Will Witt, Heidi Denal, and Isabelle Brown Honor Charlie Kirk at Colorado State Memorial Vigil
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Will Witt, Heidi Denal, and Isabelle Brown Honor Charlie Kirk at Colorado State Memorial Vigil
Will Witt, Heidi Denal, and Isabel Brown delivered powerful tributes at a memorial vigil held at Colorado State University's Canvas Stadium following Charlie Kirk's assassination. Over 10,000 attendees gathered to remember the Turning Point USA founder who was killed moments after proclaiming Jesus Christ as king. The speakers called on a generation to carry forward Kirk's mission of fighting for free speech, faith, and American values on college campuses nationwide, with over 54,000 students signing up to start new chapters in the wake of his death. What began as mourning transformed into a rallying cry as speakers declared that courage is contagious and that Kirk's legacy will multiply through millions who refuse to be silenced.
The memorial vigil at Colorado State University's Canvas Stadium drew over 10,000 people to honor Charlie Kirk, the Turning Point USA founder who was assassinated while speaking about his faith. Will Witt, who first met Kirk as a college student at CU Boulder roughly 10 years ago, shared how a chance encounter with a fellow student led him to discover Turning Point USA and eventually become one of the organization's first campus coordinators.
Witt recalled traveling to Chicago to meet Kirk for the first time in a small room with only eight other students. When Witt confessed that his activism had cost him friendships, Kirk's response proved formative: "If these people hate you, if they're not going to be your friends, they probably weren't your friends in the first place." That authenticity, Witt explained, set Kirk apart in a political media world filled with liars and fakes. Kirk was genuine, passionate, and unwavering in his beliefs.
Drawing on his favorite novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, Witt proposed that the best revenge against those who hate the values Kirk stood for is to live more like him every day—with faith, courage, hope, and strength. He rejected the notion that anyone could simply replace Kirk, instead challenging everyone in attendance to look in the mirror and ask how they personally could embody Kirk's character.
The Resolve to Carry Forward
Witt warned that America's greatest threat comes not from foreign enemies but from internal weakness—from citizens unwilling to stand up for what the country truly represents. He declared that the America that existed before Kirk's assassination is gone and can never be recovered, but emphasized that the path forward requires both loving goodness and destroying evil. The goal, he insisted, is not to wallow in fear or respond with evil acts, but to pursue true justice through courage and faith.
Heidi Denal, a University of Colorado regent and member of the Turning Point USA advisory board, shared how her family became deeply connected to Kirk and his mission. She described Kirk as a warrior for free speech and small government who helped reclaim classrooms for open debate across Colorado campuses. Denal recalled Kirk's founding story: mentored by Bill Montgomery, Kirk was encouraged to skip college and ignite a movement instead. Montgomery, who was 50 or 60 years old at the time, recognized that the teenage Kirk was destined to shake the world.
Kirk's appeal to college students, Denal explained, stemmed from his understanding that young people are fighting not just for grades but for a future where their voices matter, where they can afford homes, start businesses, and live without government overreach. He fought for their right to speak freely and debate fiercely, never seeking to simply win arguments but to understand opposing viewpoints, sharpen ideas, and demonstrate that truth can withstand scrutiny.
A Global Movement Takes Root
Kirk's influence extended far beyond American borders. Denal noted that Turning Point chapters have been established in the United Kingdom, Australia, and other countries, with vigils held globally from Spain to South Korea following his death. Kirk's message of freedom as a responsibility resonated with people craving liberty across the planet.
Denal's own family felt Kirk's impact directly. In 2017, her daughter Tori became one of the first Turning Point student slates to run for student body government nationwide at the University of Oregon, one of the country's most liberal campuses. Kirk spent three months coaching her campaign, even couch surfing because Turning Point lacked funding at the time. When Denal ran for Colorado governor in 2022, Kirk personally trained her in debate tactics to prepare her for facing opponent Jared Polis.
The torch now passes to a new generation. Denal announced that over 54,000 students across the country have expressed interest in starting or joining Turning Point chapters since Kirk's death. She challenged the audience to help establish chapters at all 714 high schools and 94 colleges and universities in Colorado, declaring that Colorado needs to turn around quickly.
From Isolation to Army
Isabel Brown, a Colorado State University alumna, former Turning Point USA student activist, and host of the Isabel Brown Show with the Daily Wire, shared her personal journey from isolated student to movement leader. As a biomedical sciences student at CSU 10 years ago, she discovered that colleges had largely abandoned the pursuit of objective truth in favor of politicized propaganda. She was taught that abortion was not the end of a unique human life, that gender had nothing to do with chromosomes, and she even lost points on a biology exam for answering that God created the universe.
In spring 2017, as a sophomore, Brown received a targeted Facebook ad for the Young Women's Leadership Summit hosted by Turning Point USA and led by "an awkward gangly kid" named Charlie Kirk. From the first moment of that conference, she knew she would never be alone in her values again. She had found an army of thousands of students who shared her worldview.
Kirk became not just a friend but a mentor who inspired Brown to abandon her medical career path and instead pursue speaking truth to the world. Less than a year later, Kirk came to Colorado State University to speak about free speech, where violent protest threats raged outside while spirited academic debate took place inside. Brown noted the irony that a 23-year-old who never attended college taught them more than the entire university administration could.
The Man Behind the Microphone
Brown painted a portrait of Kirk as more than a public figure. He was the young man who lived for Chicago Cubs games and watched them in green rooms right before speeches, often running late to catch the end of a game. He recorded silly videos with her siblings at political conferences. He personally wrote her recommendation letter for her first White House job. He inspired her approach to marriage and spent an hour at Mar-a-Lago ignoring fans to give parenting advice when she shared news of her pregnancy.
Most importantly, Brown emphasized, Kirk was a servant leader who sought wisdom from God above all else and deeply yearned for the closest possible relationship with Jesus Christ. The Charlie people saw on screen was exactly the same man off camera—authentic, genuine, and consistent.
Kirk came from a family with members who served in every major world war dating back to the Revolutionary War. His childhood dream was to attend West Point, but God had other plans. Though he never served in uniform, Kirk became a general in what Brown described as perhaps the most important war in the nation's history: the culture war, the battle of ideas, the final stand between liberty and death.
Evil Revealed, Good Prevailing
Brown confronted the evil that has manifested in the wake of Kirk's assassination—in the killer's act itself, in media attempts to justify or make excuses for the murder, in faculty members gleefully celebrating it in classrooms across the country, and even on the CSU campus where an event paid for by student fees featured a speaker going viral for saying conservatives need to be afraid of being killed at events like the memorial itself.
Yet despite evil rearing its ugly head, good is prevailing. Brown quoted Erica Kirk, Charlie's wife and the new Turning Point USA CEO: "The world is evil, but our savior, our lord, our god, he is so, so good." The most powerful response has been an entire generation's hunger for God roaring to life, with young people gathered by the millions at events worldwide to honor Kirk's life and legacy, but more importantly to honor God as the source of all truth and liberty.
Brown shared that she has received 5,000 to 10,000 messages from people saying they prayed for the first time, bought their first Bible, or went to church for the first time because of Charlie Kirk. She recounted sharing the stage with Kirk at one of his last speaking engagements two weeks before his death in the Fresno, California area. They spent two hours in the green room discussing complicated theology, their relationship to God, and heaven—the message Kirk then brought to the crowd of 3,000 people.
A Martyr for Truth
Kirk's message at that event was clear: people of faith can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines if they want to impact culture for the better. He declared that when people drink from the streams of liberty, they will want to find its source, and that source is God, not man. Kirk loved politics and his country, loved his family more than anyone else on earth, but above all else, he loved God. Every day he chose to wake up and say, "Here I am, Lord. Send me."
Brown made clear that Kirk was assassinated just seconds after answering a question about his faith and proclaiming Jesus Christ as king. He was a martyr for truth, and truth has a name: Jesus Christ. Throughout history, from Jonah Bart to St. Cecilia to St. Stephen to the apostles, people rooted in the Holy Spirit have exhibited fearlessness in laying down their lives for their faith.
Brown acknowledged the tough questions those in the movement have been asking: Will the world ever be the same? Will outdoor events like this be safe? But she concluded that courage is not the absence of fear—it is choosing to get up even when shaking in fear, choosing to speak even when others will do anything to silence you, putting your life on the line for truth even in a world rejecting it. And courage, she emphasized, is contagious.
Millions Multiplying One Voice
Kirk gave Brown and dozens of other conservative movement leaders their first real microphones. The world is asking who picks up the microphone next, but Brown's answer is simple: everyone does. Over the past few days, an organic grassroots response has emerged with people declaring "We are Charlie Kirk." Students are starting new TikTok accounts to speak truth in Kirk's honor. Campuses across the country display hand-drawn posters saying "You can't kill free speech." At CSU, students took to the plaza with signs reading "Charlie Kirk died a hero. Prove me wrong."
Kirk always believed that anyone from anywhere could change the world if they just had the courage to embrace it. Brown declared that while no one can replace Kirk's giant shoes as leader of the conservative movement, those desperate to silence his message are in for a rude awakening. One brave young man's voice was loud—now multiply it by millions.
Brown issued a call to action: Join TPUSA chapter meetings, attend conferences, start chapters at schools that don't have them alongside the 54,000 other students who signed up just this week, listen to the Charlie Kirk Show. The movement is just getting started. She closed with prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to fill the hearts of the generation Kirk inspired with the courage to fight forward in the face of evil, to tell truth to a world rejecting it, and to be willing to lay everything down in pursuit of sharing the source of liberty—God.
The speakers concluded with a unified message: get engaged, start chapters, never let evil silence truth or take away faith. Be strong and courageous, for the Lord will be with you wherever you go.
Video Transcript
[Applause] Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Yes, please. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you guys. I also would like to thank CSU for
helping put this on. One more clap, round of applause for CSU. Thank you.
And of course to all the Turning Point staff and volunteers. None of this would be possible without them, without them.
Now, it's so
all of this doesn't feel real, does it? It feels like I shouldn't be here today. I should be home in Florida on the beach
and now I'm here with all of you. And I wish we could have all met under different circumstances, but to see all
of you here, so proud of your country, so proud of Charlie, inspired by him, inspired by Turning Point USA, it's it's
the most beautiful thing I I could ever really see to see all of you so affected by one man and what he did in all of
your lives. You know, I about 10 years ago, I grew up in Colorado and I was a student at CU Boulder. Go Buffs. Sorry
guys. Sorry. I know. I know. I know. But I wore the green for CSU, right? I got
that, right? And I was a student there and I remember sitting in my sociology class. Useless
class, by the way. And a girl comes up to me and she says, "Oh, who are you voting for?" I said,
"Oh, I don't know. I never really thought about it. I don't know you. Why are you talking to me?" And she said, "Oh, well, I'm voting for Trump." I
said, "Oh, cool. Why are you doing that?" and we got into this big conversation and she started talking to me and I was like wow the world is way
different than I thought it actually was and she said why don't you come to one of our turning point USA chapter
meetings and we can discuss this and you can find out more about it I was like okay so at CU I went to one of the
turning point meetings and I was inspired beyond belief it was one of the
greatest moments of my college career the two years that it lasted
before I dropped out And it was incredible to see so many people fighting for the values that made
this country. And after I found out about Turning Point USA, I got all hooked up with them. I started skipping
all my classes and debating kids on the with tableabling. It was fantastic. And my professors would walk by and say,
"Why aren't you in class?" I'd say, "What do you think about capitalism?" And get them to talk to me. And
eventually I decided on my own to just go and start Turning Point chapters all across the state of Colorado. Working
around is yeah amazing.
And then Turning Point got in touch with me and they're like, "Hey, we're starting this new campus coordinator initiative. We'd like you to come to
Chicago, learn from Charlie, and be one of our first campus coordinators." I said, "Wow, this is this is amazing.
Who's Charlie?" You know, and I go to Chicago and we're in this little room. It's maybe eight other
students with me and we get to hear from Charlie. He starts talking to us about the values, the ideas. He talks to about
how we're supposed to debate people, how we're supposed to talk to people. I mean, it was just the most incredible experience. And I was had the chance at
that time, the first time I met Charlie to talk to him and ask him questions. And I said, Charlie, like I started the
Turning Point clubs and I've been doing this and standing up for what I believe in, but I don't have any friends anymore. and all the all the people on
my campus hate me now for what I'm doing and what what should I do about this? And he said, "Well, if these people hate
you, if they're not going to be your friends, they probably weren't your friends in the first place." And
and that was something that really stuck with me because if any of you guys know me, you know I've been in the political media world for the last 10 years
working at PragerU and other things. And if you know anything about politics and
media, the number one thing is that everyone's a liar and everyone's a fake, right?
But not Charlie. Charlie was the one man who I met in this world who I said this
is a genuine guy. Everything he says, he believed in fervently. He never told a
lie. He always told the truth. And even if you disagreed with him, you couldn't help but see the passion that he had and
just see how infectious it was. He was a man of faith, a man of America, a man of
family, someone that inspired millions of people across this country. He was an
amazing friend and he's going to be so missed, just so incredibly missed. You know, my favorite book is The Count of
Monte Cristo. I don't know if any of you have read it. It's my favorite novel. And it tells the story of this young man
who is betrayed by his friends and spends 14 years in prison and then comes back and and acts revenge on them. And
some people might disagree with this, but I think revenge when done in the name of good is a noble pursuit. And I
think about this and how do we best take our our vengeance for these people who hate us, who want
to see us dead? We do it through the way we live. We do it through faith. We do it through
courage. We do it through hope, through strength. Every single day, we wake up and say, "How can I live a little bit
more like Charlie?" Living like Charlie is the best revenge that we can take.
You know, I see all these people now online after this has happened over the last week and there's already these
discussions and I say, "Well, who's going to be the next Charlie? Who's going to who's going to come and fill Charlie's shoes after this?" I say,
"This is a ridiculous endeavor that we're even discussing this. No one can fill Charlie's shoes. And how about
instead of us looking at some new person to lead us, why don't we all look in the mirror, look inside of ourselves and
say, "How can I be more like Charlie myself?" Right?
I mean, this man represented all of the true, good, and beautiful things about
America, about the church, about family. And if we all started acting more like
Charlie Kirk, this country would be fixed in a day. There wouldn't be the problems that we're having if we all
stood up and were as brave and strong and faithful as Charlie Kerr.
Now, I've always said that America is not going to fall from some foreign enemy, some outside force. The way
America will fall is from within. And it'll happen because of the weakness of the American people. It'll happen
because the American people were not strong enough to stand up for what this country is truly about. what this
country means to fight for the things that Charlie fought for. We are at a
crossroads and your resolve is about to be tested more than ever. We can never
go back. I hope you all understand that. The morning of Wednesday last week, that
America is gone and there is no going back before that. But your resolve will
be tested. It will be incredibly easy to wallow in fear, to sit around and do
nothing. It's also so easy to think how can I commit evil acts to defeat evil.
Both of these are a fault. To attain true justice with what we are trying to
do. How to fix America? You must love and act according to goodness and hate
and try and destroy evil. That is how we bring this country back.
Thank you.
I hope that Charlie's passing doesn't fade away in the news cycle and people
forget about it and go back to just arguing on Facebook about nonsense and
not actually talking to each other. I hope that we can look at the things that Charlie did and say that's the way
America should be. And every single day I know myself going forward without Charlie affected me. How without him I
wouldn't be here today. I'm going to live my life to honor his legacy and everything he stood for. And I hope you
all will do the same. God bless you guys. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.
All right, everybody. I am very proud and honored to be here. I'm Heidi Denal
and I am a CU buff also. I'm sorry, but you know, I used to tell President
Bruce Benson back when he was the president at CU that I I invested way more money over the years into the
amazing CSU Veterinary Center and the Animal Cancer Center than I ever invested at CU. So, you have an
incredible school here. [Applause]
The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Charlie roared this
truth. He was a lion of liberty, a beacon for our youth and a blaze whose
vision for America burns eternal in every heart here tonight.
We are Charlie Kirk and his fire lives within us. Like Will said
now guys, back in 2016, a long time ago for all of you, this is a young crowd.
Charlie and my dad Harvey stuck up a friendship at a conference that soon
swept our whole family into his orbit. As a new regent at the University of
Colorado, I founding Charlie a kindred spirit. He was a warrior for free
speech, unshackled by censorship, for small government, unbowed by
bureaucracy, and for crushing the creeping shadow of collectivism that
threatens the American dream today. Together, we charged into the fray at CU
and CSU and other colleges across Colorado, and we reclaimed classrooms for open debate. We empowered young
conservatives to find their voice and grew turning point chapters across Colorado's campuses, especially in
Boulder, where myself and the student body president Marcus launched the freeto coalition to spark bold, healthy
debates that lit the student body up. And that was inspired by Charlie.
Now, I was so captivated by this movement that I joined the Turning Point Advisory Board and I was seized by
Charlie's mission to awaken a generation. Well, why? Because Charlie wasn't just about ideas. He was about
action and giving young people the tools to fight for their future. He once said,
"The future of America is in the hands of the youth. And if we don't engage them, we lose them." I don't think we've
lost anyone. Look at this crowd here today.
That's what drove him and that's what drives me now and hopefully all of you to influence the youth of Colorado and
to get everybody engaged in this fight. Charlie founded Turning Point in 2012, a
long time ago, as fueled by a teenager's passion for America's promise, free
markets, free speech, and the freedom to chart your own path. His mentor, Bill
Montgomery, saw a spark in young Charlie, a high school kid with a voice bigger than his years, and urged him to
skip college and ignite a movement. Aren't you glad Charlie didn't go to college?
Bill, I think, was about 50 or 60 years old, and he knew that Charlie was destined to shake the world. And I bet
when Charlie reached Heaven's Gates last Wednesday, Bill was there shouting, "Well done, Patriot Charlie."
That story isn't over. It's ours to carry forward. We are all Charlie Kirk,
and we will keep his story alive.
Now, what made Charlie a hero to college kids? Well, he got it. He knew that
you're not just fighting for grades or a degree. That you're fighting for a future where your voice matters. Where
you can afford a home, start a business, and live without the government breathing down your neck. Hello,
Colorado. He knew that you're sick of being told
what to think, what to say, or what to post online. and he fought for your right to speak freely, to debate
fiercely, and to stand tall against the cultural tide that tries to drown out
our independent thought. Charlie wasn't afraid to go toe-to-toe with anyone,
professors, pundits, or protesters, and not to win. And this is really
important, you guys. He didn't want to win. He wanted to understand the other
side, to sharpen ideas, to be able to win the battle of ideas bigger and
better, and to show young people that truth can stand up to scrutiny. He took
that fight global, sparking turning point chapters in the UK, Australia, and beyond. And since September 10th,
there's village all there's vigils all over the world from Spain to South Korea
to the UK.
And that's because Charlie's message isn't just for America. It's for every
soul craving freedom across this planet. He said freedom is not a gift. It's a
responsibility. and he lived that every day, inspiring students to take up that
responsibility on their campuses, in their group chats, and in their lives. And that's what we're asking you to do
here, today, and going forward. Charlie's fire also touched my family,
too. In 2017, my daughter Tori blazed a trail at the University of Oregon, one
of the most liberal campuses in the country and Charlie's favorite football school. as one of the first turning
point kids or student slates to run for student body government nationwide. She
didn't just run, she shook things up and she proved that conservatives could lead with courage. And that was because
Charlie was there for three months helping her and her slate run that
campaign couch surfing because they didn't have a lot of money at Turning Point back then and making sure that
those kids that he had their backs. He still has your backs. He wants all of
you to be brave and courageous. And he's out there rooting for you to stand strong and keep fighting this liberal
craziness that we're up against.
I was super excited, you guys, this week when I went to the new Turning Point chapter at Valor High School down in
Douglas County where my daughter, who's 16, my other daughter is one of the leaders. They had over a hundred kids
show up for the first meeting.
And I think we've gotten over 54,000 students across the country saying they
want to own chapters or get involved all over the place.
And then when I ran for governor in 2022 after being a regent, Charlie was my rock. his whole his whole um issue with
me was to teach me how to debate because he knew I was going to go up against Jared Polus on the debate stage. So, he
taught me all the tactics and helped me slice and dice Jared pretty darn well if the liberal media would have covered it.
All right, but now the torch passes to all of us. We are Charlie Kirk and it's
our time to be your rock for Erica, his incredible wife, and the new CEO for
Turning Point and chair of the board as of today.
And for the rest of the Turning Point team, Tyler, Justin, Andrew, your chapter leaders here. We're so proud of
you. And we're going to have their back, aren't we? That's right.
Ashley, Nicole, Lena, and Vega, they are your leaders in Colorado. They're going to need your help because what are we
gonna do? There's over 714 high schools in Colorado and 94 colleges and
universities. And do you think we can open a turning point on every single one of those campuses?
All right, guys. So, you're at the heart of this. You care about a future where you can afford to live, where your ideas
aren't cancelled, where you can start a business or a family without red tape strangling your American dreams. You
love Charlie because he saw you not as kids, but as warriors for a better America. So what do we do? We fight
together for the issues that keep you up at night. Whether it's free speech, economic freedom, cultural influence.
Charlie showed you how to fight, how to debate, and how to build bridges, not burn them. So, I want everybody to go on
the Turning Point website tonight. Crash the website to get involved and sign up.
Whether you're a parent, a grandparent, a student, there's tons of ways to engage. We're going to need an army of
people to open 714 high school chapters and 94 college chapters across Colorado.
Are you with me? All right.
And God speed, there is no time to waste. Colorado is in a bad place. We've got to turn this ship around pretty
quickly. That's right.
All right. Well, the Lord is our light and our salvation. Whom shall we fear?
No one. I'm going to say that again. Whom shall we fear?
No one. God bless Charlie, Erica, the Turning Point team. God bless Colorado, America,
and all of you. We are Charlie Kirk and we will carry that torch. Thank you.
Thank you.
And now I have the great honor to introduce a dear friend of mine and you're an alumni of CSU. Finally, you
got a Ram up here, the beautiful Isabelle Brown.
Wow, Rams. What a beautiful, beautiful evening here in Canvas Stadium. And I
have to say, after spending every Saturday here running with Cam the Ram right over there, I never expected to
see so many red hats here in Fort Collins, Colorado.
I know we've applauded them many times this evening, but I think it should go without saying we need it again. Thank
you to our courageous members of law enforcement here this evening to keep us safe.
I know many of you personally, and I know I put you through the ringer when I was a student here at CSU, bringing
speakers like Charlie Kirk to our beautiful campus. Thank you to the CSU administration for offering Canvas
Stadium as our venue this evening, knowing nowhere else could hold this many people who knew and loved Charlie.
And thank you to all of our courageous students on campuses across the West. If you're a student here tonight, would you
mind standing up in the crowd right now?
I wish those of you watching live could see this crowd of 10,000 people where over half the crowd just stood up.
My name is Isabelle Brown. I am a CSU alum, a former Turning Point USA student
activist, former TPUSA contributor, and the host of the Isabelle Brown Show with
the Daily Wire. 10 years ago this fall, I set foot on
campus here at Colorado State University as a wideeyed biomed sciences student
hungry for the pursuit of objective truth. Very very quickly though, I
discovered that college across the country and even here in Fort Collins had abandoned largely the noble pursuit
of truth and challenging academic rigor, replacing it instead with politicized
propaganda and fear tactics to scare you into submission of left-wing ideology.
That even in the sciences, truth was malleable. It could change day by day or
vary person to person. Abortion, I was taught, was not the end of a unique
human life. Gender, I was forced to learn, had nothing to do with XX or XY
chromosomes. I even had to lose points on an exam in a biology course as a
student on this campus by choosing the wrong answer choice that God created the
universe. As many of you have likely felt throughout the past 10 years, I was
alone. I was isolated and I was desperate for an outlet to connect with
others who shared my Christian conservative worldview. In the spring of 2017, that outlet
arrived, I believe completely by God, while I was a sophomore here at CSU and
received a targeted Facebook ad for a conference called the Young Women's Leadership Summit hosted by an
organization I had never heard of before, Turning Point USA, and led by an
awkward gangly kid not much older than I named Charlie Kirk.
From the first moment of that first conference, I knew that I would never be
alone in my values again. There was an army, a movement, a
generation by the thousands of students like me who had found a compass and a resolve to fight as hard as we could to
give truth a voice on our college campuses and beyond. But even if we
didn't know each other personally, we all knew a guy wearing the classic dad
New Ballot sneakers and very baggy, ill-fitting suits who would cheer us on
by name. Charlie Kirk and I immediately became friends. And more importantly, he
immediately became my mentor, inspiring me to follow what clearly was a vocation from God to join him in speaking the
truth to the world instead of pursuing a career in medicine. He inspired thousands of you in this community less
than a year later coming here to Colorado State University in 2018 to
speak about the importance of free speech where 8 years ago outside of our
venue at the student center. The threat of violent protests raged on while
spirited calm academic debate where if you if you disagreed, you were always
invited to come to the front of the line took place inside. Ironic, isn't it,
that a 23-year-old who never went to college taught us more than an entire
university's administration could.
Charlie later gave me my first real job out of grad school. He humbly asked me to sit alongside him, co-hosting the
Charlie Kirk show for about a month in 2020 when he lost his voice and desperately needed to cough into a muted
microphone and spent weeks live streaming with me all night during the 2020 election. But Charlie was so much
more than that to those of us who knew him personally. He was the young man who lived for a Chicago Cubs game and he
watched them in green rooms right before his speech all over the country late to go out on stage so that he could catch
the end of the game. He was the person who recorded silly videos with my siblings at the endless political
conferences we attended over the years. He was the guy who would spar with me about the necessity of Tik Tok to save
the country as I begged him to finally make an account. And thank God he did.
He was the friend who personally wrote my recommendation letter on my job application for my first job at the
White House. The husband who inspired me to get serious about the man that I
wanted to marry. He was the father who'd sing with his beautiful wife and children over FaceTime while he was
speaking all over the country, promising that daddy would be home very soon.
He was the enthusiastic big brother figure who spent an hour ignoring all of his fans wanting to take pictures at
Mara Lago so that he could rattle off parenting advice to my husband and I when we joyfully shared the news of our
pregnancy last winter. Charlie was the servant leader who sought wisdom from God above all else. And he deeply
yearned for the closest relationship to Jesus Christ that he could foster. I and so many others
are so incredibly lucky to have known him in such a special way. But the truth
is the Charlie that you saw handing out all of your hats, speaking on campuses, hosting his radio show, and tirelessly
working on campaigns to save the country was the exact same man off the screen, too. We are all gathered tonight to
mourn this loss together. Because we didn't just lose someone that we admired, we lost the intellectual and
moral leader of an entire generation. Charlie once said that his family had
members who served in every major world war dating back to the Revolutionary War. Most people don't know this, but
his dream as a high schooler was to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point. Clearly, God had
other plans, but Charlie was ready to give his life for his country and what
this country stands for. Funnily enough, eventually, Charlie did.
He may never have served in a uniform, but Charlie was the general in perhaps
the most important war in our nation's history, the culture war, the battle of
ideas, the final stand between liberty and death. the war that in the last few
days especially has been revealed to be perhaps our last stand in the battle
between good and evil. And oh man, I know better than most
spending so much time online has this week proven that to be true. Evil took
on incarnate form in the killer that decided to violently take Charlie from this world. Evil is manifesting in the
media's response to Charlie's assassination with many trying to justify this act of horror or make
excuses for it. Evil is in our classrooms, even here at CSU, where
members of the faculty are gleefully celebrating murder in school classrooms all over the country.
Evil is here tonight on this very campus where an event a few buildings away,
paid for by your student fees, is featuring a speaker who is going viral on social media this week for saying
conservatives need to be afraid of being killed every time they go to events.
Events just like this one.
But although evil is rearing its ugly head and the demons in this spiritual
war are getting very very angry, good is still prevailing.
Charlie's beautiful wife and my inspiring friend Erica Kirk said it best in a hauntingly beautiful Instagram
caption this week. The world is evil, but our savior, our lord, our god, he is
so, so good.
By far the most powerful thing we have witnessed this week has been an entire generation's hunger for God roaring to
life. Across the entire world, we have seen young people gathered by the millions at events just like this one to
honor the life and legacy of Charlie. but more importantly inspired by Charlie
to honor God as the source of all truth and liberty.
I alone, let alone all of the other people with big social media accounts in the conservative movement, have at least
5 to 10,000 comments, DMs, emails, messages from all of you to say, "This
week, you prayed for the first time. You bought your first Bible. You went to church for the first time last Sunday,
and it was all because of Charlie Kirk.
I am thanking God every second of every day this week because I had the off
chance after not seeing each other for several months of sharing the stage with Charlie two weeks ago at one of his last
speaking engagements on this earth in Fresno, California area. We spoke at a
big, beautiful church of a multi-denominational crowd related to the pro-life movement. And Charlie,
being the goofy friend he is, quickly waved me over to hang out with him in the green room for about 2 hours before
he spoke. Normally, we would catch up on what's trending on the internet or what's happening in Washington DC, how
everything's going at the White House, but instead all Charlie wanted to talk about was his
faith. We spent about 2 hours discussing the ins and outs of complicated
theology, the beauty of our relationship to God, and most importantly, heaven,
which was the message that Charlie brought with him on stage to share to a crowd of about 3,000 people. His message
was clear. We the church, we people of faith and we people seeking what is good
and true and beautiful can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines if we want to impact culture for the better.
He said this specifically that when people start to drink from the streams
of liberty, they're going to want to find its source. Liberty is not man's
idea. It's God's idea.
Charlie loved politics and our country. Charlie really loved his family more
than any other people on earth. But above all else, Charlie loved God. Every
day he made a choice to wake up and say, "Here I am, Lord. Send me."
There are infinite examples throughout the history of our faith of young people laying down their life for their beliefs
and more importantly for their steadfast faith in God. Make no mistake about it, no matter what you're hearing on the
media, that's exactly what happened to Charlie Kirk last week when just seconds
after answering a question about his faith and proclaiming Jesus Christ as king, he was shot and killed instantly.
Charlie was a martyr for truth. But truth has a
name and that name is Jesus Christ.
[Applause]
Be it Jonah Bart, St. Cecilia, St. Steven, the apostles, or even Charlie
Kirk, people rooted in the Holy Spirit have exhibited a fearlessness beyond our
understanding for thousands of years in laying down their life for their faith. And it's something I've been thinking a
lot about this week, especially because if we're being completely vulnerable, all of us who do this for a living have
had to ask the tough question, is the world ever going to be the same again? Are we ever going to be able to have
outdoor events like this again? Are we going to be safe going to the grocery store or posting our family on social
media? But I've come to realize that courage is not the absence of fear.
Courage is choosing to get up even when you are shaking in fear. It's choosing
to speak even when others will do anything, including take your life, to silence you. It is putting your life on
the line for truth, even in a world that is rejecting truth. And better yet,
courage is contagious. Charlie Kirk gave me my first real
microphone. and he did the same for dozens of other leaders in the conservative movement from the halls of
Congress to podcast hosts and everything in between. Naturally, the world is asking, and I completely understand why,
in the wake of such a massive loss, who picks up the microphone next? But the
answer isn't as flashy as the media wants to paint it to be, because we know who picks up the microphone next. You
do. Over the last few days, we've witnessed an organic grassroots response to Charlie's assassination. Not planned
by a media firm or any particular organization, but all of you courageously saying, "We are Charlie
Kirk." I've seen this on TikTok with students and young adults starting new accounts to speak the truth in honor of
Charlie. I'm seeing this on campuses across the country with handdrawn and scribbled posters saying, "You can't
kill free speech." And I'm even seeing this here at CSU with photos going viral
of you, the Ram student body, taking to the stump on the plaza with posters saying, "Charlie Kirk died a hero. Prove
me wrong."
Charlie always had a deep and profound belief that anyone from anywhere had the capacity to change the world for the
better if they just had the courage to embrace it. Today, right here, right
now, this is your opportunity. No one will ever
be able to replace the giant shoes of Charlie Kirk as the leader of the conservative movement literally because
he did have actually giant shoes. But we are all Charlie Kirk and those desperate
to silence his message and movement are in for a rude awakening.
Think about think about how loud one brave young
man's voice was. Now multiply it by the millions.
Charlie Parker lit the spark that must now become the wildfire as our generation decisively saves Western
civilization one conversation at a time. Because when people stop talking, that's
when bad things start happening. It's up to us, to our generation, to keep
running this race. And if this week is any indication, I feel more hopeful than ever for the future of the movement. So,
join us. If you've never been to a TPUSA chapter meeting as a student here at CSU, join us. If you've never been to a
TPUSA conference, join us. If you're a student at a school that doesn't have a TPUSA chapter, join us and the 54,000
other students who have signed up to just this week. If you've never listened
to the Charlie Kirk show, join us because this movement is just getting
started. Keep fighting forward for God, for truth, for America, and for Charlie.
And to end our session together this evening, I would love to close us out in prayer. So, please join me in the name
of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Holy Spirit,
please continue to fill the hearts and souls of this generation Charlie inspired to courageously fight forward
in the face of evil. protect us in this spiritual warfare to
have the bravery to tell the truth to a world that is rejecting it and to be
willing to lay everything down, even our life in the pursuit of sharing the
source of liberty with the world. You, St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in
battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do
thou, O prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan
and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
Never let them ruin your soul. Never let them silence the truth and never let
them take away your faith. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be
discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. God bless
you all. Thank you for your courage.
Darling, Charlie.
[Music]
Thank you all for coming tonight. Remember, now's the time to get engaged. So, get it done. You're all dismissed.
