Utah Congresswoman Celeste Maloy Responds to Charlie Kirk Assassination at Utah Valley University

[00:00] upset and traumatized a lot of their

[00:01] staffers.

[00:02] >> Utah Congresswoman Celeste Malloy said

[00:04] she was stunned to learn that the man

[00:06] accused of killing conservative

[00:07] commentator Charlie Kirk was from

[00:09] southern Utah.

[00:10] >> This morning I flew back and landed in

[00:12] Salt Lake to find out there had been an

[00:13] arrest, which I was really excited

[00:15] about. But I also found out that it was

[00:16] here in St. George, which makes this

[00:19] really, really close to home. This is my

[00:23] area where I represent, where I used to

[00:25] be a deputy county attorney. And I just

[00:27] want to say to my friends and neighbors

[00:29] here in Washington County, let's rise

[00:32] above some of the the anger. Uh Charlie

[00:35] Kirk spent his career out trying to get

[00:38] people to talk, to engage. He said,

[00:40] "When we stop talking, that's when

[00:42] political violence starts."

[00:44] >> Kirk was shot and killed Wednesday while

[00:46] visiting Utah Valley University as a

[00:48] part of his Prove Me Wrong tour. Tyler

[00:50] James Robinson, the man accused of

[00:52] killing Kirk, grew up in Washington City

[00:54] and lived in St. George and was arrested

[00:56] on Thursday evening. Speaking with local

[00:59] media Friday, Mallaloy urged residents

[01:01] to rise above the anger and step away

[01:03] from social media while also stressing

[01:05] that social media was not reality.

[01:08] >> In politics, a lot of us have really

[01:10] strong feelings. And that's fine. Being

[01:13] passionate about our political positions

[01:15] is not the problem. Taking that out of

[01:18] discourse and into violence is the

[01:20] problem. And right now there's a lot of

[01:23] talk on the internet and I'm not sure

[01:25] most of it's serious about, you know,

[01:28] harming other people or, you know, left

[01:31] for right, one for one. And it's just

[01:33] time to stop all of that. Let's take all

[01:35] of our debates out into the public

[01:37] square and use free speech the way it's

[01:40] intended to be used. Let's keep this

[01:42] about ideas and policy and not hurt

[01:46] people. Obviously, I use social media. I

[01:49] don't think there's anything wrong with

[01:51] social media in and of itself. I don't

[01:53] think there's anything wrong with

[01:54] political engagement on social media.

[01:56] But if social media starts to replace

[01:58] your actual social interactions, then we

[02:01] have a problem. If you can't talk to

[02:03] your family anymore, then it's time to

[02:05] get off social media and go have real

[02:08] debates with real people. And that's

[02:10] what Charlie Kirk was doing. Social

[02:12] media isn't reality. You're right about

[02:14] that. But there is a human being on the

[02:15] other side of that. And as someone who's

[02:17] involved in public life, I've been on

[02:19] the receiving end of this. People will

[02:20] say awful things on social media that

[02:22] they wouldn't say in person, and that's

[02:25] one of the reasons that personal

[02:26] interactions are better.

[02:27] >> Malloy also expressed concern that young

[02:29] people may withdraw from politics after

[02:31] witnessing the killing and instead urges

[02:33] them to become involved in public

[02:35] discourse and meet with people face to

[02:36] face.

[02:37] >> One of my fears about this is that young

[02:39] people are going to disengage from

[02:41] politics, but also just from involvement

[02:44] in their communities. When thousands of

[02:46] college students show up on UVU campus

[02:49] and watch somebody get murdered and and

[02:51] worry that that bullet could have hit

[02:53] them, I worry that they'll pull back. So

[02:55] my advice to young people to understand

[02:57] this would to be be to go out and get

[02:59] involved. Go talk to people. Step up,

[03:02] lean in, don't pull back. Isolation is

[03:05] not our friend. Dialogue and free speech

[03:08] is our friend. She closed by condemning

[03:10] political violence and called on Utons

[03:12] to bring down the temperature through

[03:13] neighborliness and community engagement.

[03:16] >> In the last few years, we've had a lot

[03:17] of really

[03:20] touchy political things happening in

[03:22] Washington County and we've we've gotten

[03:24] swept up in a lot and now's the time to

[03:27] move past politics and treat each other

[03:29] like neighbors. I'm not excusing

[03:32] anything that's happened. I strongly

[03:34] condemn political violence and the

[03:36] political assassination that happened in

[03:37] Utah, but we're not going to fix that by

[03:40] being jerks to our neighbors on social

[03:42] media. We might prevent the next one by

[03:44] getting out of our bubble and going and

[03:47] talking to people, even people we agree

[03:48] with, pulling them out into the real

[03:50] world and interacting like people who

[03:54] are part of a community and not

[03:55] individuals who are online.

[03:57] >> To learn more, read the story. This is

[03:59] my Kesler reporting for St. George News,

[04:02] your number one source for local