The Oklahoma City Bombing:
Domestic Blowback
May 7, 2026
Summarizing the cause behind the attack and a hopeful look towards the future.
April 19th, 1995- Exactly two years after the FBI’s siege at Waco, white supremacists and their collaborators committed the largest domestic terror attack on American soil. In the blink of an eye, a truck bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 Oklahomans, 19 of which were children in the building’s daycare, and injuring 684 others. A casual Wednesday morning in the metro turned into a hellsite, with dust kicked up in the atmosphere, fire engulfing the streets, and ear drums ruptured from the blast. The attack physically changed the urban geography of OKC for decades.
Since then, OKC has honored the lives lost and the efforts of those that responded to the tragedy. On the very ground of the massacre, we have rebuilt. From creating a state park housing a memorial ground and museum to hosting an annual marathon. As we speak, there are currently new developments and additions being built for the memorial center. This city has tried its best to move on and reflect.
Those of us who were raised in this state have all been affected by the attack. Some of us were taught about the bombing from an early age, and others lived in the OKC area when it happened and knew someone who died. A chain linked fence wrapped around the containment zone of debris and rubble served as an early memorial, covered with letters, stuffed animals, locks, and other tokens of remembrance. Though we are familiar with the tragedy, most public facing discourse lacks a complete understanding of why this group committed this atrocity and why our fellow Okies lost their lives. This year marks the 31st anniversary, and with that comes greater reflection.
The perpetrators, Timothy Mcveigh and Terry Nichols, were embedded in a web of Christian Nationalists, Neo Nazis, and fascists united in their desire to protect white supremacy. In the neoliberal United States of the 1990s, they positioned themselves as true patriots fighting for survival in a global race war. Like all reactionaries, they interpreted the anti-worker austerity of the era as a federal campaign of ethnic warfare against white Europeans. When Federal agents murdered Christian fundamentalists at Ruby Ridge (Idaho) and later The Branch Davidians of Mount Carmel (Waco, Texas), the underground neo-Nazi movement sought revenge, choosing April 19th to coincide with the two-year anniversary of the Waco massacre.
The fact that this reactionary violence washed over the country in the aftermath of the Gulf Wars is no coincidence. Mcveigh and Nichols were trained by a United States Army that adopts terrorism as its official military doctrine, treating civilians and children as valid military targets. As a growing fascist bloc escalates its violence in the present day, we must be clear that this is a consequence of waging perpetual imperialist wars against civilian populations. A society built on white supremacy cannot train its youth to commit terrorism without expecting this brutality to return home.
The liberal democratic establishment categorically refuses to stop the global forever war, therefore it falls to socialists, the organized working-class in Oklahoma and beyond, to build a future that eliminates this global terrorist apparatus. This future cannot be built from words alone; this future must come from constant and unceasing struggle. Thirty one years later we must ask the immortal question: What is to be done? As we try to answer this question, here is what we have been able to do so far.
April 19th, 2026- As we mourn our friends and family lost in the bombing, we recognize the ever-growing and bold-faced resurgence of fascism in our society. Despite this, we also recognize the increase of class consciousness and the willingness of everyday people to join the struggle for a better world. The political landscape of the city has changed since 1995. Over the last few years the Oklahoma City DSA has been a part of various efforts, from starting a BDS campaign, teaching self defense to our queer community, campaigning for a higher minimum wage, and forming tight knit relationships with our indigenous and undocumented neighbors. Our chapter will continue to fight for a better Oklahoma, through the long haul to come.
Our city continues to heal, from rebuilding the downtown that houses the hallowed ground of our memorial and our beautiful survivor tree, to hearing the victorious chants of “OKC!” echoing across the state when the Thunder won our first NBA Championship. Never have we seen and experienced so much pride to be called Oklahomans. Although we are on the up and up, there is more to be done. We as Okie socialists in a deeply red state understand this: We have a world to win.