Editorial written by The Dallas Morning News Editorial Board
The bloodshed of political violence has come to Dallas. It feels like it is everywhere, and now it is in our backyard.
After writing so often about the urgency to reject political violence, we are back beseeching our neighbors and our political leaders to help stop this madness.
Early Wednesday, a shooter fired “indiscriminately” from a building adjacent to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in a targeted attack, killing two detainees and injuring another, according to authorities. Officials reportedly found the shooter dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Two innocent people are gone, and others were put at risk because someone decided their rage was more important than life itself.
We are horrified about the senseless violence and mourn those lost. We are fearful at the possibility that this attack was part of a pattern targeting law enforcement, even if no law enforcement officers were killed or injured. Such violence is a threat to civil society itself, and it cannot continue.
Federal authorities said that an unspent round found near the shooter carried an anti-ICE message. At a news conference, Sen. Ted Cruz and other officials rightfully called on the public to stop hostile rhetoric against ICE agents.
As of this writing, authorities haven’t officially named the shooter, and we know nothing about the person’s beliefs. Officials recalled a July 4 ambush on an ICE facility in Alvarado by a group of people identified as left-wing activists. That attack injured a police officer and raised widespread concern.
We were saddened and surprised that in this latest episode of violence, authorities at a news conference said almost nothing about the victims, even as reporters asked whether they were immigrant detainees. Only Cruz and Mayor Eric Johnson mentioned them at all, offering prayers for the injured and their families.
Every time we ask ourselves, how did we get here? The person who pulled the trigger and their hatred are ultimately responsible for the bloodshed. But it is easier than ever to find validation for that hatred by going online, where all flavors of extremism have been helped by algorithms and platforms unwilling to monitor their content. And our political leaders, starting with the president at the very top, are quick to call political opponents enemies. Our political opponents are not our enemies. They are people who see the world differently. They are our neighbors, our colleagues, our brothers and sisters.
We all have to stop thinking it’s the other guy. All of us are part of the problem when we point fingers, when we blame others but deflect about the failings of our own side. There is nothing righteous about that.
Our political problems, thorny as they are, can be solved. What it will take is electing leaders willing to work across the aisle and willing to speak of those they oppose with kindness and humanity. We Americans have lost sight of that, beguiled by the angriest voices talking at us through our phone screens.
We cannot counter hate with more hate. We cannot hate our political opponents. We will destroy our country and ourselves.
