Dear Left, how many more of us have to die?
It’s been more than a week since the event. The right mourns, the left celebrates, and the center continues in apathy. “Not all of the left,” one might say. But it is actually the liberal mainstream in America that provides justification for this attack and others like it. The left idolizes those who would “kill fascists,” calls conservatives the same thing, and then expects their followers to differentiate. How naive.
To recap, Charlie Kirk, a devout Christian and the founder of the conservative campus outreach group TPUSA, was murdered on September 10th, 2025, by a man corrupted by radical leftist ideology. Immediately after Charlie was shot, an elderly man created what some believe was a distraction for the shooter to escape. He was arrested and later released. After 33 hours (and another misapprehended suspect), the suspected murderer was found. His gun was recovered in the nearby woods, with the cartridge being loaded with engraved bullets featuring phrases such as “Hey fascist! Catch!” as well as “Bella ciao,” a lyric from an Italian anti-fascist song. Immediately, the shooting became the central story on the news, eclipsing previous outrage over the murder of Iryna Zarutska by Decarlos Brown Jr. (which occurred very close to my hometown). Other theories about Charlie Kirk’s death abound on X (formerly Twitter), where many prominent accounts are calling into question details of the assassination and the subsequent investigation. All shall be revealed in the end.
Millions of Americans openly mourned the death of a great man, while millions more said nothing, or, concerningly, celebrated his death. A friend of mine who describes himself as a “centrist” stated, “[I]f we are saying it’s ok to wish death on people who’ve done evil to this world, then I would wish death on Charlie Kirk.” This was a tamer response than many I ran into on people’s Instagram stories. Many claimed that he had “gotten what he deserved,” or spoke of the “irony” of his death being the result of a White shooter. This kind of sentiment, far from being rare, could be seen widely throughout the Cornell student body. Cornell Sidechat posts celebrating or making light of Kirk’s death received hundreds of likes, with some surpassing +500 (Sidechat operates similarly to Reddit, where downvotes negate upvotes). Posts included cryptic messages, including
“[I] fear [Charlie is] not the right person to be shooting rn and this will only make things worse. ”
This received more than a +250 like-to-dislike count. I’d like to ask these Sidechat users, who is the “right person” to be shooting? In addition to cold-hearted reactions from individuals, major news networks in many cases (MSNBC, for example) made comments saying Kirk brought it upon himself, as well as alleging the shooter was a member of the “far-right.”
A recent opinion piece in the Cornell Daily Sun urged that we not “consider a death ‘good’ or ‘bad’” while also claiming that Charlie Kirk was “not a martyr.” Tell me, what is a martyr? Charlie Kirk preached the gospel of Jesus Christ first and foremost. All of his political opinions aligned with the way he interpreted the Word of God. That is what he was killed for. According to the Oxford Language Dictionary, a martyr is “a person who is killed because of their religious or other beliefs.” If Charlie is not a martyr, nobody is. Very rarely does one see someone live out their faith as much as Kirk lived out his. Whether one likes what he stood for or not, one cannot deny that he fully stood by his beliefs and was willing to risk his life every day for them. If the terms existed in the first century, the killers of St. Stephen would have alleged he was using “hate speech” and that he brought his death upon himself. Many at the time celebrated the death of Stephen, including the Pharisee Saul, soon to be St. Paul. Because of the life and death of Stephen and other Apostles, hundreds of thousands gave their lives to Christ after witnessing their courage. Charlie Kirk’s martyrdom seems to be having a similar effect.
These events make me question what the response would be if something were to happen to me or those with similar beliefs. As the Executive Vice President of the Cornell Republicans, my political views are no secret. Like Charlie Kirk, I believe in the absolute authority of Scripture. Like Charlie Kirk, I believe God created man and woman, and that marriage is to be between them only. Just like Kirk, I believe in good and evil, and that Christ must come first in all things. And if they have any consistency, as in Kirk’s case, many Americans would presumably celebrate my death. Not only mine, but millions across America who agreed with Kirk. In labeling him “far-right,” the Left has deemed half the country to be irredeemable “deplorables.” They equate us with Nazis, alleging that it is okay, in fact good, to kill them… and thus, us. Charlie Kirk is a martyr who gave his life for Christ. Many of the “fascist ideals” liberals attribute to Kirk are taken out of context, or worse, completely made up. So, to conservative readers: they will invent things about you and mock your death. They will feel justified in celebrating your killing. And to the centrist, the apathetic one (if you’ve gotten this far), how long until your opinions are also judged as “hateful,” how long until they judge it a victory for you to be killed? Finally, as for those who celebrate his death, even privately, remember that there is One who sees what we do in private. I urge you, listen to Jesus when He says, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28 ESV).”
For those who follow Christ, we have solace in his words, “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done (Revelation 22:12 ESV).” If one does not follow Christ, those words are not good news; in fact, the opposite. If someone wants to “leave religion/scripture out of it,” I’ll remind them that Charlie never did. However, as much as we are tempted to hate and dehumanize the opposition (those who celebrate Kirk’s death and the like), we must remember they too are made in the image of God. They have a soul, and while justice is required, we are also to pray for their repentance and redemption. In Charlie’s final moments, he argued with his opponents not out of hatred but so that they may turn and see the light. He spoke out to make a brighter America with a wish that all would repent and be saved. We have been in mourning for a while; we must be careful to separate the hatred we have for these people’s actions from the people themselves. I leave you with our Messiah’s words: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters (Matthew 12:30 ESV).”
Eben Hill is a Junior in the College of Engineering
