Political Violence Isn't Rare In America

It is a necessary condition for the continuation of white supremacy.

As a 26-year-old Black American man, I have witnessed widespread political violence nearly every day of my life. I have been a victim of political violence myself, and that experience is far from unique.

Political violence is a defining feature of the American experience — a truth often overshadowed by claims that such violence is a relatively new crisis or aberration. Yet the reality is that political violence has been deeply embedded in the nation’s history, laws, and institutions from its inception. This violence has disproportionately targeted Black and Brown communities, producing trauma that echoes across generations. The recent assassination of Charlie Kirk is but one extreme expression in a long continuum of conflict, to which Kirk heavily contributed.

Inescapable and Enduring

From the formation of the nation’s earliest police forces — originally designed to hunt escaped slaves — to modern federal agencies that routinely employ violent force, the logic and machinery of coercion have always formed the backbone of governance. Violence was enshrined in law, whether through the Black Codes, Jim Crow statutes, COINTELPRO, or the long shadow of state-sanctioned lynching — a shadow that still extends its arms, horrifying marginalized communities to this day.

This month’s under-reported news of two men found lynched in Mississippi — one a young Black man, the other an unhoused man — serves as a haunting reminder of the value of life for some of America’s most endangered communities. Whether it’s a literal lynching or the more common state-sponsored violence at the hands of law enforcement, Black and Brown, impoverished, and queer people witness their communities fall victim to political violence daily.

The inability to afford healthcare, food, or shelter constitutes a form of political violence, fueling a cycle of deprivation and crime that perpetuates systemic injustice. It is deeply troubling when elected officials and community leaders dismiss such violence as fringe, even as their policies contribute to atrocities — children bombed by weapons exported under their watch serve as a stark reminder. These acts of violence, whether headline-grabbing or normalized and obscured, remain undeniable realities that shape daily life. For marginalized communities, political violence is a chronic condition, leaving intergenerational scars. Ignoring or downplaying parts of this violence only entrenches a societal norm where such harm becomes accepted and invisible.

Clarion Ledger story

Institutional Violence and Far-Right Extremism

In recent years, violence tied to far-right ideology has surged far beyond that seen from left-wing extremist groups or anarchists.¹ A majority of politically inspired killings have been committed by right-wing actors, disproportionately targeting Black, Brown, queer, and immigrant communities.

State-run actions such as ICE raids and police shootings are routinely woven into the fabric of daily life — normalized and legally sanctioned. When the killing of Silverio Villegas González by ICE² is skipped over in news stories, it confirms what years of police violence against Black men have taught us: They do not care about violence committed against us. The proliferation of far-right organizations, often operating with and within police and government forces, only intensifies this climate of impunity.

Silvero Villegas-Gonzalez. | Lily Rivera

Why Now?

Political violence has become a defining crisis of our era, with recent incidents — such as the assassinations of Charlie Kirk, a Blackstone executive, and a healthcare CEO — highlighting how this threat has outgrown its traditional confines.

Where violence was once wielded through the sanction of powerful institutions and a white-supremacist hierarchy, it now flourishes beyond their control, fueled by the proliferation of firearms and systems that enable the concentration of wealth and authority. Today, both state and non-state actors weaponize violent rhetoric to inflict lasting trauma, particularly against those already marginalized. This escalation perpetuates a relentless cycle, as America’s pursuit of power and profit continues to sow new seeds of harm among its most vulnerable citizens.

The Weight of History

America’s enduring legacy of violence remains deeply woven into the nation’s fabric, manifesting in both old and new forms — lynching, mass shootings, ICE raids, and militarized policing all serve as contemporary echoes of entrenched trauma. For Black and Brown communities, this legacy is an ever-present reality: The pain of lost loved ones plays out in both public spectacle and anonymous sorrow, as victims’ names fade while the machinery of violence persists.

Each person who faces hunger, denied medical care, is profiled, deported, killed by American weaponry, or incarcerated for poverty is, in effect, another casualty of political violence. Their experiences — whether erased from the public record or rendered invisible by official indifference — do not vanish simply because those in power refuse to see them. Far from a peripheral aberration, political violence is central to America’s story: It is, and has always been, at the core of our national identity.

1. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/right-wing-extremist-violence-is-more-frequent-and-deadly-than-left-wing-violence-data-shows

2. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/immigrant-shot-dead-chicago-ice-villegas-gonzalez-family-answers-rcna231952

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