Some thoughts on the perennial debate we seem to have any time a white guy tries to blow shit up:

It is true that the term "terrorism" is racially discriminatory in quotidian usage, media discourses, and government policy. It targets Muslims disproportionately. (1/x)

Only Muslims are tagged with the label of terrorists, sometimes when they are far from committing any acts that fall under that category (e.g. FBI entrapment cases). White people are both humanized and individualized. (2/x)

Their violent acts are understood as a personal matter far removed from any influence of far-right ideology or the broader society they exist in. However, the term "terrorism" is not just discriminatory in obvious ways. (3/x)

It also cultivates a racializing discourse where the figure of the "terrorist" is perpetually connected to Muslims. This dehumanization of Muslims is a technology of control that seeks to integrate US Muslims into the broader American society on its terms. (4/x)

It's a method to depoliticize the radical edges of US Muslim politics, to ensure that any expression of political subjectivity outside the mainstream is rebuffed and redirected into our conventional, procedural democracy. (5/x)

It also is a way to secure legitimacy for our forever wars in Muslim-majority countries. It is far easier to justify bombing people when your populace sees them as terrorists. (6/x)

As such, a call to broaden the label of terrorism to include white violence seems to challenge the racist use of the term. BUT the term "terrorism" also performs other functions. It exists to empower, expand, and legitimize the carceral state. (7/x)

It contributes to bloated budgets for intelligence and law enforcement agencies which disproportionately target Muslims and other people of color. It constantly creates and justifies new methods of surveillance. The list goes on. (8/x)

In our eagerness to challenge the racist use of the label "terrorist," we constantly seem to fall into a trap where we reproduce the language and logic of the war on terror. This is not a battle we want to fight. Our focus must be on dismantling the national security state. (9/x)

This leaves us with several open questions: how do we fight against white supremacist and far-right groups without reliance on, or reproduction of, the carceral state? How do we organize our communities against them? There are no easy answers. (10/10)