Conservatives are rallying around a message of ‘revival’ in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, with two commentators telling Fox News Digital that the right’s response to Kirk’s death stands in stark contrast to how the left reacted to the deaths of George Floyd, Michael Brown, and other high-profile cases involving police.
‘After Charlie’s assassination, we didn’t see violence. We didn’t see rioting,’ Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika told a packed arena gathered to celebrate her late husband’s life in Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday.
‘We didn’t see revolution. Instead, we saw what my husband always prayed he would see in this country,’ she continued. ‘We saw revival.’
In the wake of Kirk’s assassination, conservatives on social media have pointed out the contrast between the conservative response to the Kirk assassination and the response from Democrats in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death and other controversial political events.
Floyd’s death in 2020 set off a chain reaction of violent protests causing at least hundreds of millions of dollars in damages in cities like Minneapolis, Portland, and Seattle, many of which were egged on by elected Democrats preaching a message of defunding the police.
What was left after the violent 2020 summer was a massive increase in the number of murders, dealing a disproportionate blow to Black Americans, Fox News Digital previously reported.
‘Let’s be blunt: when Charlie Kirk was assassinated, conservatives didn’t riot, loot, or torch cities,’ RNC surrogate and attorney Mehek Cooke told Fox News Digital. ‘As Erika said we gathered, we prayed, and we embraced revival. That’s the difference between the Right and the Left — and it’s clear as day. Conservatives don’t respond with destruction, because our movement is fueled by faith, not rage.’
‘Contrast that with the left’s response to George Floyd in 2020: riots tore through cities, billions in damage, businesses burned, and neighborhoods never recovered. From Baltimore to Portland, ‘justice’ is weaponized as a twisted justification for violence.’
Brilyn Hollyhand, a 19-year-old political commentator who was a friend of Kirk’s, told Fox News Digital that when he received the text that his mentor had been assassinated, ‘my first thought wasn’t to go burn down a Wendy’s or loot a CVS.’
‘My first thought was prayer. Prayer for his soul, his family, and his team,’ Hollyhand said. ‘Then, during the stages of grief, when I grew frustrated that my friend was murdered just for his political beliefs, I didn’t dye my hair blue, get a nose ring, and grab a bull horn – I wanted to do something effective with that frustration.’
Hollyhand says that going forward he will be partnering with TPUSA, the organization Kirk founded, to speak on 10 campuses this upcoming semester in an effort to ‘continue Charlie’s legacy of championing civil discourse.’
Cooke called it ‘profoundly significant’ that conservatives ‘chose peace in the face of tragedy’ and that ‘our actions spoke louder than their riots.’
Since Kirk’s death, conservatives have held vigils across the country and put up memorials, some of them vandalized by Kirk’s opponents, honoring the political commentator and rejecting calls for violence.
Over the past few years since the Floyd riots, liberal activists have taken to the streets on several occasions to oppose Republican policies, including earlier this year when violent protests erupted in Los Angeles in response to President Trump sending in federal resources to carry out his immigration agenda and deport illegal immigrants.
Those riots, which several elected Democrats referred to as ‘peaceful’, will cost taxpayers at least $32 million, Fox News Digital previously reported.
Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old suspect charged in Charlie Kirk’s murder, was much like the other young men that her husband encountered, Erika Kirk said at the memorial service.
Charlie Kirk ‘wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life,’ she told the massive crowd at State Farm Stadium.
‘Our Savior said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ That young man… I forgive him,’ Erika Kirk said, drawing a standing ovation. ‘I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and it’s what Charlie would do.’
Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton and Joshua Q. Nelson contributed to this report