On this day in 1995, the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed by a right-wing extremist, killing 168 men, women and children and injuring hundreds more.
Take a moment to think of the victims, the survivors, and all their loved ones.
Take a moment to think of the victims, the survivors, and all their loved ones.
I'd like to commemorate the bombing in another way as well, a more unusual way, by talking about incidents other than the bombing. The OKC bombing is often talked about in a vacuum, as a singular and unique occurrence, but of course it was not, except in the number of victims.
All across the country in 1995, right-wing extremists mobilized, plotted, and killed. The Oklahoma City bombing did not stand alone; it had a lot of evil company that year, most of which has been forgotten.
In this thread, I mention selected other incidents from 1995.
In this thread, I mention selected other incidents from 1995.
January 1995. Two white supremacists in Massachusetts brutally murder a black men who asked them to turn down the volume of their music. They would be convicted of first degree murder by extreme cruelty or atrocity.
February 1995. Two white supremacist teenaged brothers kill their parents and their younger brother in a set of shocking murders that made national headlines at the time.
July 1995. Two white supremacist brothers in Idaho kill other white supremacists in two incidents shortly before they would embark upon a deadly plot to create an "Aryan People's Republic" that took the lives of at least three others.
July 1995. A white supremacist is arrested in connection with an alleged plot to use a fertilizer bomb to blow up the federal courthouse in Spokane, Washington.
August 1995. Four racist skinheads break into a home in California to rob it. Discovering a black man there, they torture him, including forcing him to play Russian roulette, before killing him.
September 1995. Federal authorities arrest a Texas tax protester on weapons of mass destruction charges for plotting to blow up an IRS office and other government buildings.
November 1995. Members of a small militia cell/white supremacist group in Oklahoma are arrested for plotting a series of bombings against a variety of targets, from civil rights organizations to gay bars and abortion clinics.
November 1995. Two racist skinheads kick and beat a homeless man to death so that they could "earn" the right to sport lightning bolt tattoos.
December 1995. Three white supremacist soldiers at Fort Bragg shoot and kill a black couple walking down the street.
December 1995. Two tax protesters plant a fertilizer bomb outside an IRS office in Nevada. The bomb was a 30-gallaon plastic drum packed with 100 pounds of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. Luckily, it failed to explode.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
