I just heard about the shooting at the Holocaust Museum in Washington a few hours ago. I wasn't going to write about it, mostly because it looks to be a "lone shooter," James von Brunn, an 89-year old white supremacist who has apparently spent his life on a crusade against the government.
It appears to be one man who acted alone, although he wants to represent a vast conspiracy of haters bent on shooting innocent people, including families with children, who would visit the Museum on a warm afternoon in June.
Why give someone like that more attention? I thought. I'm tired of seeing the ranters and twisters of the truth get airtime. I would rather focus my attention on and wishes for recovery for the security guard who was injured by the shooter, and his or her family. The guard is in critical condition as I write this. So is the alleged shooter.
But then I began to listen to Northeastern University criminologist Jack Levin, an expert on hate crimes. I felt sick listening to him as he tried to shed light on the shooting. He was aware of the anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-black, anti-anything-not-Aryan ravings posted on Von Brunn's and other's websites. He said, "I would have to say that this is part of the 'Obama effect.' " While many people like President Obama, Levin said, and see his leadership as unifying, some, "not many, but some people feel threatened."
Professor Levin felt the shooting signifies a broad dissatisfaction (to put it mildly) with the election of a black president.
Could it trigger something more violent? asked the CNN reporter. Professor Levin replied that this type of hate crime has increased as a result of Obama's campaign. The white supremacists are incensed at seeing blacks and Jews in the White House.
The state of the economy, along with the unprecedented numbers of immigrants, makes these people feel even more threatened. Somebody has got to be blamed for it.
Von Brunn believes, not surprisingly, that the Holocaust is a hoax.
People go to the Holocaust Museum to learn about the long and detestable history of hate crimes, seen through the lens of events surrounding World War II. The visitors to the Museum, and all of us, today learned that there's nothing new under the sun. When I told my husband about the shootings, he shook his head and said, "It never ends."
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