As someone who studies the far right, people ask me if I am shocked that terrorists tried to kidnap the MI governor. No, I am sadly not shocked and these kinds of actions will continue until we get serious about race and justice in this country. 1/

White supremacist terrorism has been on the increase for YEARS (since at least 2015, tho many mark 2017) with experts estimating an increase from 55% to 200% in terrorist crimes 2/

To put that in context, HUNDREDS of people have been killed in the US based on such willful hatred and white supremacist violence and thousands have been brutalized. 3/

This is not shocking. This is an organized, coordinated campaign created by terrorists to make Americans fearful and to increase hate toward minority groups 4/

For our part, few people outside of those studying these movements take such threats seriously. Most citizens are unprepared to actually fight white terrorism with resources (don't get me started on Trump admin resources to this effort) 5/

Case in point: TX is a place where white terrorism has flourished with terror cells growing all over the state. These groups have targeted college campuses. Stickers and recruitment efforts have shown up at my own campus. 6/

But, instead of reporting that to the FBI or Homeland Sec. or undertaking massive efforts to protect students from these recruitment efforts, colleges largely just remove the stickers/flyers and assume that all is well 7/

All is not well. White supremacy and terrorism are growing--and not just on college campuses--and many folks are in danger. We cannot wish this away or hope that people "change their minds" about racism of this nature. 8/

We need policies and resources and actual efforts put into ending the structural and systemic SUPPORT to end these terror cells. It is beyond comprehension to me that the state, the nation, and individual institutions have done literally nothing to combat this wave of violence 9/

It is going to get worse before it gets better. Regardless of the outcomes of the election, we have years to go in combatting these terror cells. Its gonna take time and we all need to focus on structure. Education cannot fix this issue. 10/

This is terror. These individuals may be rescued from terror cells but that is not the focus at present. The focus should be preventing these groups from mobilizing recruits and committing terror. 11/

But EVERYONE needs to take this seriously. I do not care if you are a campus administrator or a grocery store clerk. Learn what you can about white terror, we have a lot to deal with. And that work must happen alongside focused discussions on race and justice.

One more for an added punch in the gut to make sure you understand: In the last 16 weeks, 50 drivers have tried to kill anti-racist protestors. 50 in just over 3 mo.