Free Essay about Domestic Terrorist Groups

This paper is going to attempt to provide a general understanding and applied insight into 2 U.S. Domestic terrorist groups' theories, background, and motivations plus answer several additional questions. (EDM501)

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The first domestic terrorist group this paper is going to review is known as "the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). With a long history of violence, it is the most infamous and oldest hate group in the United States that was founded in 1866." After its inception, the group spread in almost every southern state in 1870 and become a driving force to white southern resistance that was resisting the Republican Party Reconstruction policies whose objectives were to create economic and political equality for the people of color (Baudouin, 2011). The group staged rallies, burned crosses, organized parades that were aimed at denouncing Catholics, immigrants, blacks, Jews, and organized labor. They held activities such as the blasting of non-white place of worship and schools and viciousness against black and white activist in the south. The terrorist group can be characterized as a form of right-wing terrorist group that aims to combat liberal governments and preserves traditional social order. The group is racially motivated and seeks to marginalize minority groups.

The Klan was at its peak in 1920 where it comprised of about five to six million Klan members across the country. In 1870 the federal government declared the group as a terrorist group busting up the group and issuing up hundreds of indictment and prosecuting several of its members. The Klan gets its financial support by selling to its members. They charge an initiation fee. The recruiters earned a certain amount of money by recruiting new members into the group. Most of the income is shared among its leaders the Great Goblin, the Grand Dragon among other names used by its heads (Fryer & Levitt, 2012). Once a new member joins, he will buy the KKK robes only from KKK-approved factories. The Klan also pressures its member to purchase other racist-branded swag such as robe dry-cleaning services, life insurance, bibles, helmets, candles that have the Klan's insignia and swords. There is an annual membership fee payable by every member. The members express their presence by burning crosses outside the yard of the ones they are trying to scare. They have been known to lynch African American during the slavery period.

Attempt to cab the activities of the group by the FBI have been curtailed by the presence of member in the police force and other law enforcement agencies, which explains their apparent confidence. The FBI has identified the threat of white supremacist and skinheads that are used to infiltrate police to recruit members from the law enforcement departments. They have several associated groups such as "Brotherhood of Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and the church of the national knights just to name a few." The presence of active members in the U.S police department often leads to jeopardize of the safety of law enforcement, the existence of "ghost skins" ( members who avoid a public display of their affiliation to blend into society) are used to warn the crew of any investigations. In recent years especially during the 2016 elections, the group's activities have intensified. The current president is endorsed and celebrated by the klan, and he is reluctant of disassociating himself with individuals espousing white supremacist views. This one of the reason why it is hard to demolish the group's activities since they have massive support from high-ranking officials in the government. Since 2015 the percentage of their members have increased notably, and the number is rising, its members are openly expressing their ideologies in public and sending hate messages on the web which is subject to escalating over the period of Trump's presidency.The second inland terrorist group is the "Black Liberation Army", which was an underground Black Nationalist movement that was majorly comprised of former Black Panther's members that became active between 1963 and 1998. The organization began to operate or strengthen when the Black Panthers were collapsing. The BLA was well known for its violent acts such as bombings and robberies. They believed that an army front was necessary for the liberation of the black community. Their activities began to deteriorate in 1981 when after a fatal robbery. Their main principles were anti-capitalist, anti-racist, anti-imperialist and anti-sexist. Their goals included striving for an institution of socialistic relationships whereby black people had absolute control over their destiny.

The BLA operational standards comprised of a mixture of the three types of leftist political philosophies, with Maoism being their combat strategy (Halliburton, 2016). This form of policy organizes independent cells that operate on individual home territories and fight a guerrilla-style revolution whose aim is to make it difficult to catch or identify any major leaders as well as confusing and disrupting oppressing force. It is a form of left-wing terrorism that aims at overthrowing capitalist democracies and establish a socialist republic. They robbed government owned armored vehicles, bombed police cars and attacked government buildings all to create to the public a sense that the government is losing its authority, the robbing was also their means of financing the group.

The group had members spread across several states, but their activities were intensified in New York, it was as a result of the 1960s civil rights movement hence it is affiliated with the Black Panther with a more extreme approach and the 21 Panthers. The first phase essentially ended in November 1973 when the last of its leader was gunned down on the street on the Bronx. The second movement was fought in courtrooms, prisons, and jails, they attempted to escape from prison, some were successful, and others failed. The final phase of the Black Liberation Army involved what came to be later known as family. It was a mixer of white revolutionaries, a mixed group of fighters and experienced armed stickup men. The group did not attack government directly but instead damaged their pocketbooks. The FBI managed to cab the group, however, regardless of the group's activities seizing their agendas are still carried on in other uprising groups with similar objectives. The shooting of police offices at a protects after the 2016 elections reveals that such groups are still operational but underground.

Reference

Baudouin, R. (2011). Ku Klux Klan: A History of Racism and Violence. 24-34.

Fryer, R., & Levitt, S. (2012). Hatred and Profits: Under the Hood of the Ku Klux Klan. Journal of Economics, 188-192.

Halliburton, K. A. (2016, April 22). People Taking Charge: The Black Liberation Army. Retrieved February 19, 2018, from https://medium.com/refuse-to-cooperate/people-taking-charge-the-black-liberation-army-ba310ec66a12

Renaud, C. (2012, June). The Missing Piece of NIMS. The Journal of The Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security, 7-11.