The progressive Pacifica radio station in Houston KPFT was hit by gunfire on Monday morning. Fortunately no one was hurt. And while it's not clear yet if this was a political attack or someone who just really doesn't like Zydeco music, it once again raises questions about right-wing extremists, and how we treat them when they commit acts of terrorism.
From today's Democracy Now:
A drive-by shooting targeted Pacifica Radio station KPFT in Houston early on Monday morning. A single bullet blasted through a Plexiglas window into the station's studio at 1:00 a.m. No one was injured in the shooting but the bullet came within 18 inches of Mary Thomas. She was a hosting a music program at the time.
Apparently someone really doesn't like Zydeco music. But it sounds like KPFT has had to deal with more than just trigger-happy music critics:
Station manager Duane Bradley said the shooting might have been political. If so, it would not be the first politically motivated attack on KPFT. More than 35 years ago, the Ku Klux Klan blew up the station's transmitters twice within the Houston station's first year on the air.
In October 1970, five months after the first bombing, KPFT's transmitter was bombed for a second time just as the station was broadcasting folk legend Arlo Guthrie's song "Alice's Restaurant."
While I did not find any other articles on this site about the KPFT shooting, there is a rather popular article right now about right-wing groups in Alabama, and the obvious question of why groups like the Klan and whomever Timother McVeigh was really working for aren't on the big list of terrorist groups? Yes, they vote Republican and all, but still...
We're curious to see who actually gets caught for this attack - I doubt shots fired at a progressive radio station in Texas (now there's a job I don't envy) will change our view on domestic right-wing terrorist groups. But maybe continued reporting will help.