Oklahoma city: one year later (1996)

Synopsis

From NYT Syndicate John Martin: Bill Moyers travels to his native Oklahoma for a “Dateline NBC” special at 9 titled “Oklahoma City: One Year Later.”

 “My kinfolk are scattered across this state like tumbleweeds,” he tells viewers. Returning, he says, “was like coming home after a war, a civil war, coming home to grief, anger and loss one year later.”

​Moyers profiles the two groups some call the forgotten victims of the Oklahoma City bombing: the survivors and the families of the dead who have lived with the terrible memories for a year now. They mourn the loss of lives. But they are also angry and fearful.

 “It makes me madder than hell,” says Marsha Knight, whose daughter died in the terrorist attack. “I feel like the veil of innocence has been ripped from my eyes. “Is there going to be more violence? Is there going to be a civil war? What’s going to happen?”

​Most of us have filed the Oklahoma City bombing away in a safe place. It’s in the past. It couldn’t happen again. But this emotional hour is filled with voices warning that anti-government anger hasn’t subsided. What stays with you is that there are no assurances that they are mistaken - no promise that this was a random act of insanity.