Charlie Kirk, founder and CEO of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), was assassinated at a debate on the Utah Valley College campus on September 10. Kirk was not only the founder and leader of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), but he was also a son, father, husband, and much more to many people.
Kirk, 31, made a career of traveling to college campuses to have open dialogue and debate. He was a professed Christian with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Bible and was well-versed in history and politics. He was also conservative.
Whether or not one agrees with someone else’s beliefs doesn’t justify murder. In the United States, the First Amendment protects the right to freedom of speech, and Kirk’s voice was stolen from him because his message was Christ-centered, and he spoke about traditional values. Ironically, we have seen those who don’t agree with Kirk exercising their free speech, which has included burning cities and using violence, seemingly unchecked.
So what made Kirk different from everyone else exercising their freedom in much more extreme ways? Some take advantage of the freedom we have in this country and twist it to fit a narrative as they see fit. Kirk did not act in violence; he simply used the voice God gave him and the protections promised by the US Constitution to voice his views, yet he was brutally and publicly murdered for it.
In the New York Times article “Charlie Kirk was Practicing Politics the Right Way” by Ezra Klein, Klein states, “We can live with losing an election because we believe in the promise of the next election; we can live with losing an argument because we believe that there will be another argument. Political violence imperils that.” Living in America, in a representative republic, means that if people don’t agree with people in power, they still have the comfort of knowing that elections can change that. There shouldn’t be fear of losing an argument because there’s comfort in knowing opinions can be vocalized. After what happened to Kirk, the American people will begin to fear speaking their beliefs, meaning even the right to free speech is chilled due to fear.
Disagreeing with someone’s beliefs, whether political or religious, does not justify violence. Kirk’s wife, Erika, during her live stream on September 12th, expressed that she returned home to hear their daughter ask, “Where’s daddy?” Mrs. Kirk responded with “Daddy loves you so much, Baby. He’s on a work trip with Jesus, so he can afford your blueberry budget.” What that family is dealing with right now is unfathomable. Mrs. Kirk is now widowed with 2 children, having to try to explain to her kids that their father will never return. And to make it worse, people are celebrating her husband’s death.
Whether one agrees or disagrees with him, nobody deserves to be killed the way that Charlie Kirk was for simply speaking his beliefs and having debates with people. This county is a sad place right now, and it’s extremely embarrassing and disappointing to see how little empathy people have for him and his family, because, at the end of the day, all he was doing was exercising his rights as protected by the First Amendment.
Erika Kirk has since been named the CEO of TPUSA and vows to finish what her husband, Charlie, started. Since the shooting, many have proclaimed “I am Charlie Kirk,” vowing to keep his message alive. During the Kirk memorial on September 20th, Erika publicly forgave her husband’s assassin, saying through tears and in a whisper, “That man. That young man. I forgive him.” Maybe its time to say “I am Erika Kirk,” instead, because the world is in need of her level of strength and compassion.
