By Lauren Burke
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus were split on the question of whether Charlie Kirk, a rightwing commentator with controversial views on race, should be honored by a lengthy Republican-penned resolution in his honor.
The final vote tells part of the story. All Republicans who voted, 215, voted in favor of the Kirk Resolution (with four missing the vote), along with 95 Democrats. Fifty-eight Democrats voted against the Kirk Resolution, and 38 members, all Democrats, voted “present.” The most interesting tally of the vote on the Kirk Resolution was the number of members of the U.S. House who “missed” the vote: 26. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus who voted in favor of honoring Charlie Kirk were Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-BY), Reps. Don Davis (D-NC), Greg Meeks (D-NY), and David Scott (D-NY). Two members of the CBC didn’t vote: Reps. Marc Veasey (D-TX) and Joe Neguse (D-CO). All other Black Caucus members voted “NO” on the Kirk resolution or “present.”
Leadership pressured several members of Congress to “take a walk” rather than vote NO to honoring Kirk. All three members of the Democratic leadership, Leader Jeffries, Democratic Whip Rep. Katherine Clark, and Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Pete Aguilar, voted YES on the Kirk Resolution. Despite Kirk’s murder at 31, which was captured on a shocking video widely shared on social media, many elected officials and political observers have noted Kirk’s many controversial statements over the years. Kirk was shot as he spoke on the first stop of a college tour at Orem, Utah Valley University. Kirk’s violent public murder has prompted Republicans to leverage his death into a way to punish anyone critical of Kirk or who spoke out about the irony of his death, given his pro-second amendment public statements. A website has been set up by his supporters listing anyone who has made any statement of controversy that Kirk supporters deem problematic.
The Republican-written Kirk Resolution included statements against political violence. “How you die does not redeem how you lived. I do not celebrate anyone’s murder. Charlie Kirk did not deserve to be murdered. But I’m overwhelmed to see the nation’s flag fly and half-staff for a man who was a proud racist who spent his entire life sowing seeds of division and hatred into this land,” said Pastor Dr. Howard-John Wesley during his Sunday sermon at Alfred Street baptist Church on Sept. 14. Wesley’s sermon has gone viral on social media with millions of views. “We must condemn violence without abandoning our right to speak out against ideas that are inconsistent with our values as Americans. We strongly disagree with many of the beliefs Charlie Kirk promoted: including his belief that the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended racial segregation, was a mistake; his denial that systemic racism exists; his promotion of the Great Replacement theory; and his offensive claims about Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Michelle Obama, and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee lacking adequate cognitive ability,” wrote the Congressional Black Caucus in their official statement released after the vote on Sept. 19.
Kirk made negative statements about Ivy League graduates U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Jackson, journalist Joy Reid, the late Congressman Sheila Jackson Lee, and former First Lady Michelle Obama, implying that all of the Harvard Law, Harvard College, and Princeton graduates were successful because of affirmative action. In relation to the criticism of the accomplished Black women, Kirk said on his show in July 2023 that, “Black women do not have brain processing power to be taken seriously. You have to go steal a white person’s slot.” “The resolution introduced in the House to honor Charlie Kirk’s legacy is not about healing, lowering the temperature of our political discourse, or even ensuring the safety of members of Congress, staff, and Capitol personnel. It is, unfortunately, an attempt to legitimize Kirk’s worldview — a worldview that includes ideas many Americans find racist, harmful, and fundamentally un-American,” the Congressional Black Caucus statement further stated. In a moment when Republicans remain against any prohibitions on assault weapons or any other firearms. One of Kirk’s most notable phrases has been posted by many on social media. “Having an armed citizenry comes with a price, and that is part of liberty… We need to be very clear that you’re not going to get gun deaths to zero. It will not happen. But I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year, so that we can have the Second Amendment,” Kirk once said.
