Demanding an honest accounting on homegrown terrorism – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com

it is time to say the obvious thing no one seems to be saying:

America is under attack by right-wing terrorists.

And here, again, it is necessary to say what the point is not. Namely, it is not that conservatism equals terrorism. These criminals are fanatics, and fanaticism is restricted to no particular ideology. Ironically, that’s an argument to which conservatives often turn deaf ears when it is made on behalf of Muslims, but that doesn’t make it any less true — or applicable here.

That said, what’s telling is that we won’t even call this what it is. When the Symbionese Liberation Army and the Weather Underground were committing violence in the 1970s, we were not slow in decrying leftwing terrorism and requiring progressives to disown it. When al Qaida kills and maims, we are not shy about branding it Islamic terrorism and requiring moderate Muslims to disown it.

For some reason, though, we are reluctant to call right-wing terror by name. And you can forget requiring conservatives to distance themselves from it.

Demanding an honest accounting on homegrown terrorism – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com