Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Bombing in Colorado Springs

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Yesterday's bomb blast in front of the NAACP headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is being investigated by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force as a possible act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime.  Authorities are looking for a person of interest in the case who is described as a white male in his forties, balding, and driving a dirty pick-up truck that may or may not have a tailgate.

Colorado Springs is known for mega churches, being the home of James Dobson's right-wing Focus on the Family ministry, and a big military presence including the United States Air Force Academy - an institution of higher learning which has been in the news multiple times regarding the Christian fundamentalist leanings of some of its staff and complaints about instructors proselytizing to students.  A recent  MIT / UCLA study of cities over 250,000 found Colorado Springs to be the fourth most conservative city in America (behind Mesa, AZ, Oklahoma City, OK, and Virginia Beach, VA).

In addition to the heavy presence of churches and the military, the city is also know for its seamier attractions including bars, liquor stores, and pawn and gun shops.

Fortunately, no one was injured in yesterday's bombing, but that fact does not lessen the significance of the act.  Apparently most of the major new sources did not even cover the crime, and those that did minimized their coverage.  The majority of the news came through Twitter where the topic stirred great interest.

The FBI will do its job and eventually the entire story of the Colorado Springs NAACP bombing will be told - if not in the mainstream media, at least in the social media.  How nice for us that we no longer have to rely on just a very few outlets to tell us what news we need to hear.  Now, through the Internet, the world truly is at our fingertips.

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