An event entitled “A Vigil for Peace” was held in Charlie Kirk’s memory at Darien Town Hall on September 21.   We honor all calls for peace.

Charlie Kirk should be alive because no one should be murdered for their opinions.

It doesn’t matter that Kirk told young men to expect submission from their wives, accused Jewish-Americans of funding “anti-white causes,” and argued that the Civil Rights Act was a “huge mistake.”

It doesn’t matter that he called transgender people “a throbbing middle finger to God,” believed that gay couples shouldn’t be allowed to adopt, and said “The Democrat Party supports everything that God hates”.

It doesn’t matter that he believed it’s “worth the cost” of gun violence to have an unlimited right to firearms, called vaccine mandates authoritarianism, and declared Joe Biden should be “given the death penalty.”

Charlie Kirk should be alive.

His legacy IS alive. As we condemn his murder, we must be honest about that legacy: an infrastructure centered around Turning Point USA that targets young people, and particularly young white men and boys, to push extreme ideology and conspiracy theories.  It is dangerous and feeds the roots of further political violence.

Being honest about this is important, because Charlie isn’t the only one who should still be alive, including:

Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman; murdered alongside her husband and dog in June by a man with a list of Democratic officials

Officer David Rose; a Marine Veteran and father of three who was killed in August during an attack on the CDC motivated by anti-vaccine conspiracy theories

Daniel Anderl, the 20-year-old son of a federal judge, murdered by an “anti-feminist” who thought the judge was a “lazy and incompetent Latina.”

In their memory too, we call for peace.

Matthew Dyson, Lenore Douglas, Doug Creutz, Jeni Chapman, Alison von Klemperer, Luke Raymond and Callie Sullivan all live in Darien.