America Returns to Its Violent Normal

Violence is only permissible here when it’s state-sanctioned

Police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 29, 2020. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

I find myself once again struggling with the American definition of violence. With who gets to define what violence is, and what it looks like. Some of this is because violence is so often discussed only as action, and not inaction: Protesters in the streets, but not institutional neglect. Violence…