US says white supremacist group tried to incite followers on Telegram to spark race war
GuardianSep 10
DOJ Indicts Alleged White Supremacists Over Accusations of Attempting to Spark Race War
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The Facts
US prosecutors on Monday charged Dallas Erin Humber and Matthew Robert Allison for allegedly attempting to incite racial attacks on Black people, Jewish people, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and immigrants, so as to spark a global race war.
Humber and Robert allegedly lead "Terrorgram Collective," a transnational terrorist group based on Telegram, to promote white supremacist "accelerationism" and target senators, judges, and state officials.
The Spin
Narrative A
With a significant rise in violent incidents in recent years, extremism driven by white supremacist ideology has outpaced all other forms of domestic terrorism. These groups, often operating through decentralized networks and heavily influenced by online propaganda, have been responsible for the majority of terrorist plots and attacks in recent years. Their actions' growing frequency and intensity highlight the urgent need for robust countermeasures to protect public safety and maintain national security.
Narrative B
The threat of white supremacist extremism in the US is exaggerated. The Justice Department's data on domestic terrorism convictions shows that many cases labeled as terrorism involve unrelated personal disputes or non-terrorism crimes. Despite a decade of substantial funding for counterterrorism, the actual number of cases linked to white supremacists is much lower than reported. This undermines public confidence and suggests that the perceived threat may not be as severe as the government claims.
