Von Brunn, an 88-year-old white supremacist, racist and anti-Semite, opens fire at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and kills a security guard.  88!  What has this world come to?  An elderly man, in his late 80’s, taking a gun, going to the museum and opening fire.  He has a lot of years of hatred built up in him, that’s for sure.

This man, this terrorist, set out to specifically hurt and kill people that were directly associated with anything “Jewish”.  Premeditated, planned, etc.  So, I ask, why then are we not referring to this filth as a domestic terrorist?

If he had been Iranian, Muslim or even a man of color, the media and especially the right wing ranters, would be screaming terrorism.  They’d be spreading fear and going on and on about how “unsafe” we all are.  Blah, blah, blah.

In the CNN article from this morning, it was reported:

Investigators found a notebook in the suspect’s car listing other locations in Washington that he might have considered as targets, a federal official told CNN.

Not only is this premeditated murder, it’s planned terrorism, people!  Call the kettle black, CNN.  I challenge you.  Why don’t you put it in BIG, BLACK letters on your home page “DOMESTIC TERRORIST, VON BRUNN PLANNED ADDITIONAL ATTACKS”.  It’s the truth.

And btw, I read The Diary of Anne Frank as a child and I will have my daughters read her book when they are old enough to understand the tragedy of the Holocaust and they will cry, as I did.  But they will also feel great pride and encouragement, because the human spirit lived on for all Holocaust survivors and for all of us.

We have been planning a complete “national” museum trip in a few years, to see the major museums in the US.  The Holocaust Memorial Museum was already on our list, but now it will have special meaning.

We will remember you, Officer Johns, as we will remember all survivors and victims of genocide, terrorism, hatred, bigotry and racism.

RIP Stephen Tyrone Johns.  You are a true hero.

[pictures from CNN and Talbot County Sheriff’s office]