The latter quality is really what I return on Wednesday in the aftermath of Charlie’s horrible murder. To see someone so young, knocked down in the prime of his personal and professional life, has really broken me in the days, really broken. And precisely because the way he was killed – with words and dialogue on the public square are involved, has left us all very shocked.
I do not intend to write this piece to mark the places where Charlie and I agreed or to claim that there is more that unites us as Americans than divides us, although that is what I really believe. We had serious disagreements on the screen on COVID policy, immigration, education and the direction of this country, especially in the run-up to the 2020 elections with Charlie who passionately insists on the re-election of President Donald Trump and my efforts to map a new course with Biden’s administration.
After the murder of KIRK, legislators respond to the deadly political climate: ‘Violent words precede violent actions’
But the fact that we could disagree passionately without the conversation focusing on violence or intimidation is a pillar of what makes America a big nation. And yet, too often, we see these kinds of disagreements, reinforced by social media, as zero battle where the “enemy” needs to be defeated, not a co-American to be convinced.
This current climate has bred a level of violence and vitriol that should give us all serious breaks. Political violence, whether it concerns conservative speakers, progressive leaders, law enforcement or ordinary voters who simply exercise their rights, stuck in the heart of democracy. It doesn’t matter which side of the aisle one is sitting – violence is always wrong and it is always destructive.
There have been many warning signals in our nation. Local school board meetings that come across in screaming competitions. Members of the congress and their families confronted with death threats and personal attacks, simply for casting votes or pleading for policy. Activists and commentators on both right and left are harassed and focused online. All in all, these are not isolated incidents: they are part of a broader cultural drift in which too many Americans do not regard politics as a debate about policy, but as a tribal struggle to survive. Unfortunately, no side can claim that only the other is involved in this kind of behavior. I fear that if we allow this trend to continue, we run the risk of normalizing violence as a form of political expression. And once that door is open, it is very difficult to close.
Political leaders, especially those with large platforms and followers, bear a special responsibility to set the right tone. That means carefully choosing, unambiguous condemnation and refusing to score cheap points by generating resentment or fear. As far as I am also encouraged to see the universal conviction of Charlie’s murder in the political spectrum, there have been many on the left -hand mail videos or quotes from Charlie about his views on a whole series of issues as if there is a kind of justification for what happened. I fundamentally disagreed with much of what Charlie politics argued, but that is why debate and dialogue are so important.
But this is not just about political leaders and media personalities. Every American plays a role. We must keep ourselves responsible for the way we talk about politics. Before we share a meme or a comment, we have to ask ourselves: does this contribute to the conversation or do you simply add fuel to the fire?
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We must also look for possibilities for dialogue in our own communities. I have the privilege of being part of a program called One Small Step, powered by the team at Story Corps. It is a national effort to “bring people together with different views to take on a conversation – not to debate about politics – but just to get to know each other as people.” The more we remember each other’s humanity, the less likely we in cycles of hatred or retreat to our political tribes.
History offers us warning stories. Nations and societies that normalize political violence do not remain real democracies for a long time. They slide into chaos and America is not immune to those forces. Our collective power lies in our ability to disagree on human and to argue in a framework of fundamental respect as fellow citizens. I hope we have activated this phone call before it’s too late.
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