Charlie Kirk is dead. For some, that sentence alone stirs discomfort, because you’ve already been trained to mourn. But not all deaths are tragic. Sometimes people live in such a way that when they die, the earth exhales. Kirk was not misunderstood. He was not a patriot. He was not a martyr. He was a white nationalist, and I will not mourn him.
Chickens Coming Home to Roost
Malcolm X said it best when he remarked on “chickens coming home to roost.” He was vilified for telling the truth about consequence. I expect the same here. Kirk’s life work was built on stoking white nationalism, mocking Black liberation, demonizing immigrants, and targeting LGBTQIA people. He poured gasoline on fires of hate and called it free speech. His death is not loss, it is consequence. Chickens always come home to roost. You don’t get to plant seeds of hate and demand flowers of sympathy.
White Privilege in Grief
It is the epitome of white privilege to demand that Black folk, other people of color, and queer folk find “nuance” in this moment. We don’t get the luxury of treating violent ideologies as differences of opinion. Yet leaders lined up to honor him. Our Congresswoman, Nikki Budzinski, along with other Democrats, voted for a resolution praising Kirk. That is not neutrality, that is aligning with a man who made our destruction his platform. And it’s time for Black people to reconsider our relationship with politicians like Budzinski, who keep trawling our very lives for political capital, capital that is never spent on us.
Even worse are the pastors who should know better. Former Stonecreek Church pastor Gary Grogan declared online that Kirk was a “martyr for the Christian faith.” Martyr? Sir, be real. That’s blasphemy. Kirk was no Samuel Adams, no modern Justin Martyr. He was a hate merchant, not a saint. And this tracks as churches like Stonecreek often celebrate Black gifts while silencing Black truth. The result is we look less like the body of Christ and more like a spiritual plantation.
The Hypocrisy of the Term “Political Violence”
I can’t help but notice the double standard. When a white nationalist like Kirk dies, it’s suddenly “political violence,” and the chorus of mourning is deafening. But when violence takes the lives of Black people—at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC, at Tops Market in Buffalo, or right here in Champaign-Urbana—where too many Black families bury their children, politicians and pulpits go quiet.
We know this city’s history. From the days when Black families carved out community on the north side of Champaign, to the civil rights struggles that gave us leaders like so many local icons and visionaries, to the ongoing fights for equity in our schools, our community has been forced to navigate violence and erasure while politicians chase photo ops. Kirk wasn’t a politician assassinated in the line of duty. He was a loudmouth who lived by the gun and died by the gun. And here I am, telling the truth about him the same way the media always tells “the truth” about Black victims of violence.
Stop Shaming Black Christians
What makes it worse is the attempt to shame Black people in general, and Black Christians in particular, into mourning Pharaoh. That’s not just manipulative, it’s abusive. The Bible gives us permission to rejoice at the fall of oppressors. Israel sang when Pharaoh’s army drowned (Exodus 15). Mary proclaimed that God pulls the mighty down from their thrones (Luke 1:52). Paul struck false prophets blind (Acts 13). Don’t twist my faith into an obligation to weep for someone who actively plotted our destruction.
Closing: Singing on the Shore
So let me be plain. Don’t ask me, as a Black pastor in Champaign-Urbana, in this current United States, to mourn any Pharaoh. Don’t ask my people to sing sad songs for someone who schemed against our freedom. Ask instead why so many of you were cheering for him while he lived and seeking to elevate him to sainthood in death.
Because the Gospel truth is this: the mighty fall, the waters rise, and the oppressed get to dance on the shore. And as long as there are Black churches in this city, we will keep on singing.
The Rev. Terrance L. Thomas is an Itinerant Elder with the African Methodist Church and the current pastor of Bethel AME Church in Champaign. He is also the Executive Director of Building Community Life Center, and he sits on several community boards, including the Champaign County Christian Health Center and CU at Home.
In lieu of printing Kirk’s obnoxious, dangerous ideas, look for the Guardian article, “Charlie Kirk in His Own Words: ‘Prowling Blacks’ and ‘the Great Replacement Strategy’” for a short synopsis of the hate he spouted.