OPINION: Kirk death was an alarm bell

The assassination of Charlie Kirk was more than a brutal crime. It was an alarm bell for the rest of the country of the perverse trajectory on which we are headed.

Kirk was shockingly shot in the neck in front of thousands of people for speaking about his political views. We can’t let our country turn into a place where political violence is tolerated, even normalized. This is a chance to take a breath and think about how we speak about one another.

We’ve seen it close to home. Solomon Peña was sentenced to 80 years in prison last month for orchestrating shootings at five Democratic officials’ homes — including one where a 10-year-old girl was asleep — because he lost an election for the New Mexico House of Representatives.

Last summer, a man shot two Minnesota state legislators and their spouses. President Trump was shot during a speech in Butler, Pennsylvania. A second would-be Trump assassin went on trial last week. It’s becoming too common.

But the Kirk slaying feels different. He made speaking politics his career, and he was successful and effective. He founded Turning Point USA in 2012 and became a critical Republican political operative. He visited college campuses and offered to publicly debate liberal students about whatever issue they wanted — the topics ran the gamut, and Kirk was a master at provoking and exciting the masses.

He died publicly — shot in the neck in front of a crowd while taking questions about mass shootings, with video clips circulating social media almost instantaneously.

The killing of Charlie Kirk does more than deprive a family of a spouse, father and loved one. It chills free speech, public discourse and a culture of democracy. Places that once welcomed debate — town halls, political chambers, college campuses — are now targets. Anyone with a platform needs to watch out for people who disagree with them. As the local newspaper that sends reporters and photographers to every major event and publishes the news of ideas — it’s frightening.

For those that lived through them, the climate is starting to feel akin to the 1960s, which saw the political assassinations not just of presidents and presidential candidates like the Kennedy brothers, but also of activists like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, among others. But, unlike the 1960s, we are not in the midst of an unpopular war and military draft, or massive racial integration and upheaval. In many ways, this polarization is of our own making and as the paper of record in New Mexico, we recognize that there’s more we can do to bridge this divide, to help constituencies speak to one another, to communicate. We don’t need retribution, we need reflection.

Kirk was no stranger to a hostile crowd. He made it his mission to confront liberal ideologies, through public discourse, that he believed were dangerous to the future of our country. New Mexico was split 52%/46% in the last election. While that is a big win in politics, it’s undetectable in a stadium — something our leaders must remember more often when engaging in political discourse.

And remember that we’re a diverse community in all ways. Just last month, Kirk was welcomed by thousands of people at Legacy Church in Albuquerque, where he answered political questions and shared his faith in front of receptive and captive audience. Is there a sad irony that Kirk was embraced in Albuquerque only to be brutally assassinated a few weeks later in Orem, Utah?

The onus is on all of us. Our political leaders need to start treating the other side with more respect. We in the media need to provide context and truth and avoid dehumanizing language and false framing. We all need to go back to embracing democratic norms: Disagreement is normal, debate is healthy and political opponents are fellow citizens.

Our society needs to continue working to better understand mental health treatment and destigmatize it. We need to work to break the increase in people who are socially isolated and mentally distressed.

Regardless of your politics, know that Kirk’s life was more than just divisive words. Don’t shrug this off by repeating a quote from Kirk espousing the Second Amendment.

Let’s take a moment to reflect on how fragile, precious and special our political order and country really are.