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Call it terrorism in Charleston
Thousands of people march on the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge in Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday, June 21. People crossed the bridge, which spans the Cooper River, from Mount Pleasant to Charleston, joining hands in a unity chain to mourn the Emanuel AME Church shooting. Police arrested Dylann Storm Roof in the slayings of nine people at a prayer meeting at the church.
MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP/Getty Images
Protesters stand on the South Carolina State House steps during a rally to take down the Confederate flag, on Saturday, June 20, in Columbia.
Rainier Ehrhardt/AP
Louise Brown walks down King Street during a "Black Lives Matter" march on June 20 in Charleston, South Carolina.
Stephen B. Morton/AP
The men of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity lead a prayer outside Emanuel AME Church, Friday, June 19.
Stephen B. Morton/AP
Young people grieve outside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 19.
MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP/Getty Images
Parishioners applaud during a memorial service on Thursday, June 18, at Morris Brown AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
David Goldman/AP
Olina Ortega, left, and Austin Gibbs light candles at a sidewalk memorial in front of Emanuel AME Church on June 18.
David Goldman/AP
The Rev. Jeannie Smalls becomes emotional during a prayer vigil held at Morris Brown AME Church on June 18.
Grace Beahm/The Post And Courier/AP
A woman places flowers outside the church on June 18.
Kevin Liles/UPI/LANDOV
Mourners gather for a community prayer service at Second Presbyterian Church in Charleston on June 18.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Walter Jackson, the son of Susie Jackson who died in the church shooting, recalls stories about his mother with his niece Cynthia Taylor at Jackson's home in Charleston on June 18.
David Goldman/AP
The Rev. Al Sharpton wipes away a tear after praying outside the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston on June 18.
Allen G. Breed/AP
People sit on the steps of Morris Brown AME Church in Charleston while services are held June 18.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images
A woman wipes her eyes at a makeshift memorial near the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston on June 18.
Stephen B. Morton/AP
The Rev. Keith McDaniel, pastor of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, is surrounded by others in prayer on June 18 in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Tim Kimzey/The Spartanburg Herald-Journal/AP
Tyler Francis, right, hugs Shondrey Dear after praying together June 18 at a makeshift memorial near the Emanuel AME Church.
Stephen B. Morton/AP
A group of women prays together at a makeshift memorial on the sidewalk in front of the Emanuel AME Church on June 18.
Stephen B. Morton/AP
President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, pauses while speaking in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, June 18, on the church shooting in Charleston.
Susan Walsh/AP
Members of the U.S. Congress gather in front of the Capitol Building in Washington on June 18, during a moment of silence for the nine killed in a church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
South Carolina state Sen. Vincent Sheheen gets emotional on June 18 as he sits next to the draped desk of Sen. Clementa Pinckney at the statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina. Pinckney was one of the nine people killed in the church shooting.
Rainier Ehrhardt/AP
Charleston resident Noah Nicolaisen kneels at a makeshift memorial down the street from the church on June 18.
David Goldman/AP
Kim Hamby prays with her daughter Kayla as they lay flowers at a makeshift memorial in Charleston on June 18.
David Goldman/AP
A man leans against a light pole as he visits a memorial in Charleston on June 18.
David Goldman/AP
Chaplain James St. John leads senators in prayer June 18 at the statehouse in Columbia.
Rainier Ehrhardt/AP
Sandra Bridges lays a card at a memorial on June 18.
David Goldman/AP
Reactions to Charleston church shooting
Editorâs Note: Peter Bergen is CNNâs national security analyst, a vice president at New America and a professor of practice at Arizona State University. He is the author of âManhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden â From 9/11 to Abbottabad.â David Sterman is a program associate at New America.
Story highlights
The attack at the historic Charleston, South Carolina, church is being investigated as a hate crime targeting African-Americans
Peter Bergen says such instances of extremist terrorism have been more prevalent in the U.S. than jihadist activity since 9/11
CNN
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The horrific attack at a historic church in Charleston, South Carolina, was allegedly carried out by a young white man who appeared to have deliberately targeted the church simply because it was serving African-Americans. Witnesses say the suspect said he was there âto shoot black people,â a law enforcement official said. By any reasonable standard, this is terrorism, which is generally defined as an act of violence against civilians by individuals or organizations for political purposes.
But do the thought experiment: If this attack on the church in Charleston had been conducted by a Muslim man shouting âAllahu akbar,â what is already a big news story would have become even bigger, as it would appear to fit so well into the political and media narrative that Muslim militants are the major terrorist problem in the United States.
Thatâs a false narrative, as it turns out. In fact, deadly acts of terrorism by virulent racists and anti-government extremists have been more common in the United States than deadly acts of jihadist terrorism since 9/11.
There is something particularly shocking in a multiracial, multiethnic, multireligious society about murdering people simply because of who they are. Thatâs true whether itâs African-Americans in Charleston attending a Bible study group or spectators at the Boston Marathon. These attacks are acts designed to terrorize, and we should call them such.
According to a count by New America, since 9/11, 26 people have been killed in jihadist terrorist attacks in the United States, while extremist right-wing racists and anti-government militants have killed 48, if we include the nine people who were killed in the attack in Charleston, which is being investigated as a hate crime.
Last year alone saw four such deadly extremist right-wing attacks that killed eight people.
⢠On April 13, 2014, Frazier Glenn Cross shot and killed a 14-year-old boy and his grandfather at the Jewish Community Center in Kansas City and then drove to a Jewish retirement community, where he killed a third person, authorities say. Reports say Cross shouted âHeil Hitlerâ after he was taken into custody. He has pleaded not guilty.
⢠On June 8, 2014, married couple Jerad and Amanda Miller killed two police officers in an ambush at a pizza restaurant in Las Vegas and also killed another person at a Walmart as they left the scene before committing suicide. The shooters possessed white supremacist paraphernalia and had previously spoken of targeting law enforcement officers and expressed militant views, according to their neighbors.
⢠On September 12, 2014, a police officer was killed in a shooting at the Blooming Grove police barracks in Pennsylvania. State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan identified Eric Frein as a suspect. Noonan said that Frein âhas made statements about wanting to kill law enforcement officers and also to commit mass acts of murderâ and âhas expressed anti-government leanings in the past, especially toward law enforcement.â Frein was taken into custody after seven weeks on the run. Prosecutors added terrorism charges against Frein, citing a letter in which he allegedly called for a revolution. He has pleaded not guilty.
⢠On November 22, 2014, Curtis Wade Holley ambushed and killed a police officer in Tallahassee, Florida. According to local police, Holley had planned the ambush, held anti-government political beliefs and had made previous threats against police that had put him on a watch list. Holley was killed by police officers in a shootout.
In addition, since 9/11,none of the roughly 290 people indicted or convicted in the United States of some act of jihadist terrorism has acquired or used chemical or biological weapons, while 13 people motivated by right-wing extremist ideology, one person motivated by left-wing extremist ideology, and two with idiosyncratic beliefs used or acquired such weapons or their precursors.
Although a variety of left-wing militants and environmental extremists have carried out violent attacks for political reasons against property and people since 9/11, none has been linked to a deadly attack, according to research by New America.
Jihadist violence continues to dominate the news and the attention of policymakers. Some of this is quite understandable. After all, on 9/11, al Qaeda killed almost 3,000 people.
Yet, as a matter of the public safety, there really is no difference between terrorism that is purportedly committed in the name of Allah and killing that is committed for other political ends, such as the racist beliefs about African-Americans that appear to have motivated Thursdayâs attack in Charleston.