The Violence We Worship

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By: Chaddrick Thomas

America doesn’t hate violence.

It celebrates it.

Funds it.

Wears it on its chest like a badge and wraps it in a flag.


What this country hates is uncontrolled violence—violence that can’t be policed, predicted, or turned into profit.

What it hates is resistance.

What it fears is the mirror.


Because if we ever stopped long enough to look at what we do in the name of justice, order, and peace—

We’d see that this country doesn’t fear violence.

It fears accountability.

We Worship Violence That Protects Power


From football fields to Hollywood scripts to military parades and prison expansions, America teaches us that violence is strength—so long as it’s vertical.

It teaches us:

  • A cop who kills is a hero.

  • A soldier who bombs is brave.

  • A CEO who starves workers is “smart business.”

  • A judge who hands out decades is “tough on crime.”


This isn’t about safety. It’s about sanctifying state power.

And We Dehumanize Those Who Disrupt That Power


People fighting back are labeled “animals.”

Protestors are called “thugs.”

Communities rising up after decades of abuse are dismissed as “ungrateful,” “out of control,” “dangerous.”


All while the state continues to murder, evict, starve, and disappear people—legally.

Fanon Was Right—The System Cannot Be Reformed


Frantz Fanon didn’t believe in reforming colonialism.

He knew you can’t tweak a violent system into peace.

You have to dismantle it.


What we need is not a softer version of brutality.

We need a different world entirely.

A world where justice means healing, not punishment.

Where protection doesn’t come with a badge and a gun.

Where liberation is practiced daily.

CALL TO ACTION: Stop Worshiping the Violence That Kills Us

  1. Reject the narratives that frame state violence as honorable.

  2. See through “justice” that protects property over people.

  3. Name and unlearn the violence we’ve internalized—from toxic masculinity to carceral thinking.

  4. Build power rooted in care, not control.

This Isn’t the End—It’s the Mirror


You’ve made it through this series.

You’ve seen the layers of violence—top-down, systemic, structural, emotional.

And now, the real work begins.


Ask yourself:

  • What do I call “justice” that’s really violence?

  • What do I call “safety” that’s really fear?

  • What am I building that’s different?


Because revolution starts when we stop worshiping power—and start building community.


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