Domestic terrorism has had a small role in previous times, but it is making its way into our society and causing lots of scare throughout the population.

Domestic terrorism is becoming more and more popular this day in time due to various political and religious reasons. One thing to make clear is the difference between domestic terrorism and hate crimes. Domestic terrorism is defined as unlawful force/violence committed by two or more individuals towards the government or civilians as a tactic to advance political, religious, or ideological beliefs, while hate crimes are defined as crimes/violence motivated by racial, sexual or other prejudice. There can be instances where the crime can be considered both, but most are categorized as one or the other. Most people have heard about the recent events that took place in Chattanooga and Charleston, yet there are many instances that are never made popular in the news. For instance, Eric Robert Rudolph, a right-wing terrorist, bombed many abortion clinics and homosexual nightclubs, and is still missing today after evading the FBI and being put on the “Ten Most Wanted” list.

There are different types of terrorism depending on what their intentions are. There are right-wing terrorists, which are motivated by white supremacy, as well as anti-government beliefs. They may also include extremist Christian groups such as those that bomb abortion clinics, like the one Rudolph was involved in. On the contrary, there are left-wing terrorists which have revolutionary socialist ideas and project themselves as protectors of civilians from capitalism and U.S. imperialism. Most groups that consider themselves as leftists are associated with anarchist or socialist groups.

Many people associate the Ku Klux Klan as a domestic terrorist group, but strictly speaking, it is not a terrorist organization. Its acts of violence and aggression have been retaliatory rather than symbolic. The Klan was established in an attempt to strike the federal government back for its imposition of martial law in the South. Most of the Klan’s violence was directed towards the black community because the victims were mostly recently freed slaves, and were far more vulnerable than Southern whites.

“Since 9/11, extremists affiliated with a variety of far-right-wing ideologies, including white supremacists, anti-abortion extremists and anti-government militants,” CNN reporter Peter Bergen said, “have killed more people in the United States than have extremists motivated by al Qaeda’s ideology.”

Many people are talking about countries in the Middle East threatening us, but those same people don’t realize we are a threat to ourselves more often than not.

Twenty years ago, Timothy McVeigh set off a massive truck bomb at a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 Americans and 19 children, all fueled by his hatred of the government. Everyone at the time instantly assumed it must have been Muslim jihadists, but they were proved wrong when detectives found out McVeigh was a U.S.-born white man.

Are we really going to sit back and ignore all of the violence America is bringing upon itself? Every generation has hate and anger fueled by politics and government, but these acts of terrorism America is enacting upon itself are a new low that we need to end.