Death threats against Thom Tillis are shameful. We hope he responds in the right way | Opinion

In today’s political climate, when our country feels more divided than ever, disagreements are bound to happen. We argue with our family members, our neighbors and people we’ve never met. We get frustrated with public officials when they make decisions we don’t think are good for us or our community.

But those disagreements should never turn violent. That’s why it’s unsettling to hear reports of U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis receiving death threats from people who disagree with him. Audio shared with and published in The News & Observer shows people leaving vulgar and threatening messages for Tillis since the last election. The threats have reportedly even extended to his staff, his kids and his grandkids.

Authorities also are investigating death threats made against Jefferson Griffin, the Republican judge contesting last year’s N.C. Supreme Court election. Griffin’s attorney told WRAL that he has received hateful letters that include death threats and threats of other violent acts, as well as threats on social media platforms.

We condemn that behavior. Threats of violence against public officials are wrong, and they’re not something politicians should have to accept as part of signing up for public service. People should be able to voice what they think — and voice it strongly — but that discourse should never include threats to Tillis, Griffin or anyone else.

What Tillis is experiencing is sadly not new, nor rare — it seems to be more a part of our discourse than ever. Public officials deal with it on a regular basis, especially those at the center of controversy or under increased political pressure. But it also happens to journalists, activists and other public-facing figures who are harassed and threatened in vile ways, including on social media. The fact that it occurs so often these days, and to so many people, should concern everyone.

At the same time, it’s important for Tillis and others to do more than just point at the worst of those voices. At the moment, members of Congress are dealing with an influx of calls and emails from people who are concerned about what’s going on in Washington right now. The call volume is so high that people who try calling frequently get busy signals or cannot leave a voicemail at all because the voicemail box is full.

While some of those calls may include the wrongful vulgar and threatening messages that Tillis and his staff referenced, we’re certain the majority of people flooding his phone lines right now are just ordinary people who, in their own way, are feeling threatened, too. They feel threats to their livelihoods as federal jobs are indiscriminately cut or threatened, to their well-being and their families’ as life-saving research is jeopardized by those same cuts, and to their democracy and government as the president and his administration seem poised to ignore the Constitution and perhaps even the judges who uphold it. They’re calling because they’re angry, sad and scared, and they want the politicians who represent them to answer their questions and hear their concerns.

Of course, the response to those fears should never be to harass or threaten a public official or anyone else. But the rest of the people who are contacting their representatives, just as they are supposed to do, deserve to be heard. We hope that Tillis and his colleagues don’t use those threats — wrong as they are — as a reason to dismiss the pain and fear others are experiencing.