Fort Bragg Soldiers
In 1995, an African American couple was walking down a dirt road in Fayetteville, NC, home of the 82nd Airborne Division and Fort Bragg. The couple was shot at close range by a former paratrooper and member of a white supremacist group. The article cited, by Michael Fletcher, of the Washington Post, states that James N Burmeister was found guilty in 1997 of the couples’ murder. The motive behind the shootings was simply that the couple was black.
(http://articles.latimes.com/1997-02-28/news/mn-33469_1_black-soldier)
The article raises questions as to the level of extreme activism within the military’s ranks. An earlier article, written by Michael Janofsky of the NY Times, questions how aggressively the military reacts to evidence or even suspicion that a soldier is involved in hate organizations. The NY Times article states that Burmeister had lost his security clearance and been disciplined for his expression of extremist views at least 10 months prior to the couples murders.
(http://www.nytimes.com/keyword/fort-bragg/3)
Although this crime took place in North Carolina, it was committed by a soldier of the US Army. This causes me great distress. I would like to think that all soldiers are there to protect all citizens of our country, not just those who agree with their views and ways of thought. It is quite scary to think that people trained to kill to protect our country are on the extremist end and will randomly kill citizens because they feel like it.
The Southern Poverty Law Center documents how several white supremacists have enlisted and then blogged and posted on white supremacist sites about their success in infiltrating the military. This article, entitled ‘Killing a Brown’, written by David Holthouse, states that the FBI has issued official reports to nationwide law enforcement agencies citing how skinheads and white supremacists have double their attempts and successes at joining the military. The article goes on to speculate that the 1995 Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh, was radicalized during his military days and in the first Gulf War.
I think one of the most disturbing quotes I read from this article follows.
(One of the Blood & Honour members claiming to be an active-duty soldier taking part in combat operations in Iraq identified himself to Kennard as Jacob Berg. He did not disclose his rank or branch of service. “There are actually a lot more ‘skinheads,’ ‘nazis,’ white supremacists now [in the military] than there has been in a long time,” Berg wrote in an E-mail exchange with Kennard. “Us racists are actually getting into the military a lot now because if we don’t every one who already is [in the military] will take pity on killing sand niggers. Yes I have killed women, yes I have killed children and yes I have killed older people. But the biggest reason I’m so proud of my kills is because by killing a brown many white people will live to see a new dawn.”)
This type of thinking is so contrary to my beliefs that it is difficult to even fathom. However, I have seen racism first hand and know that people are capable of horrible things. Those horrible things begin in their thoughts and narrow minds.
White Supremacy in North Carolina 