Remembering Charlie Kirk

The assassination of Charlie Kirk struck down a young husband and father, and we grieve for his widow and two young children. In the United States of America, a young husband and father should be able to go to work, engage in debate about ideas, and then return home to his family.

The assassination also sought to strike a blow against the fundamental freedoms Americans hold dear. The images of Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University show a diverse crowd of young men and women choosing to assemble peacefully to listen, discuss, question, and debate ideas openly. They rightfully expected to be safe in doing so. One member of the crowd, however, had a murderous objective—one that has since been applauded inhumanly by others online.

The assassination of Charlie Kirk aimed to silence ideas through violence. May it instead rally Americans to revive commitment to those principles in our Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Photo: Charlie Kirk speaking with attendees at the 2023 Young Women’s Leadership Summit by Gage Skidmore under CC BY-SA 2.0. 

The opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily represent the views of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.