Course Project Part 4

Dr. Thomas Rzemyk/202105E OL CJ416 AO Domestic Terrorism

ECPI University

Dajreon Roye

June 05, 2021

 Course Project Part 4

Historical Outline of Events

Bombing of the Boston Marathon

a. On April 15, 2013, the incident occurred (History.com Editors, 2019).

b. Two bombs exploded near the Boston Marathon finish line (History.com Editors, 2019).

c. At approximately 2:49 in the afternoon, two pressure-cooker bombs detonated seconds

apart along Boylston Street near the finish line, with more than 5,600 runners still racing. The

devices were concealed in backpacks laden with shrapnel and other explosives and thrown on

the ground amid crowds of marathon spectators.The explosions turned the sunny afternoon

into a horrible spectacle of destruction and pandemonium in an instant (History.com Editors,

2019).

d. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, aged 19, and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, an age 26, were suspected

(History.com Editors, 2019).

The Birmingham Church Bombing (1963)

1) White supremacists with the KKK "Ku Klux Klan" bombed a church composed mainly of

blacks in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama and killed four young black girls. The explosion

wounded over 20 individuals(History.com Editors, 2010).

a. At the time of the explosion, the Mayor was pushing for desegregation across the state,

which many people opposed (History.com Editors, 2010).

b. As desegregation progressed, there were more bombings of African Americans, mostly at

their homes (History.com Editors, 2010).

Terrorism Defined

The FBI's Definition of Domestic Terrorism: "Domestic terrorism" refers to activities that

meet three criteria:

a.i. Involve activities that are threatening to human life and are illegal under federal or state

law; a.ii. Appear to be constructed to (i) intimidate or compel a civilian population; (ii) sway

a government's decision-making policy via intimidation or coercion; or (iii) alter a

government's

conduct by mass devastation, assassination, or kidnapping; and occur principally within

theterritorial authority of the United States (Check, 2016).

b. Because it involved harmful activities against human life that violated federal or state law,

The FBI's definition applies to this incident. Bombing a town is illegal, and there were people

engaged. Appear to be aimed to frighten or coerce civilians. The bombing was targeted

against the civilian population known as "Americans." Occur mostly inside the United States'

territorial jurisdiction. Because Boston, Massachusetts and the 16th Street Baptist Church in

Birmingham, Alabama is located in the United States, the definition applies to domestic

terrorism (Check, 2016).

Law Enforcement Response

Boston Marathon

a. To launch an investigation, some 1,000 federal, state, and local law enforcement personnel

were quickly dispatched. After reviewing thousands of videos and photographs gathered from

security cameras in the area where the event occurred, FBI investigators identified two male

suspects less than two days later. The FBI released surveillance-camera photos of the

suspects, whose names were unknown at the time (History.com Editors, 2019).
c. Later that evening, when law enforcers had finished searching the area, a man from

Watertown went out into his backyard to view his dry-docked boat. He was surprised by the

blood he saw and a hidden person inside the 24-foot vessel who was later recognized as

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The local citizen from Watertown quickly contacted 911, and the police

arrived and surrounded the boat where he was found wounded from an earlier gunfight with

the police where he ran over his brother who was filled with gunshot wounds with a stolen

SVU (History.com Editors, 2019).

d. Prior to his arrest, Tsarnaev reportedly left a message on the boat declaring that the

counteract for U.S. violence in Muslim nations was the Boston bombing (History.com

Editors, 2019).

The Birmingham Church Bombing (1963)

Law enforcement retaliated with violence. Two more African-American youths died, one

of whom was killed by police (O’Rourke, 2016).

a. Riots broke out in response to the bombing's indignation. When law enforcement failed to

quell the rioting and protests, the National Guard was called in to take control of the city

(O’Rourke, 2016).

b. Many citizens attempted to bring the culprits of the church bombing to justice by naming

them. Robert E. Chambliss, Thomas Blanton, and Bobby Frank Cherry were all apprehended

and prosecuted (O’Rourke, 2016).

Impact on Society

Boston Marathon Bombing

The Boston Marathon Bombing attack was intensively reported on worldwide and

national media and for 11 straight days it was on the front page of the New York Times.
Research revealed that recurrent media exposure to bombing has been linked to greater stress

throughout the U.S. States through a representative US population survey administered 2-4

weeks following the bombing. A further study utilizing a lexicon of the Twitter word emotion

Association in the April 2013 feeds showed that the use of the word 'fear' was significantly

increased on the last day of the search, April 19th, hence a greater feeling of fear.

In short, the bombing had a dramatic adverse effect on well-being. In the days after

the event, the net impact, meaning the difference between the average of good and negative

emotions, decreased. Women were most affected by the occurrence after both a decrease in

good emotions and an increase in negative feelings. This also goes together with research

which reveals that, because of biological and psychological differences, men and women

react to stress differently (Clark et al., 2020). Outdoor activities like active recreation (for

example, sports) dropped following the bomb, as anticipated, although working hours (and

consequently business activity) were not affected (Clarke & Stancanelli, 2016).

Birmingham Church Bombing

The FBI had four KKK members suspected of the bombing two years after the blast,

but witnesses refused to talk and investigators lacked physical evidence. In the 1960s, no

federal charges were eventually filed. This was because people were afraid that their homes

might be bombed. In the aftermath of the bombing, tens of thousands of angry black

protestors congregated at the bombing site. When Governor Wallace ordered police and state

troopers to stop the protests, violence erupted across the city; a number of protestors were

arrested, and two young black men were slain (one by a police officer) right before the

National Guard was called in to keep the peace (Zhang, 2020).

Later, during the funeral for three of the girls, Martin Luthor King addressed an

audience of 8,000 people, adding to the growing public fury across the country. Despite the
fact that the legal system took its time to deliver justice, the 16th Street Baptist Church

bombing had a swift and effective impact. Outrage over the killings of the four young black

girls helped organize support for the ongoing campaign to end segregation, resulting in the

1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. In that key sense, the bombing's

outcome was the absolute opposite of what its culprits aimed for (Zhang, 2020).
 References

Check, N. A. (2016). Addressing Terrorism Threats around the Globe. L.

https://media.africaportal.org/documents/Addressing-Terrorism-Threats-around-the-G

lobe.pdf

Clark, A. E., Doyle, O., & Stancanelli, E. (2020). The Impact of Terrorism on Individual

Well-Being: Evidence from the Boston Marathon Bombing. The Economic Journal,

130(631), 2065–2104. https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueaa053

Clarke, A., & Stancanelli, E. (2016, April 26). Well-being and economic activity after the

Boston Marathon bombing. https://voxeu.org/article/well-being-and-economic-

activity-after-boston-marathon-bombing

CNN. (2019, October 08). 1963 Birmingham Church Bombing Fast Facts.

https://www.cnn.com/2013/06/13/us/1963-birmingham-church-bombing-fastfacts/ind

ex.html

History.com Editors. (2010, January 27). Birmingham Church Bombing.

https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/birmingham-church-bombing

O’Rourke, T. (2016, September 16). Chronicle Covers: The sickening Birmingham church

bombing. https://www.sfchronicle.com/chronicle_vault/article/Chronicle-Covers

The-sickeningBirmingham-church-9213737.ph

Zhang, A. (2020, November 9). The Birmingham Church Bombings and How It Affected the

Civil Rights Movement. Medium. https://aestheticskies16.medium.com/america-

a-history-of-injustice-c6c859e00ef7