political violence

Medgar Evers's Memory Shows Us Unchecked Violent Rhetoric Will Yield Political Violence

by Claire Potter

"Medgar Evers died at the hands of people whose ideological (and, in some cases, actual) descendants threaten our democracy with violence today."

How Must We Respond to MAGA Threats of Political Violence?

by Tom Nichols

"Finally, there’s nothing wrong with some dismissive scorn among sensible voters. These people are not 10 feet tall. They are, in fact, small and ridiculous."

Like the Klan, January 6 Deniers Will Lose

by Adam Serwer

During Reconstruction, the rapid growth of partisan media outlets made it impossible to tell whether stories of Klan atrocities were true or "fake news." Elaine Frantz Parsons explains how the reality of the Klan became established. 

There are No "Lone Wolves"

Building on the work of Kathleen Belew and others, the Times editorial board argues that recent episodes of racial terrorism are part of a global white nationalist movement. 

Post-9/11 Wars Created the Foot Solders of Far-Right Violence

Historian Kathleen Belew says that war affects not only veterans, but makes an entire society more receptive to the possibility of violence. 

The United States of Political Violence

From federal judges to local public health departments and school boards, violent threats against public officials are increasingly part of the political scene, according to Clarence Anthony of the National League of Cities. 

The Line Between Rhetoric and Political Violence is Fading Fast

by Matthew Dallek

By rhetorically signalling contempt for the government, public institutions, and their opponents, the leaders of the Republican Party are failing to maintain the separation of politics and violence.

Do "We" Have a Political Violence Problem?

A longitudinal study by the University of Maryland suggests that even looking back to the 1960s, the right has been much more likely to promote violence as an instrument of politics. 

Containing the Far Right Means Explaining Why a Democratic, Nonviolent Society is Better

Nicole Hemmer and Post columnist Greg Sargent discuss the echoes of the 1990s and Oklahoma City in the rise in violent rhetoric on the right and what can be done to check it. 

The New Era of Political Violence is Here

by Tom Nichols

Rather than civil war, the emerging threat in America is heavily-armed individuals informed by mass delusion. 

The Dangerous Misunderstanding of America's History of Mob Action

by Stefan Lund

Contrary to the protestations of January 6th apologists, mob action in America has usually worked to suppress, rather than defend, democracy.

Far Right Extremism, Paramilitarization, and Misogyny – Statement of Alexandra Stern to the January 6 Committee

by Alexandra Minna Stern

The alt-right groups represented at the Capitol on January 6 drew organizing power from online communities where grievance politics around race and gender flourished. Key features were heavy doses of irony that gave deniability to violent rhetoric and extreme misogyny. 

"Patriot Front" Plan to Attack Pride Shows Connections of White Supremacy and Anti-LGBTQ Politics

The arrest of neonazis in Idaho who planned an attack on a Pride event echoes a 1937 raid on a Miami gay nightclub by the KKK, says historian Julio Capo, Jr. 

Another Tragic Eruption of "Great Replacement" Violence

by Glenn C. Altschuler and Stuart M. Blumin

"While the specific targets and methods of spreading this theory may be new, White native-born Americans worrying about being replaced is not. And history demonstrates that the theory has been repeatedly used to legitimize discrimination and deadly violence."

African American Policy Forum Statement on Buffalo Massacre

"Racial terrorism would die out with the generations weaned on it—or so the more hopeful among us believed."

Buffalo Shooting Centuries in Making, Say Historians of Slavery and Reconstruction

Manisha Sinha and Bernard Powers link the mass killing to longstanding repression of Black political power, and the justification of violence for that purpose. 

White Power, White Violence, and the Open-Source Manual for Terrorism

by Kathleen Belew

The Buffalo shooter's manifesto doesn't need to be coherent or reality-based; its function will be to give instruction to future white supremacist terrorists within growing networks.

"Great Replacement" Shows how Many Americans Have Embraced Whites-Only Democracy

by Adam Serwer

Whether they blame a secret cabal of elites or the Democratic Party, proponents of "replacement" rhetoric share a belief that legitimate citizenship is racially exclusive and that legitimate elections require white voters to get what they want, echoing anti-immigrant and eugenics rhetoric of the early 20th century.

Historians on the Mainstreaming of the "Great Replacement" Myth

by HNN Staff

This conspiratorial claim of a plot by elites to replace whites with nonwhite and immigrant voters has moved from the far-right fringe to cable news and appears to have played a part in the radicalization of several mass shooters. Historians discuss what it is and what it means. 

Isaac Chotiner Interviews Kathleen Belew on White Power and the Buffalo Mass Shooting

"The idea is simply that many different kinds of social change are connected to a plot by a cabal of élites to eradicate the white race, which people in this movement believe is their nation."