How did we get here? America’s history of political violence and the question we must ask ourselves
Violence is nothing new to Americans. From almost daily mass shootings to horrors funded by our tax dollars in other countries – especially in Gaza – political violence is now just another daily occurrence. Take, for example, the murders of Minnesota Democratic State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband or the shooting of CEO Brian Thompson in New York City.
How did we get here? How did we find ourselves once again in an era of political violence not seen in almost 60 years?
Violence is as American as apple pie. For the almost 250 years of America’s existence as a sovereign nation, only 15 of those years were spent without the United States being engaged in a war or conflict, so it’s no shock we are continually embroiled in ongoing political violence. Just take a look at our history.
From its inception as a settler colonial movement committing genocide upon Indigenous people to its use of slave labor of African people to power the Southern economy, America has always been entrenched in political violence. The beginning of America started with a revolution and not even a hundred years later we were at war with each other. After the Civil war ended came the KKK and the infamous Jim Crow laws. Also came the continued crack down and destruction of indigenous people and their culture. Racial violence and oppression led to a Civil rights movement and two decades of political unrest marked with violence and protest.
That brings me back to where we are now.
It seems to me the political violence of this country really never left. Today’s current state of political violence is not something that exists within a vacuum, that simply came into our time, it’s an extension of the political violence the US has experienced throughout its history. Look at what we see today domestically and aboard, Armed masked thugs known as ICE coming into communities and tearing apart families or the targeting of Trans people by the administration. We see an active attempt to stifle Free speech from suing newspapers to the removal of talk show hosts like Jimmy Kimmel. Aboard we see the threatening of Venezuela’s sovereignty and of course the American funded genocide in Gaza being committed by Israel.
How do we get out of this?
A better way is needed for the future. We must embrace each other or fall prey to fascism and its growing need to consume our freedoms.That means organizing and building our communities. That means we must speak truth to power for those who can’t speak. We must change our culture of violence and create a culture that cares for the people and not just for the wealthy. That’s actually why I joined DSA, because it offered me a connection to my community and the ability to organize. DSA works for what’s right, and chooses the better path forward; like our National Labor Commission’s campaign for unions to organize against supporting Israel, and Las Vegas DSA’s campaign for our own city council and mayor to not work with ICE. If we wish to save ourselves from fascism we must demand better for ourselves and our community and we can’t be scared to do what’s right.