By Avery Hill
Editor
Orem, Utah, is beautiful in September. The weather is still warm, the days still long, but the first breaths of fall are whispering down the mountains. Sitting at the foot of the stunning Wasatch Mountains, Orem boasts of almost everything one could want in an American city, low crime rates, four seasons, staggering views and a small but thriving college culture. Wednesday, Sept. 10, however, the beauty of Orem was contrasted by the cold reality of political discourse in America.
In fashion akin to a banana republic, Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk was shot in the neck on Utah Valley University’s campus. There was no warning yell, no prior debate—just an unnervingly accurate bullet fired with apparent premeditation.
Flanked by two guards, he gathered a crowd of college students eager for debate. The event, free for students, promised debate on hot-button political issues. The crowd was robust, humming with both detractors and supporters of Kirk’s message. He was in the midst of doing what he did best, facing opposing arguments on a public stage… before tragedy struck.
The Utah Valley University appearance was the first stop of the fall leg of Kirk’s nationwide The American Comeback Tour campaign. The tour was set to land next at Colorado State University.
For Kirk, The American Comeback Tour was a celebration tour, looking back at the success of last year’s election while also continuing the hard work done the previous year.
“The American comeback is powerful and real, and it’s sweeping the nation,” Kirk said in February. “However, one of the last strongholds of far left, increasingly insane and out-of-touch ideologues is found inside the formerly hallowed halls of higher education. We have many of these purveyors of anti-American indoctrination on the run, but when they regroup, they will do so from inside the academy. So we will take the fight to them.”
As the dust settles around the assassination of Kirk, conservatives are forced to grapple with an uncomfortable question. Is it safe to speak freely?
When a political figure like Charlie Kirk is killed while doing nothing but speaking, confidence in America’s institutions is rattled. Many went to sleep wondering if, due to Wednesday’s tragedy, their speech—protected under the Constitution—is now at risk. Not at risk from rogue government agencies, but from their fellow countrymen.
There is no greater killer of free speech than the threat of violence. Because of this violence, political discourse in America has been poisoned. There is no hero coming to save it and no political figure that can rescue it. This was not simply an attack on a famed conservative figure, it was an attack on a specific set of values—values that a growing number of Americans hold.
Set in the idyllic college town of Orem, surrounded by horrified onlookers, Charlie Kirk lay, dead at 31, a sobering warning to Americans across the political spectrum that their views, no matter how inflammatory or tame, are at risk under this current climate.
As the days and weeks roll past the untimely death of Charlie Kirk his remembrance will live on longer than most. But in the end, his final legacy—beyond that of a conservative firebrand, a husband and a father will be a reminder. A reminder that in Orem, faith in America’s promise of free speech was forever marred, and that even on college campuses—the supposed birthplace of ideas—having the wrong ideas can be deadly.
Wingate Triangle 