Two offices belonging to conservative organizations were firebombed in late January, and the FBI has been assisting in finding the perpetrators.
Around 2 a.m. on January 28, at least one person broke into an office building in Golden Valley, Minnesota, and set two fires: One on the third floor and one on the first, John Hinderaker explained at the Powerline blog. The third floor fire was set either just outside or right inside the Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC), a conservative legal organization that has filed lawsuits battling “diversity, equity, and inclusion” discrimination and other Left-leaning causes, including a lawsuit against Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison for a law that would restrict free speech concerning election issues.
The first-floor fire was set in the hallway between the Center of the American Experiment’s offices and space leased to Take Charge, another conservative organization that fights against progressive race myths.
Hinderaker, president of the Center of the American Experiment and a board member at UMLC, told The Daily Wire that while his organization is regularly “involved with things that tick off liberals,” there “wasn’t anything going on right at that moment of the preceding where you would say, ‘Uh huh. You know, that must be what it is.’”
Center of the American Experiment
Hinderaker said he gave the FBI a list of categories of people who might have set the fires, including eco-terrorists, Antifa types, a public sector union, pro-Hamas terrorists, or “garden variety Libs who are really radical.” He stressed, however, that he does not have anyone in particular he believes committed the crime.
But while Hinderaker doesn’t know who set the fires, he says he’s positive the perpetrators — he believes at least two people were involved — will be caught. Hinderaker emphasized that, while many on the Right have come to distrust the FBI, the agents he has worked with are “not liberals,” and that he’s “confident that this crime is getting the full attention and resources of the bureau.”
“Now they’re gonna get caught,” he told The Daily Wire. “I’ll tell you that we’re gonna find out.”
Center of the American Experiment
A camera inside the Center of the American Experiment’s offices captured one of the perpetrators put something down outside the door and leave quickly. Hinderaker believes the fire on the third floor had already been set at that time.
The person caught on camera is not recognizable, but there are also cameras on the outside of the office building facing the only road leading in that may have captured a vehicle driving up prior to the fires.
Hinderaker wanted the perpetrators to know that the fire has not stopped the work he and his organizations do. Those targeted by the fires are working remotely but continuing to do what they have always done.
Take Charge, the other group targeted, also said the fires would not impact their work.
“Regardless of the attacks, we’ll continue to educate all Americans on the truth Progressives want to keep hidden from public view,” the organization said in a statement. “We were targeted because we are a conservative black organization and we refuse to trumpet the mantra of systemic racism and march to the beat of the DEI drum.”
Center of the American Experiment
Kendall Qualls, the president and founder of Take Charge, says he founded the organization to push back against false narratives such as white privilege and systemic racism.
“The racial disparities in our society are not because of systemic racism but because leaders and politicians in black community allowed the fatherless home problem to grow from 80 percent two-parent families to 80 percent fatherless homes in our lifetime,” Qualls said.
Because of the extensive fire and smoke damage, the entire office building has to be shut down for the foreseeable future, Hinderaker told The Daily Wire. The building also housed multiple small businesses, including, psychologists, chiropractors, and financial advisers. They too, have not been allowed back into the building due to the fire.
In a statement this week, Hinderaker said his organization “would be announcing a reward to any person who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.”