violence

In Memphis, Tyre Nichols's Killing Echoes 1866 Massacre

by Isaiah Stafford and Kathy Roberts Forde

In the aftermath of the Civil War, Memphis was a city in political upheaval in which policing became a method of reasserting white supremacy. 

Cormac McCarthy's Brutal Allegories of the American Empire

by Greg Grandin

"McCarthy demonstrated how the frontier wasn’t an incubator of democratic equality but a place of unrelenting pain, cruelty, and suffering."

Understanding Latino White Supremacy

by Geraldo Cadava

"In fact, Latino white supremacy isn’t an oxymoron, and carrying out a premeditated mass shooting in the United States is one of the more American things a Latino could do."

Texas Shooting Highlights Long History of Anti-Black Violence in Latino Communities

by Cecilia Márquez

History shows that there have long been strains of anti-black racism in Latino communities, and that the categories "white" and "latino" are not mutually exclusive. Understanding today's far right requires attention to those details. 

Violence and the Unmaking of Asian-American Exceptionalism

by Gaiutra Bahadur

A series of violent anti-Asian attacks in the author's community during the 1990s underscores the debt Asian Americans owe to the African American movements for emancipation and civil rights, and the need for cross-racial solidarity in the face of racist oppression. 

The Jim Crow Reign of Terror

by Eric Foner

While the scope and horror of lynching has recently become acknowleged and memorialized, there is a parallel and more pervasive history, which Margaret Burhnam investigates, of racist terror carried out under color of law. 

30 Years Later, "Falling Down" Still Shows the Shallowness of Suburbanites' Views of the City

by Carl Abbott

Set in a moment of economic upheaval, racial conflict, and media-driven fear of crime, Joel Schumacher's film reflected the degree of separation between America's suburbs and cities. Today, it's necessary to recognize that its portrayal of hostility and alienation isn't inevitable. 

Welcome to the Predator State

by Michael Gould-Wartofsky

The rise of paramilitary police tactical teams heralds the arrival of a moment when policing drops the pretense of serving and protecting a community and embraces war footing. 

How Israel Lost its Way

by Alon Ben-Meir

After Israel has raised several generations as warriors and occupiers, has the nation lost sight of the toll on its own youth and the consequences for peace? 

Trauma of Tyre Nichols's Killing Echoes in Many Places

by Michael Honey

A police killing in Tacoma prompts a historian to reflect on the radical traditions of nonviolent resistance led by Martin Luther King, and the need for hopefulness in struggle. 

Femicides are Increasing in America; History Says we Shouldn't be Surprised

by Kimberly A. Hamlin

The term "femicide" is rarely used to describe the killing of women by men (often intimate partners), but it's an apt description for the way that gendered and sexual violence have been part of the fabric of the nation's history and constitute a systemic, not a personal, danger to women.

Mass Shootings Reflect the Narcissism of Young Men

by Tom Nichols

The injured grandiosity of "failed to launch" young men is pushing them to seek outsize revenge, often using the readily available guns. 

A History of Violence in the US/Mexico Borderlands

by Brian Behnken

Policing both the border and Mexican American communities in the Southwest has always been entangled with white supremacist violence, the author argues in a new book. 

After Bruen: One Nation, Under Guns

by Ryan Busse

"As bad as America’s gun-violence problem is, it could be about to get much worse," says former gun industry insider turned whistleblower. The selective reading of the historical record advanced by Justice Thomas's opinion would force judges to play historian to decide cases, destabilizing gun law in many ways. 

The Orwellian Rise of "Suicide by Cop"

"Suicide by Cop" emerged as a descriptive phrase in the context of a crackdown on crime and an abandonment of police accountability, making a large portion of killings by officers seem natural and unavoidable. 

It's Time to Be Honest About the Partisan Nature of Gun Culture

by Heather Cox Richardson

"The national free-for-all in which we have 120 guns for every 100 people... is deeply tied to the political ideology of today’s Republican Party. It comes from the rise of Movement Conservatism under Ronald Reagan."

Reactionary Media are Fueling Anti-LGBTQ Violence

by Ben Miller

When the media give a platform to the idea that trans people living in public inherently encourages sexual abuse, violence aimed at removing them from the public will follow. The media need to take responsibility for Colorado Springs and call out icitement to violence. 

Forget Apology, the Right is Doubling Down on Inciting Violence Against LGBTQ Americans

by Thomas Lecaque

The campaign of encouraging stochastic terror against LGBTQ communities won't be deterred by a tragedy like the Colorado Springs killings. 

New Evidence about Texas's Porvenir Massacre

Texas Rangers orchestrated the killing of 15 unarmed Mexican men and boys in a Texas border town in 1918. Monica Muñoz Martinez describes this as part of a pattern of state-sanctioned racist violence in the state, which her organization Refusing to Forget is working to commemorate. 

America's Tragic History of Campus Shootings Goes Back to 1840

John A.G. Davis, a professor of law, was killed by a masked member of a student mob engaged in firing pistols into the air to protest for the right to carry guns on campus.