This killing is appalling — but it's wrong to lionize a man who preached hate and division

There are so many words and clichés condemning the killing of Charles James Kirk and none of the refrains are unique.

“We need to dial back our discourse.”

“We need to be tolerant of different opinions.”

“There is no room in American politics for political violence.”

Are people blind to the realities that have been swirling all around us? The language has been violent. The discord has been great. There has been a consistent invitation to dine at the table of heated racist discussion posing as legitimate political speech.

The killing of Charlie Kirk fits within this arena of speech that is racist and hate-filled but is designed to pose as rational and logical political speech.

In his rhetoric and so-called debate style, this 31-year-old evangelical firebrand of the right stated that Black pilots were incompetent; was opposed to gun control, abortion and LGBTQ+ rights; criticized the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Martin Luther King Jr.; promoted Christian nationalism; advanced Covid-19 misinformation; made false claims of electoral fraud in 2020; and was a proponent of the Great Replacement conspiracy theory.

This Chicago-born suburbanite brought all of the racial innuendo to political speech and rhetorically violated the safety and security of Black people, people of-color, and the LGBTQ+ community. He perverted the history of race and racism in America, attempted to legitimize the nation as a white bastion of civilization and Christianity, and in general perfected the use of racial and hateful language and molded it into a form of acceptable and legitimate political debate and viewpoint.

But the legitimate debate aspect was far from legitimate historical benign speech, nor was it nonviolent in character. In fact, it touched all of the refrains of the vile language of the past that resulted far too many times in lynchings and other forms of racial violence and upheaval.

Don’t get me wrong, I am sorry for the death and killing of Charlie Kirk.

I have stood over many coffins of people I did not agree with and said words of comfort to the families during my 40-plus years of ministry. In doing so I have looked at a person’s life to find something to say about their character, worthiness, and contributions they have made in their lifetime. Sometimes the task is easier than at other times.

As I look at the life of Kirk, he was a husband, a father, and what else I do not know. He had friends, I am sure. He played a significant role in his connection with community that was personal and also collective.

But the problem I would have in affirming this life at an end-of-life ceremony is that he evidently did not care in his living about the security and comfort of others. He did not show empathy. Whether he believed what he espoused, or it was simply a marketing ploy for influence and money, I don’t know, and no one will ever know for sure. But Charlie Kirk expanded hatred, marketed the vile speech of old racisms in new wineskins, and further jeopardized the lives and security of others.

The right wing is working hard to make a political martyr of him. President Donald Trump ordered flags to be flown at half-mast. Trump talked about lowering the temperature of the political language that is used, but in the next breath criticized “the radical left” for castigating the hate language of Kirk.

If we are going to be truthful in this moment, the hate that Kirk put out came back on him, and the violent political language that continues to fly in this country will continue to manifest itself in ways where we will continually be praying for victims and their families.

• Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler is an advisor with FOR-USA and the founder and president of Faith Strategies USA. Until retiring from his position in 2022 Hagler was Senior Minister at Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, D.C.