I have a dream. … We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. … We have nothing to fear but fear itself. … Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. … Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses... Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal… government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Powerful words.
When I was a kid my mom tried to teach me that actions, not words, are what matters. Even so, I might have had my mouth washed out with soap once or twice for words, not actions. Because words do in fact matter. They can motivate. They can soar. And they can kill.
So on this second anniversary of the insurrection; an insurrection fomented entirely by the words of a sitting presidents; an insurrection complete with the Confederate Battle Flag, America’s unique symbol of racial supremacy and hatred; an insurrection that attempted to overthrow a democracy of, by, and for the people to remake it in the image of people that looked and believed like them - it’s worth talking about words. Because in this age of talk radio and talking heads and sound bites and YouTube and violence, we sure hear a lot of, violent and hateful talk.
Years ago, on his Fox News Show “The O’Reilly Factor,” Bill O’Reilly expressed frequent disdain for Dr. George Tiller, a late-term abortion provider in Kansas, whom he called “Tiller the baby killer.” O’Reilly mentioned him dozens of times, claiming: “He destroys fetuses for just about any reason. ... He’s operating a death mill. … He has blood on his hands. … He’s executing babies. …”[1]
One might conclude that such comments were meant to elicit anger and emotion, stir the pot —provoke someone to dosomething. And on May 31, 2009, somebody did. Scott Roeder walked into the church where Tiller was an usher, put a gun against his forehead, and — with Tiller’s wife watching — shot him to death.
The Tides Foundation is a nonprofit that supports other nonprofits, aiding programs that combat violence against women and support veterans. It might seem difficult to find a reason to want to murder its employees. But on July 18, 2010, Byron Williams found a reason. Fortunately, he was stopped on the interstate by California state troopers. A gun battle ensued and Williams was wounded and taken into custody. Two officers received minor injuries. Williams had an array of firearms and was enroute to storm Tides’ Oakland headquarters.[2]
What – or who - could possess anyone to want to murder the employees of a nonprofit whose mission it was to do good? Maybe Fox News host Glenn Beck. For years, Beck had railed against the nonprofit, attacking it some 29 times in the 18 months before Williams attempted to commit mayhem. Beck evidently believed that the Tides Foundation is the linchpin of a sinister conspiracy that was going to lead to the extermination of white children, “seize power and destroy capitalism.”[3]
Beck’s broadcast was filled with violent imagery: "The war is just beginning. … The other side is attacking. … They are taking you to a place to be slaughtered. … They are putting a gun to America's head. … The clock is ticking. … Hold these people responsible."[4] Beck himself was never held responsible.
In March 2010, Sarah Palin released a map showing 20 congressional districts she and John McCain won in 2008. After their congressmen voted in favor of the Affordable Care Act, Palin marked each district with a set of rifle-scope crosshairs and promoted the map by tweeting "Don't Retreat, Instead — RELOAD." One of the districts that Palin targeted with her crosshairs was Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, represented by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
Twenty-two months later, while Giffords was holding a public meeting outside a Safeway Supermarket near Tucson, Jared Loughner shot her in the head and killed six others. Giffords lived.
In El Paso Texas, Patrick Crusius shot and killed 22 mostly Hispanic people. President Donald Trump has long called Mexican immigrants “an infestation” — “rapists and murderers” who are “invading our country.” In May at a rally in Florida, Trump asked, “How do we stop them?” When a woman answered, “Shoot them,” the crowd roared its approval. Trump, amused, smirked at the suggestion. Crusius left behind a so-called “manifesto,” denouncing immigrants in language remarkably similar to the president’s.
And then came May, 2022. An 18-year-old gunman opened fire on Tops Friendly Market grocery store on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo NY on May 14, killing 10 shoppers and employees — all of whom were Black — and injuring three more.
A week later another 18-year-old in Uvalde, TX, shot dead 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde TX. As far as I can tell most or maybe all of these murdered people were brown.
Before all of that, there was Tucker Carlson and his Great Replacement Theory – a theory referenced by the Buffalo shooter.
To be clear, no definite, legally accountable connection has ever been demonstrated between any of this rhetoric and the murders of innocent men, women and children. But on November 14th, 2008 the Southern Poverty Law Center made the connection between words and action, winning a million dollar judgement against Ron Edwards, Grand Wizard of the Imperial Klan of America, for the savage beating of 16 year-old Jordan Gruver at a county fair in rural Kentucky. Gruver will never fully recover from the injuries he sustained that day.
Edwards did not participate in the beating. But the jury found that words matter and that Edward’s words had incited the violence.
Reasonable people can and do disagree. But people who are reasonable do not advocate for violence.
So here’s an idea: In this time of heightened divisions and daily mass murder – 611 in 2022 as of November 25th - maybe we could ask…no…demand that our “leaders” engage in words of inspiration, not words of hate. None of those people deserved to die. As Republican Nikki Haley, Trump’s ambassador to the U.N., so wisely said, “In America, our political opponents are not evil. They’re just our opponents.” [5]
The Civil Conversations Project: You know by now that our core mission is to end racism by showing its many destructive connections to so much of life in the United States. As long-term spokesperson Jason Van Tatenhove of the white supremacist organization Proud Boys - who played an outsized role in planning the attack and fomenting so much of the violence of that day said, “This (violent attempt to take over our democracy) was all about race”. Please help us with achieving a mission that I know you believe in by sharing these posts and asking your community of people to sign up for them. I’ve embedded Subscribe buttons in this post. I know that passing stuff on to your friends can feel awkward and uncomfortable. But we’re in this together and you are part of the solution to America’s most intractable problem, so do it anyway. All of us can withstand a bit of discomfort. Thank you.
[1]https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bill-oreilly-crusaded-aga_n_209665
[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_freeway_shootout
[3]https://fair.org/home/glenn-beck-shares-a-tides-foundation-obsession-with-alleged-mass-murder-plotter/
[4]https://www.mediamatters.org/glenn-beck/milbank-beck-stop-encouraging-potential-murderers?redirect_source=/blog/2010/07/30/milbank-to-beck-stop-encouraging-potential-murd/168537
[5]https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/19/haley-trump-not-evil-915174