Nearly eight in ten US domestic terror attacks in 2018 were white supremacy motivated.

Evidence

This double standard exists despite evidence that white supremacists account for far greater numbers of domestic terrorism than any other group and a growing proportion of extremist violence worldwide. A 2018 Anti-Defamation League report, for example, shows that 2018 was the fourth most violent year for domestic terrorism since 1970 and that nearly eight in ten of these attacks were motivated by white supremacy. And white supremacy, as it has developed historically in the United States, is typically tied to a concept of the superiority of Protestant Christian culture, motivating attacks not just on African Americans and immigrants but also on Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, and other non-Christian religious minorities. Looking at global trends, the New York Times found that attacks by white extremists were growing and now represent nearly one in ten attacks worldwide. While certainly not all white supremacists identify as Christian, the analysis found that these extremists often included in their worldview the lost dominance of western Christendom. Experts described the typical profile of these attackers as men “who identify as white, Christian, and culturally European” and who feel their privileged position in the West is threatened “by immigrants, Muslims, and other religious and racial minorities.” — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 231

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The 2020 DHS threat assessment named white supremacists the top domestic threat — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian…, 21; White supremacist violence kills nearly as many Americans as Muslim terrorism. — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 480; White perpetrators are categorically dissociated from the label of terrorism. — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 934 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• White supremacist violence kills nearly as many Americans as Muslim terrorism. #corroborates (0.85) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 480
• Counterterrorism targets Muslims while downplaying surging White supremacist violence #corroborates (0.85) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 950
• White perpetrators are categorically dissociated from the label of terrorism. #expands (0.80) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 934
• White supremacist violence goes unlabeled as terrorism due to actors’ racial identity #expands (0.80) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 922
• White supremacist terror was overlooked as a global threat because of perpetrators’ racial identity #expands (0.75) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 922
• The Muslim-terrorism conflation distanced white wars and white terror from scrutiny #expands (0.75) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 936