“Political violence has no place in America. Period.”

“There is no place for political violence of any form in the United States.”

“Political violence has no place in our country.”

It’d be easy to devote the rest of the space to public statements Illinois politicians and parties issued in response to the terrible weekend news out of Washington, D.C.

But the reality is that political violence has quite a secure place in our society, as does violence in general. So secure, I just repurposed the opening of a June 19 column about Minnesota, a piece that referenced July 2024 when Republicans canceled a senior health fair at DeKalb High School following a threatening voicemail.

We’ll keep nesting these dolls around an obviously relevant excerpt: “Brown’s Chicken in Palatine. Lane Bryant in Tinley Park. Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora. Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. That’s just one category, and experienced news consumers can make their own lists, which might include a roll call of public buildings subject to bomb threats, as a roster of schools and libraries so affected would scarcely fit in the rest of this column or page.

“The history of actual political assassinations affecting Illinois officials is more black and white – as in before color film – like Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak being shot in Miami while leaving a speech aside President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. That was 40 years after a gunman killed Mayor Carter Harrison in his home.

“This is no defense of threats or action. Anti-violence might be my deepest-held personal position. But that comes from understanding how much we actually have normalized the scourge.”

The Sunday newspaper in my driveway was clearly tweaked close to deadline, as the Washington story was a single paragraph in the lower-right corner above a teaser for an NFL draft feature. The banner headline? “1 cop killed, 1 hurt in shooting.”

In June, state Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, attempted context:

“We won’t hear about the suicide by firearm, or the accidental shootings. We have become numb to it all. So we have to end the political violence, without question, and also we cannot lose focus on the way gun violence is rewriting what’s ‘normal’ in America.”

Morgan’s statement, however well-intended, was in conflict with itself. We are numb to it all because it’s all normal. Individual events can temporarily shock, but while outlandish violence isn’t as common as fueling your car or bringing in the mail, the reality is that despite society condemning and even punishing individual perpetrators, the violence itself is broadly tolerated and in certain, tiny corners even celebrated.

Changing a few nouns gets your public statements ready for the next unthinkable tragedy.

Copy. Paste. Numb is normal.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.