Political violence is a subliminal fear for some N.C. Democrats | Opinion
Political violence has become increasingly common in the two years since the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Federal Bureau of Investigation received more reports of hate crimes in 2021 than it has since the Islamophobia that followed the Sept. 11 attacks. In 2022, that violence extended to family when Paul Pelosi, husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was attacked at home.
Our collective memory of Jan. 6 may be primarily tied to Washington, but the nation’s capital was not the only site of tension. Twenty-four protests at state capitols happened that same day, with varying degrees of attendance and potential for violence.
That day, and that kind of violence, is something N.C. House Minority Leader Robert Reives (D-Chatham) has dwelled on in the two years since. Particularly, he tells me, he thinks about it as someone who is “easier to identify” as a Democrat — an older Black man with one of the highest-ranking leadership roles in the General Assembly.
As the General Assembly prepares for the upcoming long session, I asked other legislators if they had similar anxieties. Most didn’t, but the potential for violence is still in the back of their minds.
State Senator Natalie Murdock (D-Durham) says political violence isn’t something she’s experienced personally, but has heard about from her day job at Women’s Democracy Lab. She has spoken with legislators in other states who have been told to wear bulletproof vests, or other women of color who have been arrested for speaking to their constituents at a protest outside the building by the police who are supposed to protect them. It is even something she thinks about when considering filing bills.
“I’m a young Black woman, so for me, the risks are always going to be greater just on a regular day,” she told me, “but then you’re going to one up it, and say, ‘Oh, now I’m actually going to go after an issue,’ where folks may quite literally take matters into their own hands.”
There have been threats and intimidation tactics at the local level, too. Apex leadership received threats last year when Apex Pride planned to host a drag story hour at the town’s second annual pride festival. Surry County Board of Elections director Michella Huff had her job and pay threatened by county commissioners who assumed she helped steal the election. There were school board members across the country who decided not to seek re-election because of the intimidation they confronted.
Still, Murdock points out that municipal elected officials are able to rely on their local police departments. N.C. Capitol Police have jurisdiction across the state, but they can’t check on leaders in Asheville or Wilmington as quickly as they can check on politicians who live in the Triangle.
Rep. Terry Brown Jr. (D-Mecklenburg) says that he has more anxieties about something happening to his wife, especially when she drives his car that has NCGA tags. On the other hand, he says, politicians shouldn’t be completely separate from their constituents.
“I want to make sure that we’re able to put those protections in place, but I also don’t want to make an egalitarian class of politicians either, where none of our information is public,” Brown told me. Recently, he says, he’s noted how much language can affect the public’s ability to incite violence — for that reason, he avoids “us versus them” language, and metaphors related to fighting.
“If we’re using that language metaphorically, and the policy fights and things like that, a lot of people who are watching on television can take that a little bit too literally,” he tells me, noting that he sees plausible deniability arguments like that as a lawyer.
The United States has always had political violence, and it has not always been from the left. But the attack on the U.S. Capitol, led by factions of right-wing extremists and white nationalists, actualizes the threat for Democratic lawmakers. As we look ahead to national and state-level legislative sessions, it’s a threat that will linger in the back of everyone’s minds — especially those who are outspoken Democrats.
