The Cincinnati Freedom Center Exhibit:The Enemy WithinBy: Nick Warndorf

The exhibit is an iconic representation of a balance between personal freedoms,

protected by the constitution and governmental interference.

Exhibit goers are first greeted by what Tanishia Willlis said was “…a startling sight. You just don’t expect to walk right into that image.”

There are numerous stories told of ordinary people being labeled as extremists , or radical. This is represented in this picture of labor organizers during the early 1900’s.

Later examples showed images of more drastic action taken against perceived threats

to the state. One of the images was the internment of Japanese American citizens

imprisoned in 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

There is an image of President Ronald Reagan signing the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 in the background. In the foreground are two suspected Japanese American spies who took their cases to the supreme court.

Hoover is demonstrating the locations of known spies in the United States to the media in opposition of Japanese internment camps.

This is a poster demonstrating the dangers of communism and possible Nazi resurgence in the

U.S. following WWII.

This part of the exhibit showed examples of American citizens who believed that the threat of Communism rooting itself in the U.S. was only a perceived threat. Never a real one.

What followed would be a crackdown on the drug culture in America which argued for

troops to pull out of Vietnam under President Nixon.

Off shoot revolutionaries and veterans of this movement would later become the target of U.S. government investigation. The house depicted here is what could potentially be that of an extremist revolutionary.

And this would be the contents of his or her basement. Equipped with tools such as the Communist Manifesto, dynamite, fertilizer, chemical fuel and crude timers; this person could potentially be America’s greatest threat.

It was not uncommon to find graffiti such as this in major cities during the 60’s and 70’s. Jamal Willis said that such imagery “…makes

you stop and think.”

This is a map of known anti-government groups operating within the United States.

The exhibit concludes by reminding the visitor of America’s most recent threat. The threat of radical Islam and anti-capitalist sentiment in the Middle East. This is a piece of one of the commercial airliners that crashed into the Twin Towers on September II, 2001.

The final addition to the exhibit is a crude representation of what a suicide bomber might wear when carrying out an attack. Though Islamic extremists’ traditionally use white vests because of their religion, the image is no less powerful to the viewer.

The End