Militias

MILITIAS

The militia movement in the US consists mainly of white men in their late 20s and early 30s who have an inaccurate nostalgic reverence for what they imagine as an ideal earlier America. This vision of an earlier America only marginally includes Black people, immigrants (especially Latinos or those of color) or Native Americans. Militia members generally do not believe that non-whites are biologically inferior, but they do believe that they are culturally inferior.

Militias run the gamut from “grown-up Boy Scouts” to advocates of white supremacy and angry men plotting violence against government officials, from a Constitutionalist wing to a millenarian wing. The Constitutionalists advocate an interpretation of the Constitution emphasizing personal responsibility and opposing any government restrictions, for example in regard to Covid or firearms. The millenarians nurture conspiracy theories and fantasize about violent action and retribution. Sociologists see the millenarians gaining influence. Some militia groups of the millenarian wing stormed the US Capitol on 1/6/21.

Militias recruit heavily from military veterans whom they see as aligned with their way of thinking, besides being trained to use weapons.

We must be aware of militias and their potential for harm. The greatest danger of terrorism today in the US may be domestic terrorism.

(SOURCE: Scientific American, “Inside America’s Militias”, Jan.2022)