Jacksonville and the Reverberations of Political Rhetoric

The killing of three African Americans at a Dollar General store on the 60th Anniversary weekend of the March on Washington underscores just how far we are from realizing Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream. Racism and the threat of white supremacy remain deeply rooted in the United States, 55 years after Dr. King was assassinated. 

Governor Ron DeSantis condemned the killings as totally unacceptable. He will not be the first or the last political leader to position the race-targeted murders as the work of a scumbag or the result of a national mental health crisis. And, the gun lobby will once again remind us that it is not guns that kill, but people that kill people. 

Guns are for another day. There is another weapon at play – language. 

Let us be clear, racial and cultural dog-whistles, violent and nationalist rhetoric against African Americans, immigrants, and more broadly political opponents, are in some measure responsible for the deaths in Jacksonville.  

No matter how much some will seek to position the killings as the act of individuals, the reverberations of political rhetoric in the remote corners of the echo chambers of society are inspiring violence.  

Just as sound waves may bounce around in a cave – quieter in some places or reaching a crescendo in others – what is said, and what is done, in the corridors or Washinton or Tallahassee - matters. For the most receptive, calls to “destroy” others or ideas are heard as a call to arms… to violence. 

This used to be understood. Political dialog, however, robust was guided by norms and the realization that opponents were not enemies, not anti-American, but people with different views on the political spectrum not to be eliminated, to be won over.  

The mantle of responsibility of leadership to use language designed to bring together, rather than incite or tear apart, has been cast off in the social media age. Unleashed outrage as a strategy to activate the “base” has exploded traditional behavioral norms and continues to play a role in the unending cycle of mass killings. 

Language matters. What our leaders do matters. Although most – Republicans and Democrats – will deplore or tune out the worst excesses of political incitements or hate speech, as has always been the case, it is where the reverberations of these messages resonate the strongest that they become a roar to a violent minority. 

Our political leaders are not stupid. They understand the potential for rhetoric to incite. As they obfuscate and blame others, the risk of violence stemming from their political discourse seems to be an accepted cost in the business of getting elected. 

Language is a powerful weapon. It may not pull the trigger, but unless the current political class takes greater ownership of the consequences of what they say, there will be more blood on their hands.