At 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, a truck bomb containing approximately 5,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring more than 800. It was the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil until the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attack.
“We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity.”
— Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum
At the time of his arrest shortly after the bombing on charges of driving without license plates and illegal firearm possession, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was wearing a T-shirt with a picture of Abraham Lincoln and the motto Sic Semper Tyrannis [Thus, always, to tyrants] — the state motto of Virginia and the words shouted by John Wilkes Booth after he shot President Lincoln. On its back, McVeigh’s shirt depicted a tree with an image of three blood droplets and the Thomas Jefferson quote, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
“… the blood of patriots and tyrants”
Copyright © 1995, Charles H. Porter IV / AP
——
“I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us ‘having a revolution every now and then is a good thing,’ and the people — we the people — are going to have to fight back hard if were not going to lose our country. And I think this has the potential of changing the dynamic of freedom forever in the United States.”
— U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), March 21, 2009
——
Terror In The Heartland
By Del “Abe” Jones
04.22.1995
It’s come to the heartland
The terror and the dread
In one explosive moment
Our innocence has fled
Oh yes, it has come home!
There is no understanding
There’s only disbelief
Was it our own countrymen
Who brought down all this grief?
Oh yes, it has come home!
Our voices cry for justice
Our hearts cry out in pain
For family, friends, and loved ones
Never to be, seen or held again
Oh yes, it has come home!
Then, there are the children
Without their lives to live
Now the world will surely miss
The gifts they had to give
Oh yes, it has come home!
The images of heroes
Burned deep into our mind
People helping people
Shows we are a special kind
Oh yes, it has come home!
In the twisted steel and concrete
Through the day and dark of night
We watch the tireless effort
Of the rescuers fight.
Oh yes, it can come home!
How can a human being
Harbor such demented hate
To bring upon their own kind
Such a cruel fate
Oh yes, it has come home
Though most of us view from afar
It could have been mine or yours
But we must grieve and then go on
Not hide behind locked doors
Even though, it has come home!
There are no easy answers
When our hearts are torn
But from healing words of promise
Each new hope is born.
Oh yes, it can come home!
Oh yes, it will come home!
It has come home!
Listen to “Terror in the Heartland” set to musicÂ
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One Hundred And Sixty-Eight Seconds
By Del “Abe” Jones
4-19-97
One second for each victim —
On this anniversary —
But a lifetime of sorrow —
For surviving friends and family.
A small tribute to them —
‘Midst the sadness and the tears —
Remembering happy times —
Of all those by-gone years.
We have all learned a lesson —
From the people of that city —
To go on and persevere —
But, isn’t it a pity?
That we must learn such lessons —
With such a price to pay —
With sadness in heart and mind —
On this observance day.
Just want to send condolences —
To all of those concerned —
And hope those responsible —
Will in Hell, be burned.
More verse by Del “Abe” Jones — “The Poor Man’s Poet”
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