Twenty-four years ago, as our nation reeled from a devastating terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, President George Bush offered words and deeds intended to comfort both the families of the victims and the entire country, traumatized by what they had seen. He promised that justice would be served, and he also warned against rushing to judgment in our shock and grief. He visited a mosque less than a week later, sending a clear message that Islam was not the enemy and that Muslim Americans were a part of the national community. This is seen as one of Bush’s strongest early responses to prevent domestic division after 9/11.
America has changed so much since those times, when we were united rather than divided by such tragedies. Of course, the enemy was external then, and not our neighbor next door or our friends who are no longer friends. The assassination of MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk, a rising star of the far-right, brought forth intensified anger and vitriol that only widened the gap between political parties and the citizens who support them.
Sadly, President Trump did not use the occasion to counsel Americans to wait before assuming the circumstances behind the murder; in fact, he immediately placed blame on the “radical left”, and though he urged Americans to stay calm and not react with violence, his words were more focused on grievance than national healing.
While Trump is not solely responsible for the explosion of political violence in America, his selective attention is focused much more on right-wing victims than on the larger number of victims on the left (FBI and DHS reports state that far-right extremist violence has caused more deaths in the US since 9/11 than far-left or Islamist-inspired violence).
The point is that our leaders have a responsibility to discourage division before words turn into bullets, and we are not seeing any efforts in that direction. Anger and desperation are being amplified each time an opportunity for compassion and healing is ignored. Political violence is never acceptable and should never be spun as a necessary means to solve our nation’s problems. Yet with no clear guidance from the President and our elected representatives, vigilante justice seems to be filling the vacuum. This is the bigger tragedy.
Susan Hull Bandera, Texas On the last day of April in 2021 Bandera had the honor of hosting Charlie Kirk. He spoke to a crowd of people, many of them college age, at the Ridin’ the River Cowboy Fellowship. It was pouring rain that night so guests were late. Charlie Kirk was not.
He took the time, despite the late start, to talk to college-aged kids alone in a separate room. No fanfare, or big announcement just a “hey, you wanna bring them in so I can talk to just them for a minute?” He wanted to encourage them to speak truth, answer their questions, take selfies and just have a special moment. That was very thoughtful. He was very thoughtful.
T-shirts were sold at the event with his trademark phrase “Buckle up everybody. Here. We. Go.”
There are a lot of emotions running high right now. These last 2 weeks have been very hard. Before the murder of Kirk, there was the murder of a young Ukrainian woman. Before that murder their was the kids at a Catholic school. And on the same day as Charlie Kirk’s senseless death, their was a school shooter in Evergreen Colorado and of course the following day was 9/11. So it’s been heavy. Heavy on the heart, heavy on the spirit.
And humanity did what humanity does. Looked for answers. Some in good ways, some not so much.
Spewing “you deserved it because..” Or “ha ha ha, glad he died”. Finger pointing, name calling polarizing. It is the Dems fault the Ukrainian woman was murdered because of leftist policies and cashless bail. It was the right’s fault Kirk was assassinated for hate speech and fueling it like the Nazis they are. None of that will offer the solace or solutions we seek.
Let me be clear. There are those who should be condemned full stop. Teachers who cheered it on and said Kirk was a bad person so he “kinda deserved it” should be nowhere near our children. Anyone stoking division fires with an unserious broad brush that all people who voted for Trump or liked Charlie Kirk are fascists, Christian nationalists, haters, transphobes, and are trying to bring down Democracy, should be called out. And if that makes you angry and want to spout out selected facts and statistics, stop it. And if that makes you smile and want to cheer your oh-so-right side, stop it.
And for those of you saying “yeah, but…” stop that, too. People are dying. People are getting killed. Shot. Knifed. Run over.
Beaten to death. And if we don’t want any of them, including a very high profile man like Charlie Kirk to meet the same fate maybe calmer heads and hearts should prevail. We don’t want any of those who perished, to have done so without us learning anything. Without us acknowledging we have differences but let’s look at commonalities.
I’m not a transphobe because I think transgenderism, as a concept, is a mental illness. I’m not a bigot because I don’t like open borders and I think we should vet people better and yes, send a bunch back to their country of origin. I am not putting Democracy in peril because I don’t think a local judge can stop an executive order for the whole nation.
While I can’t claim to know all the answers, I can claim I am tired of being afraid. Afraid to speak my mind. Afraid to have an opinion that will stoke the wrong kind of fire. Afraid I might be in a shooting or beating. What I can claim? That the apostle John got it right: “there is no fear in love, perfect love casts out fear.” (I John 4:18) So today I chose to cast out fear. I chose to stand on the perfect love God gives us. I chose to not agree with my neighbor, but love them and persuade them with my ideas and love for humanity every day. I hope like Charlie Kirk would say at his events, I let them “come to the front if they disagree” and listen to their ideas wholeheartedly with the knowledge we are 2 imperfect people. What do you say Bandera folks? Instead of deciding the other side deserves what they get because of their views, we come together and talk more and listen more and persuade more.
Let truth trump the tribalism of today. Buckle up everybody. Here. We. Go.
Becky Lay Bandera, Texas
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