INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
THE ENEMY WITHINBy
Desiree Cooper "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."--Second Amendment to the United States Constitution
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On Oct. 12, 1994, the Metro Times published an investigative report on a burgeoning populist phenomenon--the Michigan Citizens Militia. Beth Hawkins' disturbing account detailed the activities and philosophies of a group of people who not only feel that the U.S. government is illegitimate, but who engage in military exercises weekly to prepare to defend themselves against its escalating tyranny. In that expose, Chip Berlet, a national expert on militia movements, offered the following warning: "I personally do not sleep well with groups of armed paranoids who believe the government is behind a totalitarian conspiracy. "Eventually, they will have a confrontation. It's inevitable...." Indeed, it appears that the inevitable has happened. And now, the bombing in Oklahoma City has been linked to extreme members of the militia movement in our own backyard. America now ponders aloud how we failed to see it coming, despite several warning shots from alternative publications such as the Metro Times and Traverse City's Northern Express. The activities of fringe political groups who call themselves American "patriots" do not seem to invoke the same kind of alarm as groups which call themselves "comrades" or "Hamas" or "civil rights activists." Is the news media only able to discern acts of sedition, and direct threats to domestic security when they come from abroad? Overnight, a group which has lived among us in virtual obscurity is now forcing the nation to rethink its politics, to address its phobias and to cope with a loss of innocence. Who is the Michigan Militia? What does it have to say about the Oklahoma City bombing? And, equally important, why have their activities escaped the critical eye of the mainstream media? Under the circumstances, for the first time in our 15-year history we are compelled to republish one of our original investigative reports: "Patriot Games." It is our hope that the story, together with this series of articles continuing our determined scrutiny of the Michigan militia movement, will take us further along the path of understanding what brought us to this singular American tragedy. Maybe this time, someone will be listening. |