Regarding Chalie Kirk's Death

 BREAKING: A prominent Black influencer goes viral with a powerful post about Charlie Kirk, condemning the assassination as "absolutely horrific" while being bluntly honest about how history will remember the right-wing demagogue.

It's crucial that we push back on attempts to whitewash this man's hateful legacy...

"America lost Charlie Kirk a couple hours ago, violently, tragically, and in a moment that was recorded, and is circulating social. I will not post it because it’s absolutely horrific," wrote The Hungry Black Man wrote to his 300,000 followers on Facebook.

Kirk, a hardcore pro-gun advocate and professional racebaiter, was tragically shot and killed yesterday at Utah Valley University. The killer remains at large.

"Charlie was not a figure of grace or empathy," continued The Hungry Black Man. "History will not remember him as a voice of unity or a champion of justice. He will be remembered for the words he chose, words that often wounded and divided. As he lay bleeding out onstage, those words, once weapons, became dust."

"When he was shot, he was speaking about one of America’s deepest wounds: mass shootings," he went on. "When asked about school shootings, his response was not measured compassion but deflection. 'Counting or not counting gang violence?' he said, as if the grief of families who send their children to school only to bury them could be minimized by a technicality. And then, almost instantly, a shot rang out. He fell, his voice instantly silenced."

"This is not eulogy-flattery," he continued. "This is memory. We remember the things he said about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: 'MLK was awful. He’s not a good person.' We remember his calculation on gun violence: 'I think it’s worth … some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.' These are not the words of healing, not the words of unity. And yet they, too, are part of the ledger he leaves behind."

"So what do we do with a legacy like this? First, we tell the truth. We acknowledge what he said, how he said it, and the hurt it caused," he went on. "Second, we resist the temptation to let violence beget violence. For if this act tells us anything, it is that political violence has become a siren call to the unhinged, a spark they would gladly use to ignite the tinderbox of racial and class resentment. Today it was a conservative voice silenced. Tomorrow, it could just as easily be a progressive one. We must not let this become the currency of politics."

"We should also understand the warning buried in this moment," he wrote. "What we say matters. How we live matters. The words we choose, the causes we defend, the way we treat one another, these become the bricks of our legacy. Kirk’s words were often sharp, sometimes cruel, but they are now etched into his memory as surely as his death. Let the rest of us take note: legacies should be rooted in love, in justice, in equality, not in division or deflection."

"Rest, if you can, Mr. Kirk. May your final act teach us something lasting: that even in grief, we are called to choose better," the post concluded.

Kirk's assassination is a dark moment for America and it's a direct result of allowing a country awash in guns to descend into hyper-polarized politicization. His death is a tragedy, but so is every death caused by gun violence. If we want to create a safer, more peaceful nation we must turn away from the hateful rhetoric that Kirk spread and embrace a vision of America where equality and understanding are celebrated.

The Truth

Secrecy

This is a portion of the speech that President John F. Kennedy gave at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on April 27, 1961. "The President and the Press" before the American Newspaper Publishers Association. (h/t Louis Maistros)

The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and secret proceedings.

We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it.

And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.

(...)For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence--on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations. Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed. No President should fear public scrutinity of his program. For from that scrutiny comes understanding; and from that understanding comes support or opposition. And both are necessary.

I am not asking your newspapers to support the Administration, but I am asking your help in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the American people. For I have complete confidence in the response and dedication of our citizens whenever they are fully informed. I not only could not stifle controversy among your readers-- I welcome it. This Administration intends to be candid about its errors; for as a wise man once said: "An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it." We intend to accept full responsibility for our errors; and we expect you to point them out when we miss them. Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed-- and no republic can survive. That is why the Athenian lawmaker Solon decreed it a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy. And that is why our press was protected by the First (emphasized) Amendment-- the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution-- not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and sentimental, not to simply "give the public what it wants"--but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold educate and sometimes even anger public opinion. This means greater coverage and analysis of international news-- for it is no longer far away and foreign but close at hand and local. It means greater attention to improved understanding of the news as well as improved transmission. And it means, finally, that government at all levels, must meet its obligation to provide you with the fullest possible information outside the narrowest limits of national security...

(...)And so it is to the printing press--to the recorder of mans deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news-- that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent.

White Privilege