Lessons on Terrorism and 'Mistaken Identity' from Oak Creek, with a Coda on the Boston Marathon Bombings

Abstract

The tragic events in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, thrust upon an obscure religious community, and more broadly upon our laws and society, provide us with an opportunity to assess the efficacy of the law and conceptual explanations, not only as they apply to this incident, but also to those that may occur in the future. As discussed here, Oak Creek indicates why the definition of “terrorism” should be amended to not rely on the subjective motivation underlying the random killing of innocents, and how the disability-rights context may facilitate understanding and undermine criticisms of the media that are premised on notions of offensiveness or political value judgments. Oak Creek offers at least these lessons.

Keywords: Oak Creek, Sikhs, terrorism, hate crime, mistaken identity, regarded as, disability, mass violence, shootings