All the World's Terrorists (Part 1)

Before writing this blog, I want to make it clear that I know I am about to step into very murky waters. There are so many different angles to this one topic, and I can't begin to speak to even a few of them. However, I do believe that this is an important topic given the current world condition. I'll try to be as direct and focused as I can be, and do welcome any and all criticisms/responses.

One day, three years ago, a war on an intangible object was declared. And though it seemed a very noble gesture to declare a "War on Terror," I think there was a more specific target than the umbrella title would suggest. That target was Islamic Fundamentalist Terror, and not the kind of terror that created Timothy McVeigh of the Oklahoma City Bombing. Many Muslims (and some non-Muslims) would argue that it was an assault on the religion itself.

So now Russia wants to join with the United States in its Global Campaign Against Terror. In this endeavour, I just wish that both countries would be honest and recognize that you can't stop something that isn't run by a state or country. There is a reason why it is an intangible, ideological concept to stop "terror." It has always existed, and will continue to exist in centuries to come. Finally, don't act like we're going to fight terror everywhere when we really mean that we are trying to end Islamic Fundamentalist Terrorism. That reminds me of the war on drugs, which was really a governmental ploy to punish blacks and latinos with drugs by posing stiffer jail sentences for drugs that were more prominent in those communities.

In any case, this war on Terror seems to have left out a whole litany of known terrorists organizations and indeed rebel governments that are heavily influenced and run by terrorists groups. If we were really trying to bring down Global Terror, then one might think that we would have started in our own backyard. There are multiple terrorists organizations right here in the good ole' USA. Probably the most well known being the Ku Klux Klan. The group is still in existence and is indeed responsible for tens of thousands of Blacks and other minorities (and even some White people who supported the Civil Rights Movement) systematic and government supported lynchings, rapes, and extensive mistreatment.

In Europe, one of the most prominent terrorist organizations exists as the Irish Republican Army (IRA). They are a Catholic group bent on fighting the Protestants in their area in order to regain a sense of first class citizenship. Though much of the fighting has come to a hault since the late 1990's, I'm sure that very few Americans think of them when they hear the word terror. In Spain, there is the Basque separatists group known as ETA, that seeks to have their own land within the country. Throughout the continent, there are many more.

And then there's South America. Honestly, when I first learned about terrorism and guerrilla warfare, it was with respect to groups like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) in Columbia. These groups literally own parts of the country, and have enough power and influence to force the government to do things against its will. The same is true in many other South American countries like Peru and Argentina.

But trust me, nobody ever thinks of these groups when they hear "terror." At least not in the United States. We think of a brown person somewhere in the Middle East, with the Qu'ran in one hand and an assault rifle in the other, saying "Praise Be to Allah." And as a Black man in a country where it's not "popular" to be my skin color, because that skin automatically qualifies me as a criminal, this "terror" profiling doesn't sit too well with me.

-Maelstrom