our addiction to violence is part of our legacy...

I am deeply saddened by the attempted assassination of former President Trump. It was a horrible act of hatred. At the same time please note that Mr Trump has increasingly advocated violence against his political opponents and consistently thrown rhetorical gasoline on any attempt to de-escalate our polarization. I am glad he is safe and understand he is not the source of our chaos and pain but rather the most recent manifestation. 

I pray we stop lying to ourselves about violence being un-American: sadly we were founded on settler genocide, institutionalized the dehumanization of Africans in our founding documents, celebrated slavery as a source of financial necessity, fought a still unresolved civil war that is erupting again, periodically engaged in campaigns of terror against immigrants and political agitators, regularly resorted to assassination both internally and internationally, and continue to treat guns as more sacred than the lives of our children. We’ve romanticized vigilantes, taught our history with half truths, and consciously ignored the consequences. Today’s horrific act is not an anomaly but yet another example of chickens coming home to roost as Malcolm X presciently told us some 61 years ago. 

Violence is not our only legacy, of course: our pursuit of an ever more perfect union is a blessing we must strengthen and celebrate; but we’re long overdue in breaking our addiction to conflict resolution through murder and must begin to own our collective shadow that is destroying us from the inside out. This is an important albeit frightening moment in our evolution as a nation. May God’s grace and truth be our guide in the coming days.