Each year, individuals with ties to extreme movements and ideologies kill people in the United States. Some killings are high profile and spark nationwide outrage; others may go largely unnoticed except by families and friends of the victims. Extremists regularly commit murders in the service of their ideology, in the service of a group or gang to which they may belong, or even while engaging in traditional, non-ideological criminal activities. Since 2008, the ADL Center on Extremism (COE) has worked to identify and track as many of these domestic extremist-related murders as possible and to identify past extremist-related murders dating back to 1970.
Based on this data, it is known that extremist murders in the U.S. in recent years have been committed by individuals from the far right, such as white supremacists or sovereign citizens, by domestic Islamist extremists, by left-wing extremists such as Black nationalists or anarchists, and occasionally by people associated with other, more obscure causes or groups. White supremacists typically commit the greatest number of domestic extremist-related murders. In 2022, the percentage was unusually high: 21 of the 25 murders were linked to white supremacists. These killings are primarily related to mass shootings.
The issue of extremist-related mass killings is of growing concern. From the 1970s through the 2000s, domestic extremist-related mass killings were relatively uncommon. However, over the past 12 years, their number has greatly increased. Most of these mass killings were committed by right-wing extremists, but left-wing and domestic Islamist extremists were also responsible for incidents. The Center on Extremism has identified 62 extremist-connected mass killing incidents since 1970, with 46 of them being ideologically motivated. Disturbingly, more than half (26, or 57%) of the ideological mass killings have occurred within the past 12 years.
Identify a real-life, recent (within the past 5 years) act of extremist violence on which to focus for this Discussion.
Conduct your own research online and identify three or more credible sources of information/evidence (e.g., court documents, documentaries, journal articles, news reports, etc.) about the act of extremist violence you selected.
Consider the reasons why the act you selected is considered extremist violence.
Consider the motivations that may have incited the act of extremist violence.
Consider the types of interventions, if any, which might have potentially prevented the act of extremist violence.