The assassination of Charlie Kirk, an American right-wing, Christian influencer, by an unknown gunman at Utah Valley University on Wednesday was the latest iteration an old plague of political violence in America. It is woven into the nation’s fabric; from the assassinations of Lincoln and Kennedy, to the murders of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. In recent years it has reared its head again, from the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, assassination attempts against U.S. President Trump, and the murders of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband this past June.
