Post by ck4829 on Nov 29, 2021 14:36:15 GMT
'White Hot Hate' details foiled terrorist attack by white supremacists on immigrants in Kansas
From Charlottesville to the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, the public has come to realize that white supremacists pose as much, if not more, of a threat as Islamic extremists. Now comes a book that takes a deep dive into one of those cases, a plot to attack a community of Somali Muslim immigrants in the small town of Garden City, Kan. In his new book, "White Hot Hate," investigative journalist Dick Lehr unspools a gripping account of the small group of men driven by hate behind that plot but were foiled by an FBI informant.
Dan went. He brought his son along, and it turned out to be a recruiting barbecue for the Three Percenter militia. And in the aftermath of that, some of the members kind of went viral with certain Islamophobic messaging and whatnot. And it caught the attention of a couple of the local FBI agents whose jurisdiction is that part of Kansas. Long story short, they reached out to Dan. They had a meeting, and they made a request. They asked Dan to join the Three Percenters and asked him if he would be their eyes and ears. And Dan thought about it, and he said, why not?
SNELL: I was struck by how much of a role that Facebook plays in this story. You know, the main militia, the KSF, Kansas Security Force - they organized a private Facebook group with the name Art of Changing Diapers, and that was meant to avoid red flags while they planned their activities. Can you talk about the role of, you know, social media here?
LEHR: Oh, absolutely. That becomes one of the themes of the book - is the role that Facebook and social media played in this. The three main conspirators - Patrick Stein, Curtis Allen and Gavin Wright - they would not have found each other without Facebook, OK? They live 60 miles apart or so. It was on Facebook and in certain groups and chats regarding, you know, white nationalism and Islamophobia that they were able to connect up and become part of the same militia and then realize they shared what I'm calling this white hot hate where they wanted to exterminate the Somali refugees in Garden City.
www.npr.org/2021/11/28/1059600376/white-hot-hate-details-foiled-attack-by-white-supremacists-on-immigrants-in-kans
From Charlottesville to the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, the public has come to realize that white supremacists pose as much, if not more, of a threat as Islamic extremists. Now comes a book that takes a deep dive into one of those cases, a plot to attack a community of Somali Muslim immigrants in the small town of Garden City, Kan. In his new book, "White Hot Hate," investigative journalist Dick Lehr unspools a gripping account of the small group of men driven by hate behind that plot but were foiled by an FBI informant.
Dan went. He brought his son along, and it turned out to be a recruiting barbecue for the Three Percenter militia. And in the aftermath of that, some of the members kind of went viral with certain Islamophobic messaging and whatnot. And it caught the attention of a couple of the local FBI agents whose jurisdiction is that part of Kansas. Long story short, they reached out to Dan. They had a meeting, and they made a request. They asked Dan to join the Three Percenters and asked him if he would be their eyes and ears. And Dan thought about it, and he said, why not?
SNELL: I was struck by how much of a role that Facebook plays in this story. You know, the main militia, the KSF, Kansas Security Force - they organized a private Facebook group with the name Art of Changing Diapers, and that was meant to avoid red flags while they planned their activities. Can you talk about the role of, you know, social media here?
LEHR: Oh, absolutely. That becomes one of the themes of the book - is the role that Facebook and social media played in this. The three main conspirators - Patrick Stein, Curtis Allen and Gavin Wright - they would not have found each other without Facebook, OK? They live 60 miles apart or so. It was on Facebook and in certain groups and chats regarding, you know, white nationalism and Islamophobia that they were able to connect up and become part of the same militia and then realize they shared what I'm calling this white hot hate where they wanted to exterminate the Somali refugees in Garden City.
www.npr.org/2021/11/28/1059600376/white-hot-hate-details-foiled-attack-by-white-supremacists-on-immigrants-in-kans