American Political Activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at the first stop of his American Comeback Tour on Wednesday, Sept. 10, at 12:23 p.m.
21 minutes later, two students were shot at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colorado, before the 16-year-old shooter turned the gun on himself.
The very same day, 53 Palestinians were killed. Previously on Sept. 2, 105 Palestinians were killed. Since the Israeli occupation of Palestine began in Oct. 2023, the death toll has climbed to over 64,000 Palestinians, including civilians and children.
On Aug. 27, 18 children and three adults were injured, and two children were killed, being shot while praying during mass at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
On June 14, lawyer and Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed in their home.
However, only one of these tragedies has had lasting effects on media, only one demanded for flags to be at half-mast and only one brought a moment of silence in congress.
Only one vigil was held. Marshall sent one email.
The Criterion believes that taking no clear stance and staying silent on every issue except for one is still very much taking a stance. It shows exactly where university administration stands when it comes to controversial issues. They were not bold enough to speak out against anything else. Students at CMU attended Evergreen Highschool and may have even had loved ones there during the shooting – where was their acknowledgement?
On Thursday, Sept. 11, the CMU Turning Point USA (TPUSA-CMU) chapter held a vigil for Kirk’s death.
On Friday, Sept. 12, CMU President John Marshall sent a school-wide email reflecting on Kirk’s death. In his email, Marshall comments that he does not usually weigh in on public affairs but that this one “feels particularly relevant and close to home.” Marshall empathized with the fact that Kirk was a husband and father, that political violence should never be welcomed.
Marshall went on to write:
“Whether you agreed with, or disagreed with, or found yourself somewhere in the middle of Mr. Kirk’s arguments, the point here is something far deeper than the merits of any one issue. The question we must all face is whether we will demand to be free to discuss, debate and express our views, without fear of violence. Most especially, on a college campus.”
What’s ironic is that TPUSA-CMU acted in complete opposition to free speech values.
At the vigil that was put on for Kirk, and reportedly 9/11 as an afterthought, a reporter for The Criterion attended to report on the event. They were met with hostility and disrespect. A community member told this reporter that Kirk would not have wanted them there and asked them to leave because they “looked gay.”
TPUSA-CMU members declined to speak to them at the event.
By the logic of this group, the right to free speech should only be defended when it is speech that aligns with their values. The disrespect, exclusion and hatred demonstrated that this group does not practice what they preach about the first amendment.
Furthermore, let’s dissect the point Marshall made in his email that Kirk debated with “courage, conviction, and facts.”
According to The National Education Association (NEA), white supremacy is defined as “a form of racism centered upon the belief that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds and that whites should politically, economically, and socially dominate non-whites.”
On “The Charlie Kirk Show,” Kirk once said, “If I see a black pilot, I’m gonna be like, ‘boy, I hope he is qualified,” as a criticism of diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Kirk also stated that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was “a mythological anti-racist creation of the 1960s.”
Do these points sound like facts you would want to defend as a student body?
Of course, there are more quotes that Kirk has said in his time that proved he was not a person of moral character that people should look to for direction.
Our point is not to trash a dead man’s character. He did that on his own.
Our point is about the student body’s voice. This is the only tragedy, in a world filled with tragedy, that CMU as an institution acknowledged and revered. But does this resonate with students?
The university administration displayed a clear bias in response to the domestic terror at Evergreen and Annunciation – Kirk was more important.
We have become lazy as a student body and let ourselves fall victim to the pitfall of the bystander effect. Do we sit idly by and let Marshall speak for us?
Although it is an emotionally exhausting endeavor to live through such trying and dangerous times, the one moral obligation we have is to keep speaking up for the people who can’t speak up for themselves anymore. We need to fight back against the normalization of waking up to the news reporting on a new tragedy.
The world is entering into a time of political violence and unrest, and it’s been a visible pattern throughout history. The US is in troubled times, and resentment has settled within two polarizing political parties. There is a civil war amongst us and, unfortunately, we are not near the end.
What The Criterion wants to pose to CMU’s student body are just these questions: what will your role be? Will you stand on the side and let blatant bias at your place of education occur or will you fight for justice for those who cannot anymore?
