Tuesday, January 5, 2016

What if the Oregon "Militia" Were Muslims?

Websters Dictionary defines the word "militia" as:

1 a :  a part of the organized armed forces of a country liable to call only in emergency
   b :  a body of citizens organized for military service
2:  the whole body of able-bodied male citizens declared by law as being subject to call to military service.

Oregon "Militia"
I had to look up the definition of the word because I keep seeing the group of 150 or so men who took over a federal building at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in a remote part of the Oregon desert referred to as a militia in the news media.  That led me to look up the word terrorist.  Webster's defines terrorist as:

One who uses violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal.

As I understand it, these armed men have taken control of a federal building and are prepared to use their weapons against federal law enforcement officials if law enforcement attempts to remove them. According to an interview with The Oregonian, Ryan Bundy, one of the group's leaders, laid out their demands:  the release of two federal prisoners and for the federal government to release control of federal lands.  Bundy is quoted as saying "The best possible outcome is that the ranchers that have been kicked out of the area... will come back and reclaim their land, and the wildlife refuge will be shut down forever and the federal government will relinquish such control".    How is this not considered terrorism?

Imagine for a moment that 150 armed Muslim Americans took control of this same government building and government property, demanded the release of two Muslim American prisoners, and threatened to use their weapons against federal law enforcement officials if there was any attempt by law enforcement to remove them.  Would they be referred to as a militia?  Would it not be the lead story on every news station in America?   Would the federal government be content to sit back and wait the Muslim group out in hopes of bringing the standoff to a "peaceful end" as they are doing with this group?  

Just for the record, I'm not sure the government isn't handling this correctly.   It's quite possible that this situation will be resolved peacefully without the loss of human life, which is the way law enforcement should attempt to resolve all conflict.  But it once again goes back to a common theme on this blog, the American criminal justice system usually seems to work to preserve human life when white men are involved.   Is there anybody who believes that this situation would be handled in the same manner if this "militia" were Muslim?   Anybody?




No comments:

Post a Comment