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Alexus Poston
Mrs. DeBock
English 4
17 March 2016

Essential Question: How has gun violence targeted and impacted racial, religious, gender, and
other specified groups in the United States?
Working Thesis: A large portion of the gun violence committed in the United States is aimed at
specific racial, religious, gender, and other specified groups of people such as African
Americans, Muslims, women, and homosexuals.
Refined Thesis: Acts of targeted, group specific gun violence and hate crimes are committed
frequently and unfairly nearly everyday and yet they go almost unchecked, without as much
attention as they deserve because the U.S. government is over focused on Jihadist terrorism and
not domestic terrorism committed by home-grown extremists.
Annotated Bibliography
Bergen, Peter, and Jennifer Rowland. "Growing Threat of Extreme Right-Wing Violence."
CNN.com. 2013. Rpt. in Domestic Terrorism. Ed. Margaret Haerens. Farmington
Hills,

MI: Greenhaven Press, 2015. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in

Context.

Web. 10 Mar. 2016.

The article Growing Threat of Extreme Right-Wing Violence discusses the growing
threat that violent right-wing extremists pose to public safety in America. Alongside several
statistics that further prove the growing threat, this article also compares the declining number in
jihadist motivated terrorist attacks and the increasing number in non-jihadist motivated terrorist
attacks of which the majority come from the right-wing. This article points out how while the

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majority of terrorist attacks on/in the United States since September 11, 2001 have been
committed by right-wing extremists, the U.S. government continues to focus almost all of their
efforts on jihadist terrorism. This article helps to prove my thesis by providing statistics and
examinations of right-wing extremism in the United States.

Johnson, Daryl. "The Threat of Domestic Terrorism Is Often Overlooked." Domestic Terrorism.
Ed. Margaret Haerens. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2015. Opposing
Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Hate Crimes & the Threat of Domestic Extremism." United
States Department of Justice (19 Sept. 2012). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 8
Mar. 2016.
The article The Threat of Domestic Terrorism Is Often Overlooked discusses the
subpar methods that the United States government has when dealing with domestic terrorism.
The article provides statistics and examples of domestic terrorist attacks that have been
committed since September 11, 2001 by non-islamic extremists and shows how overwhelming
those statistics are whenever they are compared to the number of islamic extremist terrorism
attacks since 9/11/01. It also delves into the variety of extremists that America breeds and the
different types of groups commonly targeted by those who uphold extremist beliefs. This article
helps to prove my thesis by reviewing non-islamic domestic terrorist attacks and the United
States methods of dealing with them.
Jonsson, Patrik. "Oregon Standoff Ends, But Its New Kind of 'Protest' Is Just Beginning."
Christian Science Monitor 11 Feb. 2016. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web.
14 Mar.

2016.

The article Oregon standoff ends, but its new kind of protest is just beginning
examines the growing threat of the militia movement that is occurring in the U.S. It discusses the

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recent ending of the Oregon standoff between federal authorities and armed militiamen led by
rancher Cliven Bundy and the increasingly controversial debate concerning the intersection of
gun rights and free speech rights. The article deliberates on the thin line between what qualifies
as the use of a gun as free expression and the use of a gun as a way to oppress others opinions.
This article helps to support my thesis by providing information focusing specifically on modern
types of anti-government groups that can occasionally cross the line into domestic terrorism.

Robinson, Kenneth. "Confronting Prejudice and Hate Speech Is Key to Addressing the Domestic
Terrorism Threat." Domestic Terrorism. Ed. Margaret Haerens. Farmington Hills,
MI:

Greenhaven Press, 2015. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Hate: The Elephant in

the

Room." Huffington Post. 2013. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 16 Mar.

2016.
The article Confronting Prejudice and Hate Speech Is Key to Addressing the Domestic
Terrorism Threat addresses terrorism, not as a race or ethnic group, but as a terror tactic to
instill fear into the hearts of free people everywhere. The article discusses how and why domestic
terrorism continues to thrive, especially in the United States. It describes the process through
which domestic terrorists receive their power and how we as a people can work to stop it in its
tracks, largely through working towards making prejudice and hate speech socially unacceptable
anywhere one sees it. This article helps to support my thesis by directly acknowledging that
prejudice and hate speech have direct ties and relations to domestic terrorism and listing ways to
take the power away from the domestic terrorist motivated by their slander being socially
unopposed.

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Salhani, Justin. "Right-Wing Terrorists Are Killing More Americans Than Jihadists Are,
And Now The DOJ Will Act." ThinkProgress RSS. 16 Oct. 2015. Web. 09 Mar.
2016.
The article Right-Wing Terrorists Are Killing More Americans Than Jihadists Are. And
Now The DOJ Will Act.calls to attention the U.S. governments counterterrorism policies in
recent years and the lack of focus on domestic, extremist terrorism. It also provides statistics
comparing jihadist terrorists and right-wing terrorists and their number of deaths and level of
violence in the United States since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. The article also tells of a new post
being created within the Department of Justice that will focus more on fighting domestic
terrorism. This article helps to prove my thesis by providing statistics analyzing right-wing
versus jihadist terrorism.

Stewart, Scott. "Domestic Terrorism Is a Persistent Threat in the United States." Domestic
Terrorism. Ed. Margaret Haerens. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press,
2015.

Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Domestic Terrorism: A Persistent Threat in the

United

States." Stratfor Global Intelligence (23 Aug. 2012). Opposing Viewpoints in

Context.

Web. 10 Mar. 2016.

The article Domestic Terrorism Is a Persistent Threat in the United States analyzes
different home-grown extremist domestic terrorists attacks that have taken place in America,
both left-wing and right-wing and both pre and post 9/11. This article describes how much of a
persistent threat domestic terrorism is in the United States and reminds that terrorism does not
equal jihadism even though that is what the government and people of America seem to focus on
the most. It analyzes the cycle that domestic terrorism seems to move in in the U.S. and
highlights how, currently, America is in the peak of that cycle. This article helps to prove my

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thesis by providing many insights on and examples of domestic terrorist attacks in the United
States.