BY THOMAS ELLIS II
Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika. Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok
Millions of people all over the world watched the news when Charlie Kirk, the Founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed live on the campus of Utah Valley University. Thousands of people were in attendance, including his wife Erika and their 2 children.
The killing was heinous, senseless. It sent shockwaves across the country and the world. The shooter was identified as Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old from Utah that was in a relationship with his transgender roommate.
After his death, millions of people mourned, while many others celebrated his death. Some have called him a racist, bigot, and anti-black, going on their social media pages to vent and to call him everything but a child of God, which seemed very insensitive to his family, friends, and supporters.
It’s ironic that he was killed on a college campus. after he himself thought that he might be shot and killed on a college campus while out speaking and giving those who disagree with him a chance to speak and express themselves.
Charlie Kirk’s views were different from other people because he was a conservative, conservative in his thinking, conservative in his lifestyle, and conservative in his politics, but he also professed a strong belief in Jesus, and his faith in God.
Even with all the people who disagreed with him and his views, he would put his life on the line, attend many colleges, give the students the microphone and let them ask him questions on his beliefs, and why he believed what he did, especially when a lot of them and adults did not agree with him.
Now, while people all over champion freedom of speech, Charlie Kirk was killed because of his speech: his speech against the transgender lifestyle, his speech against DEI, his speech against the government taking care of the people, his speech of what he though was the radical left, his speech on how he felt against racism. As we all can see, freedom of speech is not free, and if you’re speaking against certain issues, it can cost you your life.
The Memorial for Charlie Kirk was held on Sunday, September 21 in Glendale, Arizona. Inside the football stadium, there was music, speeches from his close friends, members of Turning Pont USA, political figures, clergy, as well as Vice President J.D. Vance and the President of the United States himself, Donald J. Trump.
The Vice President and President both said in their remarks that they would not have been elected if it wasn’t for Charlie Kirk, and how he hit the ground running. He got the young college students registered, excited, and gave them the opportunity to join the conservative party and vote for the Trump-Vance ticket this past election.
Several of the speakers talked about the faith that Charlie had, and how he believed in putting God and Jesus above all things. They said that he would be missed, but they vowed to keep his memory and his work with Turning Point USA going, with his wife Erika Kirk, now the CEO and leader.
When Erika came to the stage, she had tears in her eyes. I don’t think anybody could imagine the strength that it took to stand in front of thousands of people in the stands, not to mention the thousands outside and the millions that were streaming across the world. She had to speak about her husband that was shot in the neck and killed right in front of her eyes along with their children watching.
Erika said that she will take the reins of the organization and carry it on so that it will be better and stronger than ever. She told a story of how every Saturday, Charlie would leave her love notes, and even though he would be out of the country or state many times, she always made sure that when he came back from his trips, he had a home – but not just any home, a welcoming home. She spoke about how Charlie was the love of her life, how he loved her and their children very much, and that their faith in God is what kept the marriage strong.
But the best take away from the memorial was when Erika spoke from her heart, and when speaking about the shooter, she used a spiritual passage from the Bible when Jesus was hanging on the cross. Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34
Then she told everyone in the stadium and all those millions of people streaming, watching on social media and television, “I forgive him.”
