Consider seeds of violence, says AFSC
‘Violence inherently devalues people and prevents trust-building efforts among communities.’
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has called on the US to examine seeds of violence there, following the events leading up to Joe Biden’s inauguration when white supremacists and Donald Trump supporters broke into the US Capitol building to stop Congress from certifying the results of the presidential election. ‘While we grapple with the legacy and current fruits of white supremacist thinking, we must also address the ways in which our culture affirms and perpetuates violence’, AFSC says in a blog post on its website. ‘Violence inherently devalues people and prevents trust-building efforts among communities.’
According to AFSC, the events on 6 January, and the tensions that preceded it, were shocking but not surprising, ‘given the increasing violence, dehumanizing rhetoric, and outright lies that have been normalized over days, weeks, and years leading up to this moment’.
‘Our screens and airwaves have been filled with rhetoric that devalues the ideas, humanity, and needs of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC); women; LGBTQIA people; non-Christians; government leaders and workers. This demagoguery has created fertile ground for a rise in white supremacist violence.’
‘Our nation needs to undertake the long and difficult task of dismantling white supremacy and all forms of oppression’, said AFSC. It calls on leaders at all levels of society ‘to speak out against the baseless conspiracy theories about the election’ and pledge support for ‘nonviolence and building up democratic institutions’.
