Editor’s note: This column contains reference to violence and quotes a congressperson’s use of a transphobic slur.
I really didn’t want to write about this.
So much has already been said about the assassination of Charlie Kirk that I really wanted to leave it alone; let his fans have their period of mourning and the rest of us can go on with our lives. But in the immediate aftermath of this shocking event, Republican elected officials immediately began issuing misinformation and threats, insisting —without any evidence at the time— that the shooter was a “radical leftist,” and trying desperately to link the shooter with a “trans ideology.”
While investigators were trying to put the pieces together, and Democrats were calling for peace and non-violence, Republicans began stating that this was a declaration of “war” against them. First, we were told that the bullets/casings had pro-trans messages on them, supposed “proof” of the shooter’s political leanings. (We later learned that this was patently false.)
An aerial view of the tent where Charlie Kirk was speaking when he was shot, cordoned off by police tape. [KSL News Utah, CC 4.0]
Republican Congressperson Nancy Mace immediately made her position clear when she said, “Democrats own what happened today,” and “It sounds like the shooter was a tranny, or pro-tranny.” The finger pointing — and the wild insults — had officially begun.
When the shooter was revealed to be Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old straight, white cisgender man from a conservative family, the Republican’s narrative immediately changed, shifting from calls of civil war and revenge to calls for prayer.
Now that alleged text messages from Robinson to his rumored-to-be-trans roommate have been released to the press there is again a drive to blame trans people. I expect that we will all see a lot more information come out in the days and weeks to come, as this is very much an active investigation. At the time of this writing, no official determination has been made by law enforcement as to any specific motivation for the killing.
Whether the killer turns out to be on the Left or the Right, this is a clear example of how Republican compassion is strictly compartmentalized, available exclusively for politically conservative straight white folks (especially those that claim some allegiance with “Jesus”) but patently denied to anyone else. It’s sickening yet predictable from a party that spends its time and energy casting the most vulnerable as threats and scapegoats. This is Christian Nationalism on full display.
In the days since the shooting, there has been another disturbing development as Congressional Republicans, including officials in the White House, began calling for the firing of anyone who they deemed to have been “celebrating” Kirk’s murder. The irony, of course, is that — prior to this latest shooting — the Republicans have largely enjoyed a narrative as the promoters of “free speech,” even when it pertains to what has been called “hate speech,” something that Kirk most certainly engaged in.
Now I am seeing even some who think of themselves as “centrists” defending Kirk and crying foul when anyone criticizes the man or even quotes his numerous hateful screeds. They clutch their pearls and insist that their guy Charlie was an upstanding Christian citizen who didn’t engage in violence but just wanted an honest “debate.” Surely, the man who once said, “What we as a culture have to get back to is being able to have a reasonable disagreement, where violence is not an option,” was a defender of individual rights and dignities, right?
Sadly, this simply isn’t true. There are many (MANY!) examples of the hateful rhetoric that Kirk espoused. Let’s take a look at just a few:
“If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified.”
“Happening all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact. It’s happening more and more.”
“I have a very, very radical view on this, but I can defend it, and I’ve thought about it. We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s.”
“The great replacement strategy, which is well under way every single day in our southern border, is a strategy to replace white rural America with something different.”
“Black women do not have brain processing power to be taken seriously. You have to go steal a white person’s slot.”
“Thou shall lay with another man, shall be stoned to death. Just saying… The chapter…affirms God’s perfect law when it comes to sexual matters.” (LINK)
When commenting on the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who was murdered by a police officer and captured on video, Kirk said: “Telling how so many pastors were mad that George Floyd overdosed but don’t care a white woman was brutally murdered by a 14 count repeat offender.” (Floyd did not die of an “overdose”; that was a blatant lie to serve his racist narrative.)
And lest some believe that his hateful rhetoric was limited to his early career, it is telling to note that that just moments before being shot, he was (again) trying to tie trans people to mass shootings:
ATTENDEE: Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?
KIRK: Too many. [Applause]
ATTENDEE: In America, it’s five. Now, five is a lot, right, I’m going to give you — I’m going to give you some credit. Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?
KIRK: Counting or not counting gang violence?
Kirk was shot immediately after this and never heard the answer (5215, according to gunviolencearchive.org).
If those who need more evidence, I suggest they go look for it. There’s a lot. Try Google. It’s so easy even a Republican can do it. (But of course they won’t.)
When these quotes (and so many more) have been shared online, they have often been met with Kirk’s fans questioning their validity and then crying that these have been taken “out of context.” Please, will someone tell us what the correct context is, then? Because it seems crystal clear, to me. Charlie Kirk was a racist, misogynistic, transphobe, who stoked political violence all while keeping his lily-white hands seemingly clean.
When I shared my initial reaction to his killing online, I was immediately attacked by several who claimed I was “celebrating” his murder. Most of these were random people who I assume were actually bots. But I received a couple of these jabs from people I knew, people whom I thought knew better or at least were capable of greater reading comprehension. I have unfriended several people in the wake of this event, not because our political opinions differ, but because they revealed themselves to be completely and willfully ignorant of the harm that they themselves participate in by upholding these harmful views.
To my straight, white, cisgender male readers: If you have not been in Kirk’s metaphorical crosshairs then count yourself as privileged and maybe listen to others when they tell you how horrible this man has been to them. To condemn others for having harsh feelings for someone who was so negatively influential to so many is to be tone deaf at best and makes you a collaborator at worst.
As I have said multiple times online: I do not condone the killing of Charlie Kirk. I think his murder makes America so much worse, even though I believe the world is better off without his hateful rhetoric.
Political violence is on the rise and while the MAGA Republicans would like to pin this on the “Radical Left,” the statistic are clear that —overwhelmingly— such acts of political extremism come from the Right. (54%, compared to 22% for left-wingers; but don’t expect the White House to give us these figures, as they recently deleted the data from their website.)
We clearly have a problem with extremist violence, but the answer isn’t to stick our heads in the sand and mindlessly blame our political enemies. We need to confront the problem head on. That means looking at the root causes and understanding the perpetrators of said acts. This isn’t happening right now. The current administration is still targeting the Left and pushing a narrative that this was the act of a shadowy leftist cabal of Antifa and trans supporters and not the act of a single gunman with their own agenda. This is propaganda, plain and simple.
As more evidence emerges, we will be able to piece together a more complete picture of the shooter and his motivations, but for now all we have are MAGA/Republican officials and their violent fanfic fantasies which are fueling even more divisiveness, driving a wedge in our already fractured country.
It is worth noting that immediately after the shooting, many Democrats were quick to condemn the killing, but when compared to political violence perpetuated against Democratic lawmakers, such as the vicious bludgeoning of Paul Pelosi, or the murder of Melissa Hortman, the Democratic Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, Republicans have not followed suit. In response to the Pelosi attack, Charlie Kirk said of the attacker:
“And why is he still in jail? Why has he not been bailed out? By the way, if some amazing patriot out there in San Francisco or the Bay Area wants to be a midterm hero, someone should go and bail this guy out… Bail him out and then go ask him some questions.” (LINK)
True, Kirk also said the attack was “not right,” which is a far cry from condemning it, especially when he used the incident to perpetuate a debunked conspiracy theory that Mr. Pelosi was gay and this was a sexual encounter gone wrong.
The Right is regularly gleeful when violence comes for the Left but clutches their pearls when it happens to one of them. It is the very definition of hypocrisy.
Why am I writing all this? Because I think it is vitally important that we not sanitize the legacy of Charlie Kirk and turn him into a martyr. Many are trying to do just that, citing his commitment to God and Jesus as if that exonerates him from the multitude of demonstrably evil things the man has said. “They’re only words,” I keep hearing from my politically right-wing citizens. “He never promoted violence.”
Look between the lines, I say. He stoked violence and hatred while also claiming to be “just asking questions.”
No, Mr. Kirk, was not “just asking questions.” He made a career of racist, hateful rhetoric that made him a lot of money. Now his widow is saying she will champion his cause and legacy. I can only hope that she will live long enough to see the error of both of their ways.
Too many people have been killed already. We need to come together and fight the real enemies: the oligarchs that are turning this country to a fascist nation. No political party is perfect but only one is currently creating concentration camps and defying the Constitution. You might have a distaste for the Democrats (I know I do) but right now they are the only viable weapon we have in the fight for the survival of our democracy.
Though Kirk himself hated the idea, what we need right now is a practice of radical empathy. We need to approach even our enemies with a state of compassion if we ever hope to mend what is broken in our collective spirit. I have empathy for Kirk and his family even as I stand strong against the hateful racism and transphobia that he and his group have perpetuated. We can be empathetic and fight against the hateful forces that would cripple our world. This is a part of my own spiritual practice, to have compassion even for evil. It’s not easy, but this is the work that I feel we collectively need. We need healing as well as justice. We may be in for a long, uphill battle, but this is what I believe we are called to do.
Healing cannot happen, however, when one side blatantly lies and misinforms. And us calling that out isn’t hatred, it’s love: love for the truth, love for humanity, and love for our country.
May Charlie Kirk’s spirit be enlightened to the evil he perpetuated in life. May his family learn to love those who are unlike themselves. And may the United States of America finally move toward those ideals upon which she was supposedly built; freedom and justice for ALL, not just those with white skin and penises. That is the American Dream now. May we all work together to finally make it a reality.
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