The shrill fear-mongers -- led by Donald Trump and to a slightly lesser degree other Republican Party operatives or candidates -- want citizens to think domestic terrorism is something altogether new and dangerous, like a war sure to come to your neighborhood, with violent death lurking around every corner unless you buy more guns and the US military doubles down on its Mideast presence and its massive aerial bombing attacks.
Never mind that we’ve been dealing with terrorism for years, and I don't mean just since the 9/11 attacks in 2001 or the 1993 bombing of the New York World Trade Center, either. What about the pro-slavery sacking of Lawrence, Kansas, in 1856? Or abolitionist John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry in 1859? Or that century's Mormon Wars, which lasted decades across several states? Or the 1893 Haymarket Square bombing in Chicago? Or the Ku Klux Klan's lynchings and arsons?
Or the 1917, alleged-anarchist bombing of a Milwaukee police station that killed nine officers and a civilian (the newspaper front page, above, got the number wrong the next morning)? Or the 1931 race riots in Tulsa, where whites destroyed 1,100 homes and killed up to 300 blacks? Or, in 1933, the first proven case of air sabotage in the history of aviation, a bomb that blew up a commercial airliner over Indiana? Or the 1961 wave of terrorist attacks in Florida, where African Americans were dragged away and beaten to death, 11 race-related bombings occurred and synagogues were dynamited?
Or in 1966, Charles Whitman, the "Texas Tower sniper" who shot 48 people, killing 16? Or the truck bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building in 1996 that killed 166? Or all the many school and courtroom and congressional shootings or bombings, or all the many assassinations?
The list is endless, it's all about terrorism, and it pervades American history. Moreover, the nation survived each and every tragedy. But in almost every instance, fearmongers back then also attempted to convince distraught, concerned Americans to turn on The Other, to take the law into their own hands, to allow their elected leaders to revamp our laws in ways anti-Democratic in hopes of greater security. It's a very old story, and a quintessentially American one.
As ‘60s militant H. Rap Brown said (before he himself was convicted of murder): "Violence is as American as cherry pie." It unequivocally is; history shows us so.
Those who have studied American history well know that domestic terrorism constitutes a threat but not a new threat. Indeed, as the link below lays out in greater detail than I shared above, our country has faced this sort of assault many times in the past 200 or so years, yet always managed to get through it.
Terrorism comes and goes, but mostly comes. Good police work and prevention (examples of late: taggants in explosives, gun registration, international terrorist watch lists) are our first line of defense. Of course we shouldn't and do not take modern threats lightly, but neither should we conflate or misconstrue them, or imagine this continent-spanning country of 310 million souls is suddenly helpless.
The British among other peoples have gone through far worse than we here in the USA, but while American lips (some of them, anyway) quiver, the British uppers remain stiff. "Keep Calm and Carry On" is a good watch phrase for everyone.
For a fairly comprehensive (but hardly complete) list of infamous terrorist attacks on US soil dating back to the early 18th Century, visit this Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/...