Copyright berkshireeagle
As the nation navigates the shockwaves caused by the assassin’s bullet that killed Charlie Kirk, yet another gunman has targeted innocent human beings and tested our society’s already strained seams. Wednesday’s apparent sniper attack on an immigration detention facility in Dallas resulted in three detainees being shot, including one fatally. While no officers were injured, investigators have inferred a motivation against Immigration and Customs Enforcement based on available evidence, including a photo released by the FBI of ammunition with “anti-ICE” written on one of the rounds that federal officials said the shooter left at the scene before killing himself. America’s descent into normalized political violence continues at a worrying pace. It is a bad sign when our country does not even have the chance to cease reeling from the last incident before facing another. It feels like we are running in a vicious circle as we look back to the headline of an editorial we published last year shortly after an attempt on then-candidate Donald Trump’s life: “What are we becoming, and what is the way back?” We shudder all the more at the first question while still struggling with the latter. If there is any hope for an answer, it lies in the reaction to a recent tragedy from someone who lost more than we can imagine: Erika Kirk. At last weekend’s memorial service for her slain husband, Ms. Kirk did something that seems superhuman in an America beset by amoral vindictiveness and grievance-mongering: She forgave. As Ms. Kirk dug deep into a wounded heart to find forgiveness for the young man accused of rending her family, she articulated the ethic we must now hold: “The answer to hate is not hate.” It is shameful that so few of our political leaders, insulated by privilege and extra security, can articulate that ethic without partisan jockeying or calculated throat-clearing, if at all. Take, for example, President Trump’s remarks following Ms. Kirk’s at the very same memorial service: “I hate my opponent and I don’t want the best for them.” We imagine Ms. Kirk’s politics are quite similar to President Trump’s. Yet this stark contrast in character underscores the choice we face, upstream of the petty realm of politics, about how to move through this perilous time. While it’s unrealistic to expect everyone to meet the saintly standard of compassion Ms. Kirk demonstrated, it must be understood that the content of her message is not a call to ignore injustice and dismiss wrongdoing. Rather, if we want a more just society, we must always remember — even and especially when we hurt the most — that justice and vengeance are never synonyms. This isn’t just a moral platitude but an empirical truth further proven by the Dallas immigration facility shooting. If this misguided young man’s motive was indeed “anti-ICE,” then it’s painfully ironic that all those harmed in his cowardly attack were detained immigrants. It would be similarly heinous if immigration enforcement officers were the ones shot, because violence is wrong no matter whom it targets. Even the empathy-challenged should consider their own well-being. As we are relearning the hard way, political violence is not a neatly circumscribed incision but a metastasizing cancer, immune to reason and regardless of affiliation, that victimizes us all. This incident, like Charlie Kirk’s assassination, is likely to foment an opportunistic and overcorrective crackdown on dissent and principled criticism of political leaders. We have criticized ICE’s ethically dubious tactics and increasingly authoritarian mission under the Trump administration, and we are on firm moral ground to say we stand by those critiques while stressing that violence is never the answer to this or any of the problems facing America. Lawlessness is neither justified nor relieved by barbarity. Catharsis is the false promise of carnage. We are glimpsing the horror that is promised when we elevate vengeance above all other national values. According to a University of Maryland researcher who studies terrorism incidents, the U.S. saw nearly twice as many politically motivated attacks in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2024. This is a bipartisan issue in its toll and responsibility, but these tragedies are trivialized as team sport when we prioritize the assessment of what “side” the attacker is on, facts and decency be damned. That is the wrong inquiry. As our national dialogue is dominated by demonization and so many of our countrymen see nothing beyond nihilism, what we really must ask is: What are we doing to ourselves? Ms. Kirk, cruelly thrust into the national spotlight, has risen above unimaginable tribulation to model what we should expect from those with the biggest microphones. The reality, though, is that lowering the temperature from this unsustainable boiling point is a responsibility that falls to all of us — leaders and everyday citizens alike. We don’t have all the answers as to exactly what America must do to escape this slippery slope, but we do know what the answer can’t be, and so Erika Kirk’s wisdom is worth repeating: “The answer to hate is not hate.”
