By Nisie
“Charlie Kirk was a boisterous and often divisive voice from the millennial generation. The left sharply rejected his deeply right-wing ideologies, which were often racist or misogynistic, but he sparked an ongoing conversation about topics most people avoid. He showed America how to debate their differences and offered a space to do just that at campuses nationwide and abroad. For the conservative party, he was a champion for their cause, and for democrats, he was a worthy opponent at the debate podium.”
The brutal assassination of Charlie Kirk reflects the intense civil conflict Americans are facing today. He is one of too many victims of political violence in the last year. Trump faced an assassination attempt last year, and then just months later, right before Christmas, a shooter targeted and killed the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. It hasn’t stopped there; Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s home was burned in an arson attack in April. Judges and elected officials continue to report increased threats and harassment. According to Capital Police records, there have been over nine thousand threats made towards elected officials since 2024. Then this summer, a man dressed as a police officer shot and killed Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker Melissa Hortman, her husband, and the family dog.
Another attack, a gunman attacked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in August, killing a police officer. And as we all know, the list has only gotten longer since then with the assignation of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University. But as horrifying as this trend is becoming, it is not the first time the United States has been affected by irrational, politically motivated attacks. During the civil rights movement, activists fighting for equal rights faced an onslaught of politically motivated attacks.
In 1961, Herbert Lee was working to register black voters when he was shot and killed by a state legislator. In 1963, Medgar Evers, the director of NAACP operations in Mississippi, was leading a campaign for integration when he was shot and killed by a sniper at his home. Homegrown terrorism became more prevalent as well during that time. In 1963, four young girls were killed when a bomb exploded at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. By the end of the 60s, men, women, children, President Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and other activists fell victim to political violence. Today, we have yet to reach the civil rights era level of extremist political violence. Still, after yesterday’s events, some are asking if we as a country are backsliding to a time when political violence became a regular occurrence. Thankfully, there is still time to stop the violence from getting as bad as it was in the 1960s.
Editor’s Note More than one tragedy unfolded Wednesday. At Evergreen High School in Colorado, a student opened fire on their classmates, injuring two students, one being 18-year-old Matthew Silverstone. There have already been 19 students killed this year from gun violence. But without proper gun control and legislation, families will continue to suffer. Without real activism and meaningful voter turnout, change will never come.
References:
. Is political violence on the rise in America?
Two charts that show how the attack on Minnesota lawmakers is part of a dangerous trend.
by Nicole Narea
Jun 23, 2025 at 6:00 AM CDT
CIVIL RIGHTS MARTYRS
https://www.splcenter.org/civil-rights-martyrs
School shootings in the US: Fast facts
By Alex Leeds Matthews, Amy O’Kruk and Annette Choi, CNN
Updated 5:42 PM EDT, Wed September 10, 2025
