Republicans on a Florida House committee advanced a measure Tuesday to honor murdered conservative activist Charlie Kirk, over objections that such a tribute would come as an insult to Black people, women and others.
The House State Affairs Committee voted 18-7 to designate Oct. 14 as a “Charlie Kirk Day of Remembrance” amid a fierce debate over Kirk’s legacy, First Amendment rights and the treatment of Black members of the Florida Legislature.
Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of the conservative group Turning Point USA, and an ally of President Donald Trump, was killed on Sept. 10 during a speech at an outdoor rally at Utah Valley University. The 22-year-old suspect in his killing, Tyler Robinson, faces the death penalty if convicted, but there is conflicting evidence about his motive.
At the Tuesday hearing, GOP lawmakers portrayed Kirk as a promoter of political debate and free discourse, and his killing as a threat to constitutionally protected rights to free speech.
“This man was assassinated for exercising his First Amendment right. That fact alone should concern every American, regardless of party, race [or] religion,” said Rep. Yvette Benarroch, a Marco Island Republican who sponsored the measure.
“It is our business in this legislature to protect all and make sure our rights are protected, because when violence becomes an acceptable response to speech, then the First Amendment becomes meaningless,” she added. The legislation “draws a clear constitutional line. It says in Florida, ideas are met with ideas, disagreement is answered with debate and in Florida — and in America — we debate, we do not assassinate.”
Rep. Nathan Boyles, R-Baker, said he didn’t know Kirk well when the commentator was alive, but he appreciated Kirk’s invitation to debate issues.
“We do have to find ways to be able to engage each other directly and face to face, and engage in that civic discourse, and that the worst thing that we could do, and the way we'll build up walls and silos, is to not be able to vigorously engage into that face to face debate,” Boyles said.
Kathleen Murray, the state education director for Citizens Defending Freedom, a conservative group, said opponents of the bill were suffering from “cognitive dissonance.” She said they were “repeating lies” but would not acknowledge it because it would mean they “look like a liar and, frankly, not very intelligent.”
But Democrats on the panel, along with several members of the public, questioned why Florida lawmakers would honor Kirk, who did not live in Florida and who made denigrating comments about the intellect of Black people. He also made several inflammatory comments about Muslims, the LGBTQ community and women.
“This bill, to members of my community, Black people,” said Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, “is like a bill brought straight by the KKK.”
The reaction to the bill, she said, “illustrates why we should not memorialize this man.”
“It is causing hate, division, anger and frustration. It’s blatantly just trying to sanitize what this guy was about,” she said.
“But I get it, right. Hate and cruelty is the point. It’s OK in this legislative body to be anti-Black. It’s OK in this legislative body to be anti-Muslim,” Nixon said. “If you removed all of the stuff he said about Black people and made it about Jewish people, we wouldn’t be here. We would not be here. We would label him antisemitic, and you’d be saying he’s saying things that are terroristic.”
Rep. Ashley Viola Gantt, D-Miami, questioned why Republicans wanted to honor Kirk as an exemplar of the First Amendment, when, she said, there were other people in Florida who worked hard to protect free speech.
Gantt also disputed the notion that the legislation was about a nonpartisan concern for First Amendment rights, drafting an amendment to honor Assata Shakur, a Black Panther member who died two weeks after Kirk, as a replacement for Kirk in the legislation. Shakur had been convicted of first-degree murder in 1977 but escaped prison.
“If we as members of this body, as Black members of this body, are asked to disassociate with [Kirk’s] racist comments with his free speech, then we should be able to disassociate Assata Shakur’s allegations of her past with her continued advocacy for freedom for all,” Gantt explained, before withdrawing her amendment.
Gantt noted that other lawmakers tried to get teachers fired for making comments about Kirk after his killing. “That’s hypocrisy at its finest,” she said.
Gantt also offered an amendment to change the thrust of the bill to one honoring the victims of notorious pedophile and financier Jeffrey Epstein, noting that most of Epstein’s victims were from the state of Florida. That amendment failed on a voice vote.
Public speakers asked why the legislation highlighted Kirk for his First Amendment activities, but not Renee Good, a woman who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis last month, or Melissa Hortman, the former Democratic speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, who was assassinated in June.
“Honoring a life and recognizing history does not require elevating it to a place of forced collective celebration,” added Rep. Debra Tendrich, D-Lake Worth Beach. “I believe a state-recognized day of remembrance should be something that brings people together. Much of the deep, ongoing hurt associated with much of Charlie Kirk’s rhetoric, whether you believe it to be true or not, I don’t believe that designation would unite the state. In fact, it causes a lot of pain.”