The attempted murder of mayor hopeful Craig Greenberg is a reckoning moment for Louisville

Louisville, Kentucky, has become one of the most violent cities in America. So violent, in fact, that one of its most vocal gun control activists—a Black Lives Matter protestor who had been promoted by the local progressive establishment for years—attempted to murder a Democratic candidate for mayor on Valentine’s Day.

Quintez Brown, age 21, allegedly opened fire at close range on candidate Craig Greenberg at his campaign office. A bullet tore through Greenberg’s clothing as his staff scrambled to barricade the door; it was a miracle no one was killed. Brown was charged with attempted murder and wanton endangerment.

The shooting is but the latest instance of political violence in America, where activists take their grievances to unacceptable extremes.

And it’s another case where we are all need to be honest about what happened.

For such a young person, Brown had lived a very public life. He wrote for his college paper and The Courier Journal. He appeared on MSNBC. He met several progressive luminaries, like Barack Obama, Al Sharpton and Kentucky Senate candidate Charles Booker. 

He was showered with attention and, somewhere along the way, taught to deeply mistrust Republicans, white people and institutions. And that he would be rewarded with more attention if he eloquently expressed those views.

“Where I come from…it’s like a war zone,” Brown told MSNBC’s Joy Reid in 2018 when talking about the kind of gun violence that he would later participate in.

“Kentucky's concealed carry law shows your life doesn't matter to gun-loving Republicans,” blared a headline on a 2019 piece carried on these pages. Another headline read: “Quit asking whether white men are racists and instead just hold them accountable.”

Mayor hopeful Greenberg doesn't want his shooting to divide Louisville. It's already begunWhat we know about the attempted shooting of Louisville mayor candidate Craig Greenberg'Shaken but safe': Mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg describes shooting at campaign officeActivist Quintez Brown charged in attempted shooting of Louisville mayor hopeful GreenbergKentucky politicians: Attack on Louisville mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg 'terrifying'

In 2020, Brown again found himself in the spotlight when Black Lives Matter protests and unrest paralyzed downtown Louisville for months. Brown was right in the middle of it, one the most visible and media-friendly activists.

In 2021, Brown disappeared for two weeks, prompting a media manhunt as the local reporters who promoted him constantly tweeted and wrote about his disappearance. Rumors circulated that he had been killed by police. He was eventually located on a park bench in New York City. 

Brown reemerged in 2022, running for local office and apparently drifting toward even more radical politics than before. The Daily Beast reported that Brown had been meeting recently with a Black nationalist organization with a long history of antisemitic views.

We don’t know for sure what led Brown to allegedly shoot at Greenberg, a prominent figure in Louisville’s Jewish community, but it is fair to ask whether this was a hate crime.

Is it any wonder that Brown’s story ended this way? He was present during the civil unrest in 2020 that was frequently labeled “peaceful,” even though we could all see the smashed and boarded up windows, the looted businesses, and the street fires. Two cops were shot. What did he learn there? That violence will be excused by many as long as the mob’s cause is judged to be right or moral.

This is a reckoning moment for Louisville. We must snap out of this alternate reality, discuss these truths openly, and stop justifying and rationalizing violence for those who want instant political gratification. In some way, Brown’s alleged attempt at murdering Greenberg is the logical conclusion of the 2020 protests, and the natural culmination of the kinds of influences to which he had been exposed.

“…the struggle against the negative forces of genocide and fascism will not end at the ballot box of the ruling class,” Brown wrote last month on his Medium account. In retrospect, it was pretty clear where this man’s life was headed.

It’s no different than the insurrectionists of Jan. 6. The Republican National Committee passed a resolution calling their actions “legitimate political discourse,” as though we all didn’t see the Capitol being smashed and defiled, or the cops being beaten. What happened was the natural conclusion of Donald Trump’s campaign to overturn the election based on unadulterated lies.

No one knows the precise motivation today, but the core question I have is whether the alleged attempt on Greenberg’s life happened because Brown was taught to mistrust institutions and to evidently embrace violence as a path to justice. Jan. 6 happened because the protesters were taught to mistrust institutions and to embrace violence as a path to power. And we are all asked to call it something other than what it is.

These situations fester and end in disaster because Americans live in fear. We’ve been bullied not to stray from certain narratives, or else you’ll be ostracized, canceled and even banned from social media.

Challenge the “peaceful” protesters and you become a racist. Challenge Trump and you become a RINO (Republican in Name Only). Our national discourse has been hijacked by political bullies and their media enforcers, and ordinary Americans must recover it immediately. The vast middle of America, those who live between the 20-yard lines, must rise up and say enough is enough.

This moment requires courage, like that displayed by Greenberg and his staff on the day of the shooting. If we fail, if narratives and bullies prevail, God help us. Violence in pursuit of political goals will become the rule, not the exception.