Why We Should Stop Calling the Malheur Militia Terrorists, and Start Calling Them Racists

12.1.16

Why We Should Stop Calling the Malheur Militia Terrorists, and Start Calling Them Racists: [itsgoingdown.org] This terrorism enhancement and recall of their release was seen as “double jeopardy” to many on the right, and it was taken up by a growing militia movement that see this as the federal government overreaching into the property rights of rural ranchers. Ammon Bundy, son of white supremacist rancher Cliven Bundy, used this as an opportunity to restart the militia movement response to his family’s fight with federal authorities over his unpaid grazing fees for use of federal land. What came next was well watched, as Bundy and Ryan Payne, a well known Islamophobic conspiracy theorist, came to Burns in December and set up a meeting called the Committee of Safety to try and stop the sentencing of the Hammonds. As the group swelled, almost entirely from non-residents, they moved on to enter and occupy an administration building at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. This is essentially a federal building used to protect the habitat and wildlife of the area, and likely an example of the kind of “liberal” public use of land that they want to see turned over to ranchers, miners, and loggers.