On Political Violence

What are you really doing about it?

Carina Dieringer

Hours before I sat down to write this article, it was announced that noted white supremacist Charlie Kirk had been shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Between then and now, I have spent every second wondering, as I read post after post “denouncing political violence,” why so many people choose to be ignorant of the violence that surrounds them every day. 

As Americans, our everyday lives are dependent on a system of “political” violence. We are all complicit in this violence when we drive our cars, use our phones, get fast food. Why do we denounce the shootings of a white supremacist or an insurance CEO, but not the violence against kids who are killed in schools every day, the police who murder people of color, or the fact that incarcerated people and unhoused people die not in spite of the law but because of it? Why not denounce the methods of genocide that are still being used against indigenous people, the violent conflicts that our government has created overseas to steal resources, or the violence that created the current climate crisis and is projected to kill millions of people within our lifetime? White supremacy kills people. Denied insurance claims kill people. What makes the violence that puts a phone in your hands or furniture in your classroom less worthy of attention than the exceedingly rare violence against a person who upholds and reveres those very systems? 

“But Carina!” I hear you say, “Surely you can’t be saying that someone deserves to be murdered?” The answer is that it doesn't matter. Without any tangible affect on your community (beyond the wariness you may experience from others after publicly sympathizing with someone who wanted multiple groups of people dead), posting sympathies about Charlie Kirk’s death is nothing but glorified theatrics. Where we devote our time and energy matters. If you truly denounce political violence, I encourage you to speak out against ICE, defend protesters, take a stance against genocide, protect the trans community, and fight for the rights of incarcerated people. 

Violence runs our country—what are you doing about it?