Last Friday marked the 29th anniversary of a somber chapter in our state’s history. On the morning of April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a Ryder truck laden with bombs in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City.

At 9:02 a.m., the explosion killed 168 people, including 19 children, injured several others, and changed countless lives forever. The image of firefighter Chris Fields carrying the body of Baylee Almon, who had just turned one the previous day, became a national symbol of the tragedy.

In a letter marking this year’s anniversary, Attorney General Merrick Garland reflected on the need for preventive remembrance. Garland, who was the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice during the bombing, emphasized, “As we mark 29 years since April 19, 1995, we renew our commitment to remembering what happened, to honoring those we lost, and to doing everything in our power to prevent future tragedies.”

However, it seems a common misconception that such events occur in isolation, detached from broader historical contexts. This perspective risks repeating the past, hence the necessity of a closer, more uncomfortable examination. Jeff Toobin’s book “Homegrown” delves into the radicalization of Timothy McVeigh, highlighting how his socioeconomic background, military experiences, and employment struggles contributed to his extremist views.

Today, rampant conspiracy theories, similar to those that influenced McVeigh by pairing with his genuine discontents, have entered mainstream discourse. Naomi Klein describes this phenomenon in her book “Doppelganger,” noting, “Conspiracy theorists get the facts wrong but often get the feelings right-the feeling of living in a world with Shadow Lands, the feeling that every human misery is someone else’s profit, the feeing of being exhausted by predation and extraction, the feeling that important truths are being hidden. The word for the system driving those feelings starts with c, but if no one ever taught you how capitalism works and instead told you it was all about freedom and sunshine and Big Macs and playing by the rules to get the life you deserve, then it’s easy to see how you might confuse it with another c-word: conspiracy”

So let’s honor the lives of the fallen by acknowledging reality, and pushing back against the real dangers that these conspiracy theories present.”

Toobin’s epilogue reveals that McVeigh hoped the bombing would incite a broad rebellion against the federal government. This event was followed by more extremist violence, underscoring that such acts do not happen in a vacuum. Subsequent attackers, driven by similar motives.

A man named Michael Gray was arrested three months after the attack for plotting to bomb a courthouse in Spokane. In April 1996, Larry Shoemake shot eleven Black People and killed one in Jackson, MS. James Byrd Jr. was murdered after three men who dragged him from the back of a pickup truck in Jasper, Texas in June of 1998.

Other domestic terrorists include:

• Ted Kaczynski (The Unabomber) – conducted a nationwide bombing campaign against people involved with modern technology. His manifesto, published in major newspapers under his threat of further violence, argued against the effects of modern society and technology and hinted at the need for revolution against its structures.

• Dylann Roof (2015 Charleston Church Shooting) – did not write explicitly about overthrowing the government, however Roof’s manifesto contained extremist views on race and reflecting a radical desire to overturn the existing societal order.
• Patrick Crusius (2019 El Paso Shooting): – published a manifesto online just before the shooting that mirrored some language about an “invasion” of Texas by Hispanics and discussed political and economic reasons for his attack. (The term invasion is still being used by people across the political spectrum to describe human beings seeking better living conditions.)
• Robert Bowers (2018 Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting) –  made numerous online posts, prior to his attack, that were highly critical of the government’s role in facilitating immigration, reflecting extremist views that sometimes align with anti-government sentiments.

This pattern shows the importance of challenging the “lone wolf” narrative, which often isolates these acts from their broader ideological backgrounds. Instead, it is vital to recognize these as part of a larger context of extremism that includes misconceptions about government actions, such as the story pushed by some extremist groups that McVeigh was framed to implement gun control – a familiar talking point.

Moreover, by citing the Oklahoma City bombing as the biggest act of domestic terrorism in the state without acknowledging the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, we risk erasing significant historical events in our state, setting a precedent that could potentially lead to repeated tragedies.

As we approach the 30th anniversary, our remembrance should not only honor those lost but also understand why these tragedies occurred. Only then can we truly commit to “Never Again.”