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Now that Osama bin Laden is dead, and al-Qaida crippled, the U-S government is turning its focus toward the threat of homegrown terrorism. In the last two years, there’ve been almost two dozen plots against targets in this country. The deadliest happened at Ford Hood, Texas, where Major Nidal Hassan allegedly shot and killed 13 soldiers. A U.S. House committee launched hearings in the spring on the threat of radicalized Islam in the U-S. But how great is the threat, and when does legitimate concern give way to irrational fear of a whole group of people? Mark Potok runs the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has tracked extremists and hate groups for about 30 years. He says the threat of homegrown terror is real…but so is Islamaphobia. Potok spoke with WDET's Pat Batcheller. Click the audio link above to hear the conversation.
Read more from Mark Potok on religious terrorism here
