Since the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, there have been statements from white people across the political spectrum, including President-elect Joe Biden, that repeat variations of the same refrain: This is not who we are. I’ve long found these sorts of proclamations baffling, because if one is honest about the history of the United States, it prominently features white violence , terrorism , and revanchism , particularly toward Black people , Indigenous people , and women . Such attitudes have been codified within our laws and institutions, and it has taken enormous, multigenerational work to chip away at the bigotry that metastasizes within our nation. Even now, we witness the defanging of the Voting Rights Act or the Violence Against Women Act, attacks on Black churches, synagogues and mosques, and the daily deployment of police officers on calls that originate with racist grievance . Donald Trump supporters swarm the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on...