© Liu Jie/Xinhua via Getty ImagesPhoto taken in Arlington, Virginia, the United States, on June 1, 2021 shows a screen displaying U.S. President Joe Biden delivering a speech commemorating the 100th anniversary of Tulsa massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Department of Homeland Security on Friday
issued a new warning bulletin, alerting Americans that domestic extremists may well use violence on the 100th Anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre. This was
at least the fourth such bulletin issued this year by Homeland Security (DHS) warning of the same danger and, thus far, none of the fears it is trying to instill into the American population has materialized.
The first was a January 14
warning, from numerous federal agencies including DHS, about violence in Washington, DC and all fifty state capitols that was likely to explode in protest of Inauguration Day (
a threat which did not materialize). Then came a
January 27 bulletin warning of "a heightened threat environment across the United States that is likely to persist over the coming weeks" from "ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority" (
that warning also was not realized). Then there was
a May 14 bulletin warning of right-wing violence "to attack higher-capacity targets,"
exacerbated by the lifting of COVID lockdowns (
which also never happened). And now we are treated to this new DHS warning about domestic extremists preparing violent attacks over Tulsa (it remains to be seen if a DHS fear is finally realized).
Just like the first War on Terror,
these threats are issued with virtually no specificity. They are just generalized warnings designed to put people in fear about their fellow citizens and to justify aggressive deployment of military and law enforcement officers in Washington, D.C. and throughout the country. A
CNN article which wildly hyped the latest danger bulletin about domestic extremists at Tulsa had to be edited with what the cable network, in an "update," called "the additional information from the Department of Homeland Security that there is
no specific or credible threats at this time." And the supposed dangers from domestic extremists on Inauguration Day was such a flop that even
The Washington Post — one of the outlets most vocal about lurking national security dangers in general and this one in particular — had to explicitly
acknowledge the failure:
Thousands [of National Guard troops] had been deployed to capitals across the country late last week, ahead of a weekend in which potentially violent demonstrations were predicted by the FBI — but never materialized.
Once again on Wednesday, security officials' worst fears weren't borne out: In some states, it was close to business as usual. In others, demonstrations were small and peaceful, with only occasional tense moments.
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