Iowa Terrorist Drill With Violence Against Immigrants Cancelled

Treynor Community Schools in Iowa was set to engage in a terror drill exercise that features at the center of the terror anti-immigrant hatred. The exercise would have included about 300 people, 30 to 40 victims of a shooting rampage put on with federal funds to help locals prepare for disaster response. The Des Moines Register reported:

The exercise scenario describes shootings occurring after rising tensions in the community because of an influx of minorities, Reed said. The newcomers, some who are American citizens and some who are illegal immigrants, were to have moved into a rural area from urban areas in search of more-affordable living. The newcomers are not welcomed by racial extremists, and controversy sweeps the community, he said.

One of the fictional suspects involved in the shootings is described an 18-year-old white male with a quick-tempered father who is a firearms enthusiast with ties to an underground white supremacy group. A second fictional suspect is described as an isolated 17-year-old white male student who was befriended by the older student and who mimics his new friend.

Everyone seemed to be upset by this. The Governor’s Office said they weren’t involved. The Iowa Minutemen said the plan promoted the idea that they’re racists. School officials said they were just implementing a plan and it didn’t affect local sentiment. This, despite the fact that the school has less than 1% of a minority population.

Finally, the school cancelled the entire thing after they received threats against their employees.This was kind of an insensitive plan in the first place, but the fact that threats on top of the problems already associated with this quasi-racist plan were worsened by more violence, is just kind of sad. I think we can all think back to the nasty rhetoric that we all felt contributed to the shooting death of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, not to mention nine year-old Brisenia Flores. Words count, you can’t just say things like this and not expect a reaction.

But perhaps that’s the point — this is where we’ve arrived in our history in this country. Racial tensions have risen to the point where they cause terrorist actions, or at least police forces to prepare for such actions. The Melting Pot is no longer because the immigrants are no longer white, or what do you think?

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD