PART I: Sage Series 5524.1
When George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin in 2012, President Barack Obama lamented the tragedy and Black activists began to organize an international movement called “Black Lives Matter.” In response, opponents of this movement created slogans like “All lives matter” and “Blue lives matter” to emphasize that the killing of Black people should continue without scrutiny or outrage. In the suburbs and rural areas that existed to reject Black participation in democratic society, the consensus that “only white lives matter” grew. This determination to restore Jim Crow society in the twenty-first century, specifically at the expense of Black people, immigrants, and women, now controls the future of the United States and the world. In this world, George Zimmerman and his admirers have become a version of DC Comics’ Emperor Joker – a criminal psychopath with unlimited power.
The seeds of this moment stretch back to the backlash against the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954 and 1955. Massive resistance was the rallying cry for the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizens’ Councils to resist the desegregation of public schools in the South through 1974. This movement set the table for the transformation of the conservative evangelical movement and the rise of Christian conservatism between 1978 and 1994. When Newt Gingrich led the Republican Party’s control of the House of Representatives in 1995, it set the table for extremist militias to organize resistance against the federal government. This social movement led directly to the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building by Timothy McVeigh in 1995.
A rising tide of violence crossed into America’s schools with the Columbine shooting in 1999. Over the last two decades, the continuing violence across society became a regular part of the daily routine. Suicides, murders, and casual brutality grew through the expansion of the police state and waves of mass incarceration nationwide. The refusal to engage in serious policy discussions about this violence led to the repeal of an assault weapons ban in 2004. Even in foreign policy, a surge in aggressive militarism in response to global terrorism made the horror of warfare an acceptable part of public conversations.
One of the darkest days was December 14, 2012. The Sandy Hook school massacre ended the lives of 26 people, including 20 children. A national coalition rose to condemn the violence and call for federal legislation to prevent future incidents. Ten years later, on May 24, 2022, the Uvalde shooting killed 19 people, including 17 children. Mass shootings became a daily occurrence in the United States. Over the last two years, the horror of global war has dominated nightly news and social media, creating a consensus against the dignity and value of human life.
Leaders and people of good faith must recognize this time as an era of “stochastic civil war.” The violent and the unbalanced have built a coalition of terrorism and disinformation led by dictators and criminals around the world. The rule of law has been shattered and cast aside. At any moment, advocates for reason and moderation may be arrested, jailed, exiled, or killed. The only response can be a massive disruption movement that ceases to recognize the legitimacy of lawlessness and corruption. Without this response, a dark century of bondage and servility awaits the vast majority of human beings.
Walter D. Greason is the Wallace Professor of History at Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN.
Genius Locus 
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