PRO-MILITIA
The Southern Poverty Law Center last month released data that shows a resurgence of the “Patriot” and pro-militia movements of the 1990s, a period marked by the deadly standoff between arms-hoarding Branch Davidians and the FBI in Waco, Texas, and the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City.
“A key difference this time is that the federal government — the entity that almost the entire radical right views as its primary enemy — is headed by a black man,” the center said.
But one of the protesters at the weekend, a black American fellow with the black conservative group Project 21, said she saw no cause for concern.
“All of this started with the bailouts last fall, the government takeover of the banks and the auto industry. Now they are trying to co-opt health care,” said Deneen Borelli, dismissing talk of racial overtones as “utter nonsense.”
The White House has also downplayed the question of racism in the opposition movement, much the way the politically savvy candidate Obama did when seeking presidential office.
Asked on CNN on Sunday whether the president agreed with those who say attacks against him are based on race, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs replied: “I don’t think the president believes that people are upset because of the color of his skin.”
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