The killing of Charlie Kirk is a tragedy. It may remind us of others who have been killed in senseless attacks motivated by rhetoric or political differences, but it is never ok. Reckless speech and the vilifying of those with whom we disagree exacerbate the problem, but no speech, no matter how vile, justifies violence.

I would like our politicians to understand that vilifying others who they believe have created the atmosphere which allowed this to happen is only in a perverse way justifying the violence and encourages more of the same. To that end, I was dismayed when President Trump, instead of asking us to unite as Americans against violence, chose to blame the radical left for the killing. This is as useless and destructive as blaming the radical right for the killings in Minnesota of a Democratic state legislator and her husband.

I remember listening to Bobby Kennedy, when running for President in 1968 after Martin Luther King was killed, calling for calm and understanding. He spoke as a man who had lost his brother to an assassin’s bullet, so he understood the rage many felt.

I can only hope that in the days ahead we can embrace the notion that violence like the kind that murdered Charlie Kirk is condemned as a response to speech regardless of how offensive we may find it.