On Saturday, Sept. 13, students and community members gathered on the grass of the University of New Mexico Duck Pond during a memorial for right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot during a campus event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, Sept. 10.
Participants, including students from the UNM chapter of Turning Point USA, left flowers, candles and photos of Kirk at an altar and delivered speeches to commemorate him.
Turning Point USA, a nationwide right-wing political organization with many college chapters, was founded by Kirk in 2012. The event Kirk hosted at UVU was part of the “American Comeback Tour,” organized by TPUSA and headlined by Kirk.
Kirk was often seen as a controversial figure, with critics pointing to his spreading of falsehoods and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, vaccines, transgender people and demographic change, according to NPR.
Kirk visited Albuquerque on Aug. 10, at Legacy Church’s Central Campus, where he was met with thousands of attendees and crowds of protesters outside the event, and discussed topics including immigration, the housing crisis, Christianity and crime, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
The memorial concluded with the pledge of allegiance to the United States flag, a prayer and by singing along to “Amazing Grace.”
Benjamin Fernandez, a UNM freshman and member of TPUSA-UNM, delivered a speech during the memorial.
“Regardless of how you view the person in question being Charlie Kirk, his political affiliation or his views, this event, his assassination that happened, is a reflection of free speech being violated,” Fernandez said.
TPUSA-UNM previously hosted Kirk at the UNM Student Union Building in 2022, sparking peaceful protests and riot police presence outside the building. Three protesters of color were detained, and Kirk made an appearance from the second floor balcony above where the protest took place, according to Source NM.
Shelly Gray, an attendee of the memorial, came to the event to pray for the “UNM students, staff and campus,” she said.
“I would always like to see even more Christians, believers, patriots showing up, but I know New Mexico, our climate here politically is not as fervent. I think sometimes we tend to be a culture that's very laid back,” Gray said.
Harold Swib, who participated in the memorial, said he showed up because he was “always more of an online activist,” and he now felt the need to become an “in-person activist,” he said.
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“I think that liberalism's core tenets are sin and immorality and Charlie Kirk tried to bring people out of that worldview and so I think that there's no better cause,” Swib said.
Swib said he recently started following Kirk’s platform and watching TPUSA’s videos online.
“We need to continue to speak. We need to continue to talk and keep this platform going that Charlie Kirk created,” Swib said.
Thomas Skansgaard, who attended the event with Swib, said he had been watching Kirk for several years.“His future words have stopped, but his past words will continue to live on,” he said.
Other community members who did not participate in the memorial service chalked the pavement on a pathway nearby the event, with messages including “protect kids, not guns,” “protect trans kids,” “Free Palestine” and “God hates Christian Nationalism,” the messages read. The memorial concluded with no conflict between participants and others.
“I appreciate that you can show up and you can be from any religion, any background, and you could even cuss me out, and that's okay because this is America and that's the freedom that we hold dear in our country,” Gray said.
Leila Chapa is the social media editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @paloma_chapa88
Leila Chapa is the social media editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @paloma_chapa88
