Podcast Script
Introduction
Hey ya’ll, my name is Chipper Benoit, I am a senior at Glynn Academy and on this podcast I will be talking about the Branch Davidians and the Waco Texas Massacre in which they were involved. I chose to do my research this semester on the Branch davidians after reading about the the 51 day standoff they had with the FBI and ATF in Waco, Texas, 1993. This intrigued me because I have always been interested in the wide variety of radical groups and anti-government type militias that exist in the United States.
Body of the Script:
Ever since I was a young boy I have always had a rebel heart. There is a piece of me deep within that always wanted to to rebel against authority for reasons that I still don’t understand. I do not condone any of the beliefs or actions of the Branch Davidians but when I read about the standoff between them and the ATF and FBI my rebellious heart flared up. Journalist James Wood Jr. recorded in his article The Branch Davidian Standoff: An american Tragedy, “From the time of the assault on the Branch Davidian compound on Sunday morning, 28 February 1993, by approximately one hundred federal agents, during which four agents and six Davidians within the compound were killed and sixteen agents and an indeterminate number of Davidians were wounded, to the drama's fateful fiery climax on Monday, 19 April, in which at least eighty-six persons in the compound (including seventeen children) lost their lives, the flow of news stories remained constant” ( Woods 1). This article was published in the spring of 1993, in the Journal of Church and state, shortly after the event had occurred.
No matter how radical and crazy the Branch Davidians may have been it seems to me like this event was a tragedy on both sides of the fire fight. In the Journal of Religious History, William Pitts published and article called Changing Views of The Millennium in the Davidian Tradition in 2000 which discusses the central belief of the Branch Davidians and helps us to better understand why they were stockpiling weapons, which is the reason the FBI and ATF had raided their compound. In the article written by Pitts he claims that the Branch Davidians centered their beliefs and actions on the third return of Christ. “In Adventism the return of Christ has always occupied the center of consciousness and theological interest” (Pitts 1).
Peter Villiers claims that Groups like the Branch Davidians are often considered “apocalyptic groups” (Villiers 1) in an article he wrote called The Spirituality of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Groups. The Case of the Branch Davidians in Waco.
In an article published in 1993 on Commonweal after the incident called Agents of Apocalypse calls the raid by the FBI and ATF “ill-concieved and badly-exicuted” (Commonweal 1). The writers of this article think that the federal agencies should have tried to arrest David Koresh ( the leader of the cult) when he was more vulnerable and not surrounded by his followers and their weapons.
Though some see this tragedy as a poorly put together raid by the federal government, others feel that it was just. In an article published by Commonweal and written by Edward Gaffney called Enforcing the law Gaffney states, "When Ideas get translated into illegal conduct, The government may, of course, take prompt and appropriate action both to prevent and stop the conduct." (Gaffney 1). Though I tend to be anti-government control on just about everything I get that they have a job to do and that they were just trying to protect other law abiding citizens.
Other articles written on the incident make me have even more suspicion on the government and their rights in executing the raid. An article written by Steven Weitzman called Religious studies and the FBI: Adventures in Academic Interventionism Raises suspicion against the FBI by stating "A government investigation released in 2000 exonerated the FBI of responsibility for starting the fire or improperly using armed force, placing the responsibility on the Branch Davidians, though it also found that the FBI did cover up some facts in a way that contributed to the public’s suspicions about what really happened" (Weitzman 964). This was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion in 2013.
Before doing any research I believed that this incident was another example of the federal government overreaching and abusing their power. After reading Agents of Apocalypse where it is stated that the federal agents ended up using tanks to knock down the walls of the compound and then sprayed tear gas inside the compound which the US government had decided was even too harsh to use against other countries in war!!! That’s crazy to me and it makes me feel like we as citizens need to keep a closer eye on the government in order to keep their power in check. Though the cult was involved in stockpiling illegal weapons i do not think that any of them deserved to die. I would almost say that I have a soft spot for this group because I know that if the federal government tried to search my house and take my guns it would turn into a standoff very quickly. I think that we should all remember this incident as a reminder that the government has too much power.