Artists Commentary

Overview: What is my project?

My project is a piece of poetry, that can either be read or listened to, that reflects the confusion and terror, and even the disillusion, that surrounds the American definitions of Terrorism, Domestic Terrorism and Acts of Mass Violence and proposes that new definitions or categorizations be made.

Creative Commentary: Why A Poem?

When initially sitting down, having read and begun to synthesize all of the information I had gathered from my current events piece, secondary sources, and theoretical text, I realized there were a significant amount of unanswered questions I had. In an attempt to delve deeper into these questions, and hoping to find some answers or really any type of clarity, I was faced with more confusion. The more I thought about it, I couldn’t bring myself to write a paper on a topic that I couldn’t bring myself to clearly and concisely represent on paper – there are only so many questions you can ask of your reader in a paper. Soon, however, as a brainstorming tactic, I began writing out some of my questions in a notebook and half-answering and explaining them in relation to what I had learned. This was the moment I decided on a poem. The organizational structure I had jotted down onto the page – three columns of text bouncing back and forth between lines, showcased the chaos and confusion that I was experiencing, but also began to create a type of narrative. As for continuing with poetry specifically, I was inspired by the slam-poetry movement that is currently experiencing a resurgence. I found that the amount of emotion that one is able to put into it, combined with the typical usage of free-form to portray a very important, and often controversial, message was perfect for the topic at hand.

Research and Inspiration

• Theoretical Text: The theoretical text I chose for my project is “The New Jim Crow Laws: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander; this piece served as more of an inspiration than as a specific source to support my argument. In reading this piece I was mostly interested in the impact the label of “criminal” has on not only a specific person, but an entire group of people; more importantly the ways in which the people given such levels are portrayed in the media based on the varying crimes, race, and social groups they are from. From this point I delved into the perspectives on different crimes in American society; the impact of hearing about a theft in your own community versus the possibility of a terrorist attack or act of mass violence. 
• Secondary Source: The piece “Blurred Lines: The New ‘Domestic’ Terrorism” by Gregory Miller discusses the ways in which the line between domestic and international terrorism has become increasingly blurred in recent years, as well as the way in which the concept of the “Lone Wolf” has become a critical factor of this blurring. Miller states, “In particular, with the growth of social media and the internet, as well as what some refer to as lone wolf terrorism, the line between domestic and international terrorism is growing thinner. If the distinction is still relevant, and evidence it is, scholars need to rethink how they define a domestic attack, and develop other labels for attacks that are neither clearly domestic nor international” (63). In saying this, Miller is highlighting the main aspects that have come to blur these lines – many of the specific cases that I have covered within my poem have a tendency to ride this specific line: the perpetrator is American born, yet influenced by foreign ideologies, so classifying them as either an international or domestic terrorist becomes quite difficult as the court is forced to focus more heavily on one aspect than another. The article also offers the insight that part of the blurring of these lines, as well as the prevalence of these situations, can, and may very well be, due to due to the increase in technology and social media that was not previously available. In relation to the concept of the lone wolf, this plays an extremely important part, “…because of the nature of the internet and social media, many solo attackers are labeled as lone wolves. Many of them are linked to an organization or ideological movement; their connections are simply digital rather than physical. Even if they carry out a solo attack, they are not alone in their beliefs” (68). With this added perspective, it highlights the ways in which extremist beliefs (nationally or internationally) may not be acting out of a purely personal motive. Dylan Roof, of the Charleston Church Shooting, was a particularly difficult case as it seemed as though he was self-radicalized, but definitively credited the internet as aiding in his motivation and grounding him within his ideologies.
  Overall, this article offers an extremely wide range of perspectives on an array of subtopics related to defining and understanding terrorism in our current society.
• Secondary Source: The article “The Threat from Within: A Conjuctive Analysis of Domestic Terrorism Incindents in the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland” by DeLeeuw and Pridemore. This article aims to find commonalities between domestic terrorist attacks, and the ways in which they were carried out and/or motivated. “Right-wing, Left-wing, nationalist/seperatist, and single issue domestic terrorist groups have represented the primary forms of domestic terrorism in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland since the 1950’s” (27). While this specific article offers no insight into acts of international, transnational or lone-wolf attacks, it does help to set the specific boundaries of the groups from which domestic terrorists often arise and the motivations that have been seen repeatedly throughout documented accounts. Including, but not limited to the role of the perpetrator, the specific act, and the methods or types of weapons used; it also focuses in on the possibility of patterns such as a perpetrator from a specific group and the targeted victims. This piece was my primary source for gaining a deeper understanding of specific acts of domestic terrorism and why they were classified as such, in relation to the other possible categories and definitions. Additionally, it raises awareness for the Global Terrorism Database, and the importance of having such a system of data at our disposal.
• Current Events Article: The current events article that helped my inspiration for this project is “Terrorisms Double Standard” by Trevor Aaronson. This article discusses the events of the Charlottesville Car Attack (as it is known now) and discusses it on the basis of domestic terrorism in relation to the American definitions. “An Intercept analysis of federal prosecutions since 9/11 found that the Justice Department has routinely declined to bring terrorism charges against right-wing extremists even when their alleged crimes meet the legal definition of domestic terrorism: ideologically motivated acts that are harmful to human life and intended to intimidate civilians, influence policy, or change government conduct” (Aaronson).  This specific quote was the one that sent me spiraling down the rabbit-hole into the array of definitions and cases surrounging the concept of domestic terrorism in the United States. I, too, had been confused why some specific attacks had never specifically been labelled terrorism and felt the need to understand exactly what and wasn’t classified as such. In a way, this article helped to put some of the questions I was having into clear words and semi-clear explanations. Even though I found this article very interesting, I felt that it raised more questions than it answered.

How does this relate to the course topic?

I believe that this topic relates to “American Dreams and Nightmares” in the sense that American citizens are living in a state of fear and confusion surrounding the discussions of the all-too-frequent terrorist attacks (of any kind) that occur in our society. The American Dream alludes to not only success, but a feeling of safety and security. Living in post 9/11 America, we want to believe that we are now more vigilant and prepared than ever to protect ourselves from such a tragedy becoming possible again – but the statistics don’t necessarily agree. With the rapid progression of technology, the circumstances have become not only more dire, but unfortunately more prevalent. In an attempt to more effectively predict events, protect our country and ideally stop the possibility of these events in the future, we must be extremely aware of what exactly they are. It is difficult to implement changes when we, as a society, are unaware of what exactly it is that we are up against.