On April 6, 2010, FBI agents arrested and charged Charles A. Wilson with threatening to kill Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, because he was angry about her vote in favor of the Health Care Reform bill. Murray ranks Number 4 in the Senate majority leadership.

Wilson, 64, of Selah, Washington, about 110 miles from Seattle, had been making threatening calls to her office since March 22, the day after Congress approved the health care law. His recorded message on March 22 was “I hope you realize there’s a target on your back now. There are many people out there that want you dead.” Another was “Kill the bill. Kill the senator too.” Threatening a federal official is punishable by up to ten years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Special Agent Frederick Gutt, an FBI spokesman, said that Wilson appeared to be acting on his own. “By all accounts, this is an angry individual.”

Just ten days earlier on March 27, the FBI had arrested eight people belonging to a militia group in Michigan and charged them with plotting to kill law enforcement officers in hopes of starting an anti-government uprising. David B. Stone Sr., the leader, named the militia group Hutaree, a word he said meant Christian warriors. The Justice Department indictment against the militia detailed what Attorney General Eric Holder called “an insidious plan.” It described “military-style training” with “close quarter battle drills” and the use of “ambush kill zones.” The Hutaree had stockpiled guns, ammunition, medical supplies, uniforms, communications equipment and “explosives and other components for destructive devices.” The indictment said the Hutaree saw the federal government as the enemy working on behalf of the Antichrist. On their Web site is their motto: “Preparing for the end time battles to keep the testimony of Jesus Christ alive.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the leading organization that tracks hate groups and extremist groups in the country, said that they first noted the Hutaree last year. Mark Potok reported “We’re seeing all kinds of radical right-wing groups grow very rapidly in the militia world.” In their Spring 2010 “Intelligence Report: Rage on the Right: The Year in Hate and Extremism,” they give a comprehensive picture of the 2009-2010 year. It is sobering to read their summary of what happened last year: “The radical right caught fire last year, as broad-based populist anger at political, demographic and economic changes in America ignited an explosion of extremist groups and activism across the nation. The anger seething across the American political landscape – over racial changes in the population, soaring public debt and the terrible economy, the liberal Obama Administration that are seen as ‘socialist’ or even ‘fascist’ – goes beyond the radical right.” (For the entire report, see the website: www.intelligencereport.org.)

It’s worth noting that the SPLC describes the phenomenon of the Tea Parties separately. “The tea parties and similar groups that have sprung up in recent months cannot fairly be considered extremist groups, but they are shot through with rich veins of radical ideas, conspiracy theories and racism.” This was clear to any one who watched the Tea Party rallies on TV last August. We saw the posters with the President’s face distorted with white paint to become The Joker – and the labels of “Socialist,” “Nazi” and “Communist.” “Obamacare” was an epithet accompanied by signs that warned, “Keep your hands off my Medicare!” It was evident that Medicare was not recognized as a government run program – and a very successful one, at that. Birthers at the rallies questioned the legitimacy of the Obama presidency with their slogan, “The lyin Kenyan.”

The SPLC in its “Intelligence Report” maps the 932 active Hate Group Chapters in the nation, by states: Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazi, White Supremacist, Racist Skinhead, Christian Identity, Neo-Confederate, Black Separatist and General Hate. There is also a list of Web Sites for each group with 670 U.S.-based hate sites active on the World Wide Web in 2009. Information is gathered from the hate group publications, citizen reports, law enforcement agencies, field sources, web sites and news reports. Activities of the groups were: marches, rallies, speeches, meetings, leaflets, publishing literature and criminal acts. New Jersey with 44 chapters of hate groups – the most in the northeast – was below Florida with 51, California with 60 and Texas with 65, the highest states nationwide. The number of active Hate chapters rose only slightly in 2009 from 926 to 932.

The second category of groups that the SPLC tracks are the anti-government Patriot Groups. In the mid-1990’s, the paramilitary militias and the larger Patriot movement grew as an angry rejection during the Clinton years of initiatives on gun control, environmental regulation and growth of federal programs. The death of 76 Branch Davidians on April 19, l993 during a federal law enforcement siege in Waco Texas became a rallying cry for Patriot groups. The second signature event occurred on April 19, 1995 – the Oklahoma City bombing that left 168 people dead. Patriot groups did include people formerly associated with racially-based hate groups, but they were was essentially defined as seeing the federal government as the “enemy” and believing conspiracy theories.

During the 2009-2010 year, the number of Patriot groups soared from 149 to 512 – a sharp increase of 244 percent – of which 127

are paramilitary militias. There are 298 sites

on the World Wide Web that include pages linked to the Patriot Movement; 62 are listed under Militias. The SPLC in their report, saw the surge of Patriot groups as “cause for grave concern.” They cited the following evidence since the inauguration of President Obama: Right-wing extremists have murdered six law enforcement officers. Racist skinheads have been arrested in alleged plots to assassinate the nation’s first black president. Racist tirades against Obama and others have permeated the speeches and publications of the Patriot groups. Nativist activists have combined their anti-immigrant propaganda with anti-Black invective. Conspiracy theories have escalated that the federal government is planning detention camps under FEMA in the southwest desert.

The Second Amendment March in Washington was planned for April l9, 2010 – a chance for the Patriot Movement to trumpet their right to own and bear arms. A second purpose was to claim the date in remembrance of the siege at Waco and the Oklahoma City bombing as violent attacks against the authority of the federal government. Of course, the original importance of April l9 dates back to the year l775, the day when the Battles of Lexington and Concord were fought – the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. The Patriot groups’ attempt to “adopt” that singular date does not lend credence to their movement. Instead, it does just the opposite - emphasizing their twisted views of the history and values of The United States of America, the government

they are protesting against.

Joyce S. Anderson is the author of “Courage in High Heels,” “Flaw in the Tapestry,” “If Winter Comes” and “The Mermaids Singing.” She can be reached at JSAWrite@aol.com.