Unpacking the Legacy of Charlie Kirk

When I first heard about the shooting I had no idea who Charlie Kirk was. When I saw a photo of him with his young family my heart sank. He was young and had so much life ahead of him. I learned that he, like me, grew up in Illinois, he in a democractic part of the state, me in a more conservative part of the state. That he travelled with the sole mission of engaging in public debates about beliefs he held without exception. It reminded me of myself during the 2016 election when I made more friends than I lost, not because we agreed, but because we passionately, but respectfully disagreed. If I'm honest I see him as the opposite side of the same coin. While I do not agree with many of his positions, I do agree with his rights to express those positions because the First Amendment matters to me.

I learned that many historically marginalized groups heard his nationalistic religious right rhetoric as hate speech, designed to further divide a country and through stereotypes that criminalize people of color and a call for the subjugation of all women.

While the right is quick to champion free speech when they are doing the talking, they seem to maximize chilling free speech when someone that does not agree with them is talking.