By Lauren Burke
“This is the worst I’ve felt about this country in years,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, standing on the House steps and talking about the state of play in the U.S. “I can’t imagine anyone voting against this resolution,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) as members of the House, led by Republicans Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, considered a resolution to honor Charlie Kirk. Kirk was murdered on September 10 during an outdoor appearance at Utah Valley University.
After much backroom maneuvering, the final vote on the resolution honoring Kirk was moved from Thursday to Friday, Sept. 18. For members of the Congressional Black Caucus, the vote is in no way a casual action on a boilerplate resolution. Charlie Kirk was known for critical comments on Black people and communities and targeted several Black women with negative comments, implying that they were successful only because of affirmative action. After a lengthy Democratic Caucus on the morning of September 18, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries listened to the concerns of members of his caucus. After the meeting, Black Press USA asked Leader Jeffries if he was whipping the vote and what he would vote. The Leader from Brooklyn gave no direct answers. “Members will vote their conscious. We will issue a statement shortly,” Leader Jeffries said flatly.
Texas Congressman Marc Veasey (D-TX) is countering Republicans with a more straightforward resolution worded to denounce political violence in the wake of Kirk’s murder. But regarding the GOP’s Kirk resolution, several CBC members said they planned to vote “present.” Others are a solid NO. Some members in tight political districts are referencing their constituents but not giving clear answers on how they will vote. Typically, congressional resolutions are not controversial, but the Kirk resolution is all but certain to be in lieu of Kirk’s racist and misogynistic statements. The vote will be a test of where members draw the line on a continuous push by MAGA Republicans to engage in culture war politics. “I can’t stand the word empathy, actually,” Kirk once said. “I think empathy is a made-up, new age term that does a lot of damage,” he added.
“If I see a Black pilot, I’m gonna be like boy, I hope he’s qualified,” Kirk said on his show. But the issue of whether Black Democrats will separate the man from his statements and the violent way he died at only 31 while speaking at a college event with Kirk’s bigoted views will require messaging strategies Democrats often fail at — assuming they have a messaging strategy at all. “Black women do not have the brain processing power to be taken seriously. You have to go steal a white person’s slot,” Kirk said on his show in July 2023 as he attacked journalist Joy Reid, former First Lady Michelle Obama, that late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, and Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson — all Ivy League graduates. It’s unlikely that any Congresswomen in the CBC will vote in favor of the Kirk resolution, but several may vote “present.” Republicans are presenting Kirk as a free speech martyr and burying any references to his racist statements. A “NO” vote will likely be followed by more GOP arguments that Democrats favor political violence and refuse to officially speak out against it.
