[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 154 (Friday, September 19, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E883]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF CHARLES ``CHARLIE'' JAMES KIRK

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 18, 2025

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my 
concern regarding the direction our national discourse has taken 
following the death of Charlie Kirk and to share my reservations about 
the resolution before us today.
  I condemn--unequivocally and in the strongest terms--the violent 
murder of Charlie Kirk.
  I am praying for his family and our Nation as we navigate the 
aftermath of last week's horrific shooting.
  No one should be killed for what they say or what they believe, and 
any claim to the contrary betrays the values upon which this Nation was 
founded.
  But my deep regret that Mr. Kirk was killed and my respect for his 
First Amendment right to express himself freely does not make him 
someone that should be elevated as a role model for the American 
public. The resolution before us today would do just that.
  The fact is Charlie Kirk's rhetoric was divisive, disparaging, and 
too often rooted in grievance.
  The beliefs he evangelized normalized fringe views on race, sex, and 
immigration.
  I've spent my entire career--from the peak of the civil rights 
movement until today--advocating for equal rights for everyone, 
regardless of race, sex, or religion.
  I've sought to carry on the important work of civil rights leaders 
like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  I have worked to eradicate prejudices and stereotypes that suggest 
that the color of someone's skin, or their gender, or their religious 
beliefs could somehow limit their potential.
  I believe strongly that America is stronger, safer, and more secure 
when everyone who lives here has the opportunity to achieve their 
highest potential.
  When I was growing up, I never had a new textbook because people in 
power didn't think people that shared my skin color deserved them.
  My right to vote was hardly guaranteed.
  The first time I ran for mayor of my small town in Mississippi, the 
Ku Klux Klan showed up to intimidate me.
  A lot has changed since then.
  And we owe the progress this country has made toward equality to 
those who were brave enough to stand up to the people in power who 
perpetuated and institutionalized the prejudices that made groups of 
Americans second-class citizens.
  Unfortunately, Charlie Kirk's statements resurrected the dangerous 
rhetoric of a dark past.
  I cannot hold up as a role model someone who said:

       ``If I see a Black pilot, I'm going to be like, boy, I hope 
     he's qualified.'' The Charlie Kirk Show, January 23, 2024.
       ``If you're a WNBA, pot-smoking, Black lesbian, do you get 
     treated better than a United States marine?'' The Charlie 
     Kirk Show, December 8, 2022.
       ``Happening all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks 
     go around for fun to go target white people, that's a fact. 
     It's happening more and more.'' The Charlie Kirk Show, May 
     19, 2023.
       ``If I'm dealing with somebody in customer service who's a 
     moronic Black woman, I wonder is she there because of her 
     excellence, or is she there because of affirmative action?'' 
     The Charlie Kirk Show, January 3, 2024.
       ``If we would have said that Joy Reid and Michelle Obama 
     and Sheila Jackson Lee and Ketanji Brown Jackson were 
     affirmative action picks, we would have been called racists. 
     Now they're coming out and they're saying it for us . . . You 
     do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken 
     really seriously. You had to go steal a white person's slot 
     to go be taken somewhat seriously.'' The Charlie Kirk Show, 
     July 13, 2023.
       ``MLK was awful. He's not a good person.'' America Fest, 
     December 2023.
       ``I have a very, very radical view on this, but I can 
     defend it, and I've thought about it. We made a huge mistake 
     when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s.'' America 
     Fest, December 2023.
       ``The American Democrat party hates this country. They 
     wanna see it collapse. They love it when America becomes less 
     white.'' The Charlie Kirk Show, March 20, 2024.

  And all of that is to say nothing of what he said about religion, 
immigrants, and women, among other things.
  I am more concerned than ever that the country is headed in the wrong 
direction. And I am concerned that those on the right are trying to use 
Charlie Kirk's tragic death to shame those who disagree with them into 
espousing their misguided views about what America is and what it 
should be.
  This resolution does just that, so I must oppose it.

                          ____________________