Yes, this is who we are: America’s 250-year history of political violence

Punishment by tar and feather of Thomas Ditson, who purchased a gun from a British soldier in Boston in March 1775. Interim Archives/Getty Images

The day after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University, commentators repeated a familiar refrain: “This isn’t who we are as Americans.”

Others similarly weighed in. Whoopi Goldberg on “The View” declared that Americans solve political disagreements peacefully: “This is not the way we do it.”