So far this year, there have been over 200 mass shootings in the United States. This annual number has steadily increased in recent years, from 417 in 2019, to 610 in 2020 and 692 last year. After each shooting, we find ourselves asking how these acts of violence keep happening and how we can stop them. The answer to these endless questions is one that has been to blame for problems throughout U.S. history, whether we notice it or not: the plague of white supremacy. In 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland and members of the Department of Homeland Security testified to the Senate that the greatest risk to national security was domestic terrorism, specifically those individuals that “advocate for the superiority of the white race.” This is exactly the definition of white supremacy — the ideology that white people are superior to other races, and that society would be better off with only white people. An ideologically similar belief is the “great replacement” theory: the untrue assumption that white people are being “replaced” by influxes of people of Color. Introduced in the 1970s, the theory has been repeatedly touted by prominent public figures, including popular conservative Fox News host Tucker Carlson and former chief strategist for former President Donald Trump, Steve Bannon. When such influential political actors vocalize these beliefs, they spread and fester, guiding some individuals toward violent action. Exposure to such violent and polarizing positions creates an intolerant environment and, in turn, poses a threat to the furtherance of a peaceful society. The prominence of the white supremacist ideology in America is hazardous to our democracy, and its continued relevance throughout political and social history makes clear that it is systematically ingrained in the brutality we witness almost every day on the news. Behind almost every act of violence in both modern and historical America is one root cause: white supremacy. One of the most infamous moments of white supremacist ideological violence in recent history occurred in 2017, when members of the “Unite the Right” movement marched on the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville, Va. Armed with tiki torches and Nazi talking points, the group of white supremacists injured dozens and killed one woman, all while expressing their harmful beliefs to the entire nation. Despite having existed for centuries prior, the threat of white nationalism materialized in this moment, and its threat became one that inspired fear, anger and continued violence.
via michigandaily: The history between gun violence and white supremacy
By <a rel=”nofollow” class=”external text” href=”https://flickr.com/people/74006048@N00″>Mika Järvinen</a> – originally posted to <a href=”//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Flickr” class=”mw-redirect” title=”Flickr”>Flickr</a> as <a rel=”nofollow” class=”external text” href=”https://flickr.com/photos/74006048@N00/100197589″>M4gery</a>, CC BY 2.0, Link