The angry white male strikes again: terror in the temple

Oak Creek : WI : USA | Aug 06, 2012 at 4:46 PM PDT

By Herbert Dyer, Jr.

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On July 20, fellow Allvoices Anchor Veronica Roberts posted a probing piece entitled “Massacre at movie theater: What's behind the white male home-grown terror?” Her report came in the bloody wake of the Aurora, Colo., mass murder of 12 people and the wounding of 59 more by an apparently unhinged young white male, just over two weeks ago.

Now, following yet another young white male’s rampage through an otherwise supposedly “safe” environment, it is useful to revisit Roberts’ piece. She brought to the forefront, for example, the issue that most people in this country simply refuse to face: “There is something utterly maniacal about this kind of violence, completely beyond the realm of sane and logical interpretation. What fuels this madness, this evil?”

After recounting the mass murders by several “young white males,” going all the way back to Timothy McVeigh’s Oklahoma City eruption in 1995, Roberts answered her own question. Generally, these guys begin to go off the rails, as it were, as “troubled teens.” Their socialization into their roles as “masters of the universe” begins to break down upon or just after the onset of puberty when they encounter a wider world and the reality of their numerical “minority” status. As they leave the cocoon of America’s lilly-white suburbs, many seek solace in a deeply racial (not particularly racist at first) machismo that demands them to over compensate for their minor status through an embrace of guns, violence, gender superiority, and ultimately, a pathologically exclusive “racial” solidarity.

That is, far too many young, white males (both in suburbia and in ever-diminishing white enclaves of cities) are still, from birth, raised to believe that they are God’s gift to the world, or that the world is God’s gift to them.

Wade Michael Page, a 40-year-old U.S. Army veteran with reported links to the white supremacist movement, has been identified as the gunman in this latest incident. He is also said to have been leader of a white supremacist/white power rock band called “End Apathy,” which used their “concert” appearances to recruit other vulnerable young, white men. There are hundreds of these bands nationwide. Countless “festivals” extolling “white power” and white supremacy are held every single year. Think of them as the Lollapaloozas of hate.

His Army career was cut short due to bad behavior involving alcohol and violent outbursts. He served from 1992 to 1998, making sergeant before being busted back down to "specialist.” He never served overseas and received a “general discharge.” According to the Pentagon, he was deemed ineligible for re-enlistment.

And so, we come back to Roberts’ question. What motivates these men? Where does their “superior” attitude come from?

These are people who have thoroughly internalized the white supremacist ethic which has dominated the American body politic since its foundation. For the first time in its history, more “non-white” babies are being born in America than “white” babies, resulting in the ultimate “browning of America.” These disturbed young, white males interpret this – in social critic Pat Buchanan’s terms -- as the “destruction of the white race.” This is the basis for their anger, resentment, frustration…and their striking out against all who do not conform to their notion of what America is, was, should be, or what (who) it should look like.

RESOURCES:

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/12636907-massacre-at-movie-theaterwhats-behind-the-white-male-homegrown-terror

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57487668/sikh-temple-shooting-suspect-wade-michael-page-was-white-supremacist/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sikh-temple-shooter-was-military-veteran-who-lived-nearby/2012/08/06/648d8134-dfbd-11e1-a421-8bf0f0e5aa11_story.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57487094/sikh-temple-shooting-suspect-identified-as-wade-michael-page-motivation-unclear/

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-sikh-temple-domestic-terrorism-20120805,0,6094643.story

Patrick J. Buchanan, Suicide of a Superpower (Will America Survive to 2025?), Thomas Dunne Books, 2011

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Wade Michael Page, 40, the suspected killer in the recent Milwaukee-area Sikh temple shootings, was the former leader of a white supremist music group, according to law enforcement officials. (FBI handout photo)

Herbert Dyer, Jr. is based in Chicago, Illinois, United States of America, and is an Anchor for Allvoices.

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Post a Comment Comments: 6

Posted By

Punditty | 10 months ago

I think there is a lot of truth to what you write, Herb, but I have to step in here on behalf of all the gun owners who happen to be white and who also despise Nazis and racists as well. I find it kind of ironic, though; it is almost as if the proverbial shoe is on the other foot, for I am sure black people feel the same way when an image of a young black male as a gang member or violent criminal is posted in the media.

"That doesn't mean all young black males are bad," they might say, and of course they would be right.

Yet it is undeniable that many of the points you make are valid ones. So I would ask all the black and brown people reading this to understand that what you already know about your own race also applies to white people, but you know, I think most black and brown people already know that. And I also think most white people understand that most black and brown people are just trying to live their lives in peace and the pursuit of happiness, just like most people of all skin tones.

Sadly, there *are* angry white males with ample guns and ammo, however, and incidents like the one in Milwaukee make racial understanding and peaceful co-existence all the more elusive. These are strange, brutal times, but if we keep the faith and cultivate peace in our hearts, my belief is that we will make progress and, in the words of Bobby Kennedy quoting Tennyson at the 1964 Democratic convention, "make gentle the life of this world."

Posted By

Herbert Dyer, Jr. | 10 months ago

Punditty,

Your points are valid and well made. And I agree generally. My basic point, my overall concern is that we live in a culture and an historical environment which has placed white supremacy as the number one policy and practical outcome of everything that has gone down in this nation since 1492. White males have dominated, and continue to dominate in every important area and avenue of life. Politics, war, economics, education, labor, health, sex, art. That dominance is slowing ending; and a lot of white guys (not by any means all) simply cannot take it. Guys like this character in Wisconsin are simply more open and honest about their feelings -- and intentions.

I am not giving a pass to the horrendous violence occuring in the black ghettoes or brown barrios. I recognize it for what it is, why it is, and fully understand that white people think that they have done all they can, should or will ever do for black people, for brown people. But what white people need to understand is that what they have done to black and brown people over at least four centuries cannot be undone with a change of heart on their part, or a few decades of "affirmative action." They must stop teaching their children -- especially white boys, but girls, too -- that they are "better" than everybody else.

We (blacks and browns) can, will and do clean up our own messes whenever and if the playing field is leveled.

Thanks for reading/commenting.

Posted By

George Vieto | 10 months ago

My late mom who was a Catholic would say "They turned away from praying to God and serving Him." That is why they go on these killing sprees.

Posted By

Punditty | 10 months ago

I am very lucky that my parents never taught me that any one race was better than any other. I remember my mom saying "there's good ones and bad ones, no matter what the color."

But I agree that too many white people dismiss four (or more) centuries of white oppression as irrelevant. It's very much a factor in race relations today, even if some white people don't want to admit it.

Posted By

itobin53 | 10 months ago

Our society is getting more desensitized in our increasingly violent and racist America. When Obama was elected the US made history with its first black president. Instead of allowing that to move unity forward, some Americans have used it to promote hate, racism and violence.

Sarah Palin may have thought that her map with targets on it of democrats was funny or cute, but Rep. Gabby Giffords and millions of others strongly disagree.

When our leaders suggest shooting people, then defend gun rights with conspiracy theories, there is little chance that sanity will prevail.

Posted By

VeronicaS | 10 months ago

Thanks for the honorable mention HD! Seriously, there is a problem with some white males who think they are entitled to it all and hate the fact that the world is changing. They are terribly nostalgic for the good ole days of lynchings and legalized discrimination when the laws of this land said it was okay to keep their feet on our necks. Then they are the crazy ones who just hate everybody else but themselves for their angst.