Museum shooting signals more racial turmoil, some say

associated press

Crazies. Lone nut jobs. Isolated loonies. Those are frequent descriptions of people such as James von Brunn, the 88-year-old white supremacist accused of opening fire at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and killing a black guard.

Others believe he represents something more dangerous: a growing racist movement motivated by a number of converging factors, including the first black president.

The potential for an increase in violence from whites who feel they are slipping from power is high, people from across the ideological spectrum say.

“I believe we are headed for an unprecedented level of conflict and racial turmoil,” said Carol Swain, author of the 2002 book “The New White Nationalism in America” and a professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University.

Swain cited anger over immigration, growing minority populations, racial preferences, high minority crime rates, the economy and multiculturalism as forces driving white people toward nationalism.

“It seems like the tables have turned for some white people, and they have no recourse except desperation,” Swain said.

An April intelligence assessment by the Department of Homeland Security said that right-wing extremists could use the troubled economy and the election of President Barack Obama to recruit members.

Former FBI agent Danny Coulson, who headed the terrorism investigation of 1995’s Oklahoma City bombing and now runs a security firm, said federal agents have increased their monitoring of white supremacist groups since Obama’s election and have noticed increased chatter and membership.

“These neo-Nazi groups have been laying in the weeds for a long time,” he said. “Then you have a president who comes in who’s an African-American, and they hate that. And he’s tough on guns, and they really hate that.”

The movement has broadened beyond neo-Nazis. Advocacy groups for blacks and Hispanics unwittingly provided a blueprint for others to organize and defend the interests of white people.

Louis R. Andrews is chairman of the National Policy Institute, a white advocacy group. He does not advocate violence, but expects to see increased racial animosity that will eventually manifest itself in more physical attacks.

“There’s no such thing as post-racial,” Andrews said, when asked about the claim that Obama’s election moved American race relations to a better place. “There’s conflict, conflict, and continued conflict.”