LETTER: We must work together to end violence
“This isn’t who we are.” I’ve heard this statement a lot this week. Sadly, the facts say differently. Here is only a partial list of politically motivated murders that have occurred in America and the year of their deaths:
Presidents
Abraham Lincoln, Republican, 1865
James Garfield, Republican, 1881
William McKinley, Republican, 1901
John F. Kennedy, Democrat, 1963
Members of Congress
Josiah Anderson, Whig, 1861
Thomas Hindman, Democrat, 1868
James Hinds, Republican, 1868
Thomas Haughey, Republican, 1869
Edward Dexter Holbrook, Democrat, 1870
John Clayton, Republican, 1889
Jose Francisco Chaves, Republican,1904
John Pinckney, Democrat, 1905
Huey Long, Democrat, 1935
Robert F. Kennedy, Democrat, 1968
Allard Lowenstein, Democrat, 1980
Federal judges
John Wood Jr. , Party Unknown, 1979
Richard Daronco, Party Unknown, 988
Robert Smith Vance, Democrat, 1989
John Roll , Republican, 2011
Governors
John Bent, Independent, 1847
Edwin Stanton McCook, Republican , 1873
William Goebel, Democrat, 900
Frank Steunenberg, Democrat, 1905
The Democratic Party was founded in 1828 and the Republican Party in 1854. The party ideologies were flipped back then, meaning Republicans were the liberal party and Democrats were conservative. This changed in 1932 when the parties switched to more of what we know today and were further shaped after the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The data indicates that politically motivated violence has impacted both party ideologies, with liberal-leaning public servants of their times impacted in higher numbers. Regardless, it’s not a contest. These are lives. We must work together to end political violence so we can someday say, “This is who we used to be, but aren’t anymore.”
Pam Rak
McMurray