April 19, 1993: The Waco Siege & Massacre

[Anti Federalist]

[ClaytonB]

Neither statement is correct.

It was roughly a 50/50 mix.

Wayne Martin and his family was there.

Martin was American, Koresh's "right hand man" and the first black graduate of Harvard's Divinity School.

Nailed it. It was a surprisingly diverse mix, to use the new-fangled terminology. Back then, it was just considered kooky. Note that Perry Jones was right up there with Martin, in terms of the hierarchy. Only Koresh was higher than them.

Here's the most comprehensive list I've found online (now memory-holed). Screenshot for reference:



And the survivors, for completeness:

WACO, Texas -- The following people survived the fire that destroyed the Branch Davidian compound Monday, apparently killing cult leader David Koresh and 85 of his followers:

Renos Avraam, 29, British national, held in jail.

Jaime Castillo, 25, U.S. citizen, held in jail.

Graeme Craddock, 31, Australian, held in jail.

Clive Doyle, 52, U.S. citizen, suffered second and third-degree burns over 5 percent of body, good condition, Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas.

Misty Ferguson, 16, U.S. citizen, suffered second and third-degree burns over 25 percent of body, critical condition, Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas.

Derek Lovelock, 37, of Manchester, England, held in jail.

Marjorie Thomas, 30, nationality unknown, suffered second and third degree burns over 50 percent of her body, critical condition, Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas.

David Thibodeau, 24, U.S. citizen, held in jail.

Ruth Ellen Ottman-Riddle, 29, nationality unknown, suffered minor burns and broken ankle, stable condition, Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, Waco.NEWLN: ------

[ClaytonB]

No doubt, Vernon Howell ("David Koresh") was a monster and a freak and the Waco Davidians were a hive of sexual perverts who were stretching the definition of pedophilia as far as it can be stretched under the law, or in any other way...



But no matter how evil the ring-leaders, the solution to the problem was absolutely not barbecuing those poor children alive. Doesn't really matter who started the fire, either -- there was no need to create an emergency situation out of nothing, just as they previously did in Ruby Ridge (which was one of the reasons why the Davidians were so wary of the Feds). And no matter how great a pretense the ATF et. al. make that this was all just a tragic situation where they were following the law, but the cultists went out of control and burned themselves alive, the fact is that the primary purpose of the Waco incident was to instill the fear of the Feds into the Christian conservative Right in the US. Which it did. I was there. I saw it. And I saw the devastation it wreaked in our communities. I am gaslighting-proof. This is one eyewitness that you cannot simply wave away with Jedi mind-tricks...

[Occam's Banana]

The members of Koresh's Branch Davidian sect were mostly white people in their 30s and 40s from Texas, but there were also blacks from Jamaica and England.

Neither statement is correct.

It was roughly a 50/50 mix.

Wayne Martin and his family was there.

Martin was American, Koresh's "right hand man" and the first black graduate of Harvard's Divinity School.

THREAD: How the Right Got Waco Wrong

Get a load of this: The New Republic is trying to rehabilitate Waco as a progressive cause célèbre.

You see, reaction to the Waco Massacre has been hijacked by misogynistic, transphobic, QAnon-ing, J6-er white supremacists for their own vile and nefarious purposes. Really, though, it ought to be "fold[ed] in" with George Floyd, et al. (no doubt in service to the noble and heroic causes of "trans rights", Antifa, etc.).

How the Right Got Waco Wrong
Militia groups have long used Waco as a rallying cry. But it was never the example of whiteness under siege that they invoke.
https://newrepublic.com/article/1702...ok-book-review
Paul Renfro (31 January 2023)

[...]

[acptulsa]

[acptulsa]

[PAF]

I recall Trump, and Vivek, eluding to a national police force too. They plant the seed, inconspicuously, wait a while, then WHAMMM.

[Occam's Banana]

Waco massacre 31st anniversary bump