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McVeigh, Timothy (1968–2001)

On April 19, 1995, the United States was shaken when the federal courthouse in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was destroyed by a truck bomb set by Timothy McVeigh. This tragic event has since become known as the Oklahoma City bombing. The resulting initial law enforcement activity and blame initially suggested by various media outlets and political authorities highlighted the continuing problems of race relations and assumptions about race and crime in America.

Background

Timothy McVeigh was a decorated U.S. Army veteran and a Caucasian male. McVeigh, after his discharge from the military, apparently became involved with various militia activities and came under the influence of right-wing authors and works, including the Turner Diaries, well known for their message of hate and revolution against the U.S. government. However, he had no criminal record. After engaging in extensive planning and preparation, McVeigh drove a Ryder rental truck filled with explosives to the federal courthouse in Oklahoma City and detonated it. Numerous innocent people were injured, and 169 people were killed in this act of domestic terrorism.

After leaving Oklahoma City, McVeigh was arrested by an Oklahoma state trooper on unrelated traffic and firearms charges and was brought to a local jail. At that time, law enforcement had no idea that McVeigh was one of the persons responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing.

Two days later a connection was made between McVeigh and the bombing. At that time, the federal authorities took custody of McVeigh to hold him on suspicion of the bombing. But what happened during the course of the investigation until McVeigh became the prime suspect raises serious questions about the perspective of American law enforcement concerning race.

The Investigation

Almost immediately after the bombing occurred, the media and the political authorities were rife with theories about the cause of the bombing. Numerous media outlets, including the respected United Press International (UPI), reported that people of Middle Eastern descent were possible perpetrators of this tragic occurrence of domestic terrorism. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported some of these occurrences. Cable News Network (CNN) reported that three Middle Eastern-type men had been seen in downtown Oklahoma City at the time of the bombing. The State Department and the Pentagon made public promises to send Arabic translators to Oklahoma City to help with the investigation. An Oklahoma state representative, Dave McCurdy, charged that there was clear evidence of Muslim fundamentalist involvement. All of these statements were untrue and were based on the incorrect assumption of race-connected criminal activity.

The furor resulted in the arrest of an Oklahoma City resident of Middle Eastern descent, Abraham Ahmad. The UPI provided a succinct summation of the facts. Ahmad had left Oklahoma City to travel to Jordan. He was detained in Chicago and questioned for 6 hours before he was allowed to continue on his flight. He was then detained in London, England, and sent back to the United States, where he was forced to undergo further questioning, even though he had had nothing to do with the bombing. Apparently, the only link Ahmad had to the bombing, which was shown to be illusory, was his race and national origin.

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