.")
But events have proven Napolitano right.
Last July, a 58-year-old man named Jim Adkisson went on a rampage inside a Tennessee church, shooting two people to death and wounding seven - a crime to which he pleaded guilty.
Authorities found a note in which Adkisson said "this was a hate crime ... Who I wanted to kill was every Democrat in the Senate and House" and "everyone in the mainstream media." Barack Obama, then a candidate, was on the list.
In January, on the night of Obama's inauguration, a self-proclaimed white supremacist named Keith Luke of Brockton, Mass., was arrested for allegedly shooting two people to death and gravely wounding a third, who was also raped.
All of the victims were black. Luke reportedly told authorities he wanted to kill Jews and people of color, was "fighting extinction" of the white race, and planned to end the rampage with a slaughter at a local synagogue during bingo night.
There's a military connection that can't be ignored. As I noted in a 2006 column, a Pentagon investigator discovered 320 cases of white-power extremists in the U.S. military - only two of whom were discharged.
In April, 22-year-old Richard Poplawski, who had been dishonorably discharged from Marine Corps basic training, donned a bulletproof vest and shot three cops to death during a four-hour standoff at his home following a domestic violence call. Friends said the rampage was prompted by Poplawski's fear that the Obama administration might take his guns away.
Also in April - about two weeks after the DHS report - a Florida National Guardsman named Joshua Cartwright shot and killed two sheriff's deputies before being shot to death in a shootout with cops. Cartwright's wife told reporters the killer was "severely disturbed" by Obama's election. Authorities said he dabbled in the militia movement.
Keep in mind that all of the above incidents took place before the murder of abortion doctor George Tiller or the killing at the Holocaust Museum last week.
There is a sickness in the land that our government warned of. The only question is whether anybody's ready to cure it.
elouis@nydailynews.com
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