Extremism1984-Present

Shelby ThomasonZack Padgett

6th Period

• For over 90 years, the Anti-Defamation League has fought against bigotry and anti-Semitism by exposing and reporting on hate groups and other extremists who seek to harm perceived enemies and to undermine our democracy.

United but Divided

• Throughout the 1980’s, far-right extremist gained momentum because they attracted very little attention from authorities.

• In August 1992, federal marshals and FBI engaged in a bloody firefight with militiaman Randy Weaver. Less than two months after that, the biggest extremist leaders in America gathered together to plot a war against the united states.

• They wanted to create small isolated cells of militants spread across all fifty states.

Sheriff’s Posse Comitatus

• The Posse Comitatus was one of the largest anti-government organizations in the United States.

• They believed that all government power should ne restricted to the country level.

• The Posse also reacted violently to any form of federal regulation.

• Disbanded in the late 1980’s

Raid on Ruby Ridge

• When Randy Weaver, a white supremacist, failed to appear in court for weapon charges, U.S. marshals went to his farm on Ruby Ridge, Idaho.

• Weavers family was heavily armed and it sparked a gunfight that killed a U.S. marshal and Weavers fourteen-year-old son. Also, a FBI sniper killed his wife.

• Weaver surrendered ten days later.

Waco siege

• The Waco siege began on February 28, 1993, and ended violently 50 days later on April 19.The siege began when the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) attempted to execute a search warrant at the Branch Davidian ranch at Mount Carmel, a property located 9 miles (14 km) east-northeast of Waco, Texas.

Continued…

• On February 28, shortly after the attempt to serve the warrant, an intense gun battle erupted, lasting nearly 2 hours. In this armed exchange, four agents and six Branch Davidians were killed. Upon the ATF's failure to execute the search warrant, a siege was initiated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Oklahoma City Bombing

• The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks

• 168 Lives taken. (19 Children under the age 6)• 680 Injured• The bombing destroyed or damaged 324 buildings

within a sixteen-block radius .• It caused a round about of $652 Million in damage.

Continued…• Within 90 minutes of the explosion, Timothy McVeigh was stopped

by Oklahoma State Trooper Charlie Hanger for driving without a license plate and arrested for unlawfully carrying a weapon.

• Forensic evidence quickly linked McVeigh and Terry Nichols to the attack; Nichols was arrested, and within days both were charged.

• Michael and Lori Fortier were later identified as accomplices. McVeigh, an American militia movement sympathizer, had detonated an explosive-filled Ryder truck parked in front of the building.

• Terry Nichols, had assisted in the bomb preparation. Motivated by his hatred of the federal government and angered by what he perceived as its mishandling of the Waco Siege (1993) and the Ruby Ridge incident (1992), McVeigh timed his attack to coincide with the second anniversary of the deadly fire that ended the siege at Waco.

Oklahoma City Bombing Video

• Oklahoma City Bombing Video Project - YouTube

Oklahoma Bombing Pictures

Before After