No Requiem / No Filter
If you are posting online about how we should all be expressing empathy for Charlie Kirk and his family, I need you to hear how you sound to people who have been actively harmed by that man's vile crusades over the last 10+ years.
Would you have said any of the following things to WWII concentration camp survivors after Hitler died?
- "Be the bigger person!"
- "Choose kindness, not hate!"
- "He had people who loved him!"
Because—and I am trying to say this as gently as I can—that is how you sound to many of us who have either been harmed directly or have watched people we love suffer because of Charlie Kirk and people like him.
Here’s the cold, hard truth I need you to hear:
Charlie Kirk became rich, famous, and powerful by using Hitler's playbook. He stoked division and rage against vulnerable people. He called for economic, social, and judicial violence against people who don't look like him. His death means he can no longer harm millions of people.
If you wouldn't tell me to show empathy for Hitler, please don't police my thoughts/feelings/comments about Kirk—or any other neo-Nazi who may die after him.
And if you think God is offended by people speaking plain truth about evil people, some of y'all need to read the prophets. And the psalms.
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People have a right to feel what they feel, of course. If you were truly upset by Kirk's murder, I can accept that you feel that way.
And—let me be very clear—I am NOT saying Kirk should have been murdered. I'd rather see people recognize the harm they've done, publicly repent of it, and spend the rest of their lives working to undo their misdeeds.
But if you haven't walked in the shoes of people who have:
- Lost a beloved child to gun violence
- Been assaulted for being trans
- Had white supremacists shouting racial slurs at them
- Had hateful men screaming "Your body, MY choice!" while you are just trying to go about your life
...Maybe you should sit out this discussion about the "appropriate" way to speak about the dead.
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Did I laugh when I got the news that Kirk was dead by gun violence? Yes—yes, I did. The irony was simply too delicious.
Does that make me a terrible person? Maybe. 🤷🏼♀️
But I'm not going to cosplay sympathy/empathy I don't feel. I live my empathy every day, and—in direct opposition to the Charlie Kirks of the world—I've been working my entire adult life to make this county a place where everyone can thrive. I put my empathy to work in organizing/advocating/voting for policies that would make life so much better for everyone who isn’t a millionaire/billionaire.
I vote every. single. time. on behalf of not only the marginalized but also the vast majority of Trump voters, even though they will never do that for me. I vote for living wages, proportional taxes, affordable housing, bodily autonomy for everyone, free healthcare/childcare, excellent schools, clean air/water, public parks/libraries—some days the list feels endless.
And I have supported gun control since the 1980s. If Charlie Kirk and his minions hadn’t worked so hard to prevent people like me from being successful, I dare say he would be peacefully tucking his children into bed tonight.
If you don't want people to think or speak ill of you when you die, maybe you should try living a better life...
As I said....the irony is thick.
Charlie Kirk was a proud white nationalist who counted the gun deaths of children as "necessary" so that he could continue to worship that metal phallus that seems to make small men lose whatever humanity they may once have possessed.
And don’t forget that he stood 10 toes down for Israel’s genocide against Palestinian children and their families. He wholeheartedly supported the mass murder and deliberate starvation of tens of thousands of brown children.
Why do you think I should express a sadness over his death that I do not feel? And why do you judge me for being honest about when I say I'm glad he can't hurt anyone else?
Do I feel for Kirk’s family? His wife and two small children? Maybe—in some small, abstract, and intellectual way. But his wife knew who he was when she married him—and I am well aware of what folks like the Kirks think of me and the people *I* love. I guarantee you, nobody in that orbit would stop to piss on me if I was on fire.
And the truth is that I don’t need to offer the Kirks any empathy. They have an army of wealthy, white supremacists who will shower them with whatever they need. And—let’s be honest here—they don’t want my empathy. In their eyes, I’m a “radical leftist” and an enemy of their state, who must ultimately be destroyed.
I can promise you that I won't be pulling the trigger to end any of them. It’s MAGAts who turn their guns on their own or murder innocent people like Minnesota state Representative Melissa Hortman, her spouse, Mark, and their dog, Gilbert.
But I WILL be glad that they can no longer do such immense harm. No tears shed.
And—for the record—I think this perspective is entirely in line with my faith. I can believe that Charlie Kirk was a beloved child of God and still refuse to overlook that he was a selfish, warped, and twisted man who did vile things that hurt vulnerable people.
Whitewashing evil is complicity in it. Erasing the evil that people have done just because they are dead—or a husband—or a father—ensures that evil will continue.
And demanding that victims of evil feign sadness over the death of the perpetrator of that evil is violence. Full stop.
I hope this helps.