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Holocaust museum shooting and hate crimes


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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31208188//

 

 

 

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WASHINGTON - An 88-year-old gunman with a virulently anti-Semitic past fatally shot a security guard inside the crowded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday before being shot himself by other officers, authorities said.

 

 

 

The assailant was hospitalized in critical condition, leaving behind a sprawling investigation by federal and local law enforcement and expressions of shock from the Israeli government and a prominent Muslim organization.

 

 

 

Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the gunman was "engaged by security guards immediately after entering the door" with a rifle. "The second he stepped into the building he began firing."

 

 

 

Law enforcement officials said James W. von Brunn, a white supremacist, was under investigation in the shooting and that his car was found near the museum and tested for explosives. The weapon was a .22-caliber rifle, they added. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss the investigation just beginning.

 

 

 

Museum officials identified the dead guard as Stephen T. Johns, a six-year veteran of the facility. In an e-mail, director Sara Bloomfield said he "died heroically in the line of duty."

 

 

 

At the White House, just blocks away from the museum, President Barack Obama said, "This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms. No American institution is more important to this effort than the Holocaust Museum, and no act of violence will diminish our determination to honor those who were lost by building a more peaceful and tolerant world."

 

 

 

Von Brunn has a racist, anti-Semitic Web site and wrote a book titled "Kill the Best Gentiles," alleging a Jewish "conspiracy to destroy the white gene pool."

 

 

 

In 1983, he was convicted of attempting to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board. He was arrested two years earlier outside the room where the board was meeting, carrying a revolver, knife and sawed-off shotgun. At the time, police said Von Brunn wanted to take the members hostage because of high interest rates and the nation's economic difficulties.

 

 

 

Writings attributed to von Brunn on the Internet say the Holocaust was a hoax and decry a Jewish conspiracy to "destroy the white gene pool."

 

 

 

"At Auschwitz the 'Holocaust' myth became Reality, and Germany, cultural gem of the West, became a pariah among world nations," it says.

 

 

 

The museum, which opened in 1993 and has drawn nearly 30 million visitors, houses exhibits and records relating to the Holocaust of more than a half century ago in which more than six million Jews died at the hands of Nazis. Its Web site says the museum "teaches millions of people each year about the dangers of unchecked hatred and the need to prevent genocide."

 

 

 

The museum was crowded with school children and other tourists at the time of the attack, but they all escaped injury in the outburst of violence.

 

 

 

Ashley Camp, 14, of Forsyth, Ill., on a field trip with more than 40 other students, said she heard two or three gunshots. Soon after, she recalled, a security guard ordered the group to run to the exit.

 

 

 

"We had to sprint as fast as we could out the door," she said. "I thought it was the movie (part of a museum exhibit), but then everyone started screaming and running."

 

 

 

The attack was the third in a recent wave of unsettling shootings that appeared to have political underpinnings.

 

 

 

A 23-year-old Army private, William Andrew Long, was shot and killed outside a recruiting office this month in Arkansas and a fellow soldier was wounded. The suspect, a Muslim convert, has said he considers the killing justified because of the U.S. military presence in the Middle East.

 

 

 

Late last month, abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was shot to death in his church.

 

 

 

Johns, the security guard killed Wednesday, was black.

 

 

 

Only last week, Obama visited the site of a German concentration camp at Buchenwald in Germany where he noted, "There are those who insist the Holocaust never happened." He added, "This place is the ultimate rebuke to such thoughts, a reminder of our duty to confront those who would tell lies about our history."

 

 

 

The museum normally has a heavy security presence with guards positioned both inside and outside. All visitors are required to pass through metal detectors at the entrance, and bags are screened.

 

 

 

Linda Elston, who was visiting the museum from Nevada City, Calif., said she was on the lower level of the museum watching a film when she and others were told to evacuate.

 

 

 

"It was totally full of people," Elston said. "It took us a while to get out."

 

 

 

She said she didn't hear any shots and didn't immediately know why there was an evacuation. The experience left her feeling "a little anxious," she said.

 

 

 

In a statement from Israel's government, Information and Diaspora Minister Yuli Edelstein said the shooting was "further proof that anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial have not passed from the world."

 

 

 

And the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a prominent American Muslim organization, said in a statement, "We condemn this apparent bias-motivated attack and stand with the Jewish community and with Americans of all faiths in repudiating the kind of hatred and intolerance that can lead to such disturbing incidents."

 

 

 

Within minutes after the attack, federal agents were dispatched to von Brunn's home in Annapolis, Md., to check his computer. Joseph Persichini, assistant director in charge of the Washington FBI field office, said the shootings were being investigated as a possible hate crime or a case of domestic terrorism.

 

 

 

According to a relative, von Brunn attended Washington University in St. Louis and is an artist.

 

 

 

He was commissioned as a naval officer decades ago, and discharged from the Navy in 1956. A cousin, Virginia Gerker of St. Louis, said in an interview she hadn't seen him in 50 years. She said her family had "disowned" him believed him to be mentally ill.

 

 

 

About a dozen years ago, he applied to have his art shown at a gallery in Easton, Md., according to two of the owners. Laura Era and Jennifer Wharton said they rejected his work and he stomped out.

 

 

 

Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center said von Brunn's Web site has long been listed as a hate site.

 

 

 

The Rev. David Ostendorf, executive director of Center for a New Community in Chicago, a national civil rights group, said von Brunn has described in his own writings a long relationship with Willis Carto, founder of the Liberty Lobby, the Spotlight Newspaper and a well-known white supremacist and anti-Semite.

 

 

 

Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center said von Brunn's Web site has long been listed as a hate site.

 

 

 

"We've been tracking this guy for decades," said Heidi Beirich, director of research for the law center's Intelligence Project, which tracks hate crimes. "He thinks the Jews control the Federal Reserve, the banking system, that basically all Jews are evil."

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To sum it all up, an anti-Semitic man walked into a Holocaust museum and killed a guard. What is your opinion about hate crimes? Do you believe that they are growing world-wide? Discuss.

SWAG

 

Mayn U wanna be like me but U can't be me cuz U ain't got ma swagga on.

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I'm not really 'shocked'. It's just a person expressing their belief to a extreme lenght that got themself killed.

 

 

 

Happens all the time. I feel sorry for the guard though, :cry:

Don't you know the first rule of MMO's? Anyone higher level than you has no life, and anyone lower than you is a noob.

People in OT eat glass when they are bored.

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Do you believe that they are growing world-wide?

 

They HAVE been growing world wide. Since the dawn of history. It's funny how we label racism as "hate-crimes" as if it's a recently provoked violence.

 

 

 

Only person I feel sorry for is the guard. I mean, guarding a Jew museum as a non-Jew getting shot at by an anti-Jew. Damn.

"The cry of the poor is not always just, but if you never hear it you'll never know what justice is."

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I'm not sure about hate crimes growing, but racism in Western Europe is certainly growing. Here in Ireland there is an incredible amount of racism among the working class towards any immigrant pretty much, Polish, Arabs, Africans, Asians etc. The worse part is there passing this attitude onto their children so it's only going to get worse.

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Do you believe that they are growing world-wide?

 

They HAVE been growing world wide. Since the dawn of history. It's funny how we label racism as "hate-crimes" as if it's a recently provoked violence.

 

 

 

How can you be so sure?

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"further proof that anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial have not passed from the world."

 

 

 

That is just a stupid comment to make, as long as humans are not all the same, there will always be hatred towards those who are different.

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Wow, I was there just over a month ago.

 

 

 

Surprising really, anti-semitism still exists. I don't know why everyone hates Jews. Ever since Judaism was created there have always been fundamentalists.

 

 

 

The worse part is there passing this attitude onto their children so it's only going to get worse.

 

 

 

That's what I hate. Absolutley despicable.

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Wow, I was there just over a month ago.

 

 

 

Surprising really, anti-semitism still exists. I don't know why everyone hates Jews. Ever since Judaism was created there have always been fundamentalists.

 

 

 

The worse part is there passing this attitude onto their children so it's only going to get worse.

 

 

 

That's what I hate. Absolutley despicable.

 

I completely agree with you.

 

Wow, that was weird... :P

 

But seriously, Judaism is an extremely old religion. And yes, pretty much right from the beginning we have been oppressed. It's a pity to see it continue every day. As a kid, people would call me "kike" almost everyday at school. It'd be nice to see it end.

[English translation needed]

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"further proof that anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial have not passed from the world."

 

 

 

That is just a stupid comment to make, as long as humans are not all the same, there will always be hatred towards those who are different.

 

Yes, that's true. Although there are things we can do to prevent that hate.

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"It's not a rest for me, it's a rest for the weights." - Dom Mazzetti

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I don't feel like "hate-crimes" are growing I feel like this is just one extreme situation where it brings "hate-crimes" into the spotlight for the time being. I was in Amsterdam about two weeks ago and I meet a group of british people at pub and on our way to another pub one of the guys was drunkenly telling me how there down with America and stuff and how he agreed with our war because of how much he disliked people from the middle-east and stuff because of how different they are. It was interesting to listen to but I definitely don't agree with his views about people from the middle-east. My brother actually went to England and he told me how the English really do dislike people of that region who have migrated to the UK. He told me a situation that he experience but I don't want to drag on.

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There will always be crazy people; and there will always be freak acts of violence. Our main goal must be to spread information to prevent hate and minimize such crimes to just the genuine sociopaths.

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Orthodoxy is unconciousness

the only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed.

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I find it most ironic that they can disbelieve in the holocaust, and to kill the original target of it is justification for the "lie". Damn, that's probably very hard to understand, should have written it better...

 

 

 

Though the guy probably intended to kill more than just a guard.

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My question is why didn't he kill a jew at the museum? I mean, I know he was against blacks as well as jews, but still...it's the holocaust museum, why the hell wouldn't you?

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To be fair, holocaust non believers don't believe that it didn't happen but believe it was exagerated.

 

 

 

I just wanna make sure people understand that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My question is why didn't he kill a jew at the museum? I mean, I know he was against blacks as well as jews, but still...it's the holocaust museum, why the hell wouldn't you?

 

 

 

50/50 hate?

Don't you know the first rule of MMO's? Anyone higher level than you has no life, and anyone lower than you is a noob.

People in OT eat glass when they are bored.

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Why does everyone keep asking why he killed a non-jew or didn't kill a jew instead of the guard? You can't always tell someone's religion by how they look and act. My best answer to that question would be that he was a security guard someone who could threaten the shooters plan by either shooting him (if he carried a gun) or contact the DC police. Also from the article it says he started shooting as soon as he walked in the door. Someone in a uniform stands out and I'm sure he automatically stereotyped him as a threat because of that.

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What enrages me most is the part where the family member says they disowned him because they thought he was mentally ill.

 

If we would just euthanize the mentally ill like I suggest, we wouldn't have these kinds of problems. I don't mean offense towards disabled people, I really don't. I just feel that it's the right thing to do.

[English translation needed]

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What enrages me most is the part where the family member says they disowned him because they thought he was mentally ill.

 

If we would just euthanize the mentally ill like I suggest, we wouldn't have these kinds of problems. I don't mean offense towards disabled people, I really don't. I just feel that it's the right thing to do.

 

I highly disagree. Just because someone can't think to our standards doesn't mean we need to put them down like an animal.

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"It's not a rest for me, it's a rest for the weights." - Dom Mazzetti

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Wow, I was there just over a month ago.

 

 

 

Surprising really, anti-semitism still exists. I don't know why everyone hates Jews. Ever since Judaism was created there have always been fundamentalists.

 

 

 

The worse part is there passing this attitude onto their children so it's only going to get worse.

 

 

 

That's what I hate. Absolutley despicable.

 

I completely agree with you.

 

Wow, that was weird... :P

 

But seriously, Judaism is an extremely old religion. And yes, pretty much right from the beginning we have been oppressed. It's a pity to see it continue every day. As a kid, people would call me "kike" almost everyday at school. It'd be nice to see it end.

 

 

 

I know, I never said it was young. All religions have to be created. It's history is on par with Hinduism, which is also very old and "created". Perhaps I should have used a less "mechanical" word. Maybe - conceptualized ?

 

 

 

What enrages me most is the part where the family member says they disowned him because they thought he was mentally ill.

 

If we would just euthanize the mentally ill like I suggest, we wouldn't have these kinds of problems. I don't mean offense towards disabled people, I really don't. I just feel that it's the right thing to do.

 

 

 

I think I see where you're coming from. Are you saying that it's a pain to themselves and a cost to society ? That makes sense in a very methodical way. At least you say that they should die peacefully.

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What enrages me most is the part where the family member says they disowned him because they thought he was mentally ill.

 

If we would just euthanize the mentally ill like I suggest, we wouldn't have these kinds of problems. I don't mean offense towards disabled people, I really don't. I just feel that it's the right thing to do.

 

 

 

I know you're serious, but if anyone else said this we would hear cries of people either trolling or being sarcastic. Your views sure are different from the majority of people, and I respect that, but killing people because they are different? Err... Holocaust II?

I shall take my flock underneath my own wing, and kick them right the [bleep] out of the tree. If they were meant to fly, they won't break their necks on the concrete.
So, what is 1.111... equal to?

10/9.

 

Please don't continue.

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What enrages me most is the part where the family member says they disowned him because they thought he was mentally ill.

 

If we would just euthanize the mentally ill like I suggest, we wouldn't have these kinds of problems. I don't mean offense towards disabled people, I really don't. I just feel that it's the right thing to do.

 

 

 

Sometimes, with the proper treatment, the mentally ill can function as "normal" people in society.

 

 

 

You also have to think, there are many... varieties... of mental illness, some more severe than others. You can't lump them all together in one group.

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What enrages me most is the part where the family member says they disowned him because they thought he was mentally ill.

 

If we would just euthanize the mentally ill like I suggest, we wouldn't have these kinds of problems. I don't mean offense towards disabled people, I really don't. I just feel that it's the right thing to do.

 

 

 

Sometimes, with the proper treatment, the mentally ill can function as "normal" people in society.

 

 

 

You also have to think, there are many... varieties... of mental illness, some more severe than others. You can't lump them all together in one group.

 

 

 

To add, if we euthanized every mentally ill person we would be killing more people then we would be saving from crimes.

awteno.jpg

Orthodoxy is unconciousness

the only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed.

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