Orem, UT – On Tuesday October 21, just over 40 students and community members gathered to protest any sort of Charlie Kirk memorial on campus. This protest was held about 200 feet from the spot where Charlie Kirk was killed

Utah Valley University has appointed a committee to oversee development of a memorial. Members include UVU administrators, a member of the UVU board of trustees, a member of the Utah House of Representatives, other Utah government workers, and three student representatives.

One of the protest attendees, and UVU Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) member, Oscar Guerrero stated, “We don’t want to prolong the trauma and memorialize hateful rhetoric.”

Guerrero continued, “This man constantly peddled misinformation and harmful rhetoric about minorities that has caused harm to both myself and others. To memorialize him would substantiate his harmful and divisive behavior that goes against the values of unity, inclusion and belonging that UVU claims to uphold.”

Another protest attendee, UVU SDS member Kareem Kasem stated, “He was a racist who didn’t believe in empathy,” and “I think it would be very divisive if there is a memorial in his likeness. I have a feeling that it will just be vandalized and students who had nothing to do with it will be threatened over it.”

Alexander Draper added, “I was there because I think it would be foolish for the school to make a memorial for someone who spoke so openly against college education, and who was vocally racist and hateful towards Islamic people, queer folks, and most anyone that didn't align with white American evangelism.”

The UVU Students for a Democratic Society plan to hold another protest before winter fully sets in on campus and before the semester ends.

#OremUT #UT #StudentMovement #CharlieKirk #SDS #TPUSA

Jacksonville, FL – On Wednesday, October 22, students at the University of North Florida gathered to protest the proposed Florida House Bill 113, which seeks to pressure all colleges in the state to rename a road after Charlie Kirk.

Jacksonville Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organized the rally, which drew over 30 students. Half the campus away, students reported hearing chants of, “No Kirk, no KKK, no racist USA!”

SDS member Kevin Brosan spoke against HB 113 and Charlie Kirk, saying that Kirk, “called the Civil Rights Act of 1964 a huge mistake, claiming that it has been turned into an anti-white weapon.” Brosan emphasized, “If this bill goes through, let me remind you that this is who UNF and the Florida Senate choose to honor.”

Lorelai Dodge, a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, spoke against the system of oppression that Kirk served. She called Kirk a “pawn used by the reactionary right to normalize extremism and suppression of free speech. In life, he was a tool used to normalize far right ideas. Now, in death, he’s a tool used to stamp out opposition to those ideas.”

Throughout the rally, protesters emphasized that HB 113 specifically directs the University of North Florida to rename UNF Drive, the school’s main road. This is the road that runs around campus, on which thousands of cars travel every day. Furthermore, changing the name of this road would change UNF’s address, sending a message about the identity of the school as a whole.

The rally concluded with a march along UNF Drive. The march drew support from passing drivers as protesters waved signs that said “No honors for bigots” and “Say no to Charlie Kirk Road.”

After the protest, spectators commented that they disagreed with the name change and were glad to see people opposing it.

#JacksonvilleFL #FL #StudentMovement #SDS #CharlieKirk #TPUSA

The temperature is rising by the day and the air is thick with a dangerous new electricity. The magnified polarization of this country points to the unraveling of a system built on inequality, repression and an empire whose decline is accelerating. Flashpoint events like Kirk’s killing are not isolated incidents, they’re symptoms of a terminal illness.

Figures like Charlie Kirk and his machine, Turning Point USA, were once fringe commentators. But they seeped into mainstream politics during Trump’s first and second terms and have been systematically forging a political atmosphere of reactionary hatred.

The playbook is clear: poison the well of public opinion and debate with the raw sewage of white supremacist conspiracy theories like the “Great Replacement,” dehumanize immigrants as predators, LGBTQ people as “groomers” and resistance as terror and crime. In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, Kirk called him a “scumbag.” He claimed that the millions who flooded the streets after Floyd’s extra-judicial execution had simply “misinterpreted” the situation.

This is the kind of bald-faced reaction Kirk stood for and propagated. It is the deliberate drumming up of moral panic to justify a crackdown.

Political violence comes with this climate – a climate his movement has meticulously cultivated. Now they wield the event of Kirk’s going into that good night as both a national tragedy to be mourned and as a weapon to brand all progressive movements and dissent as terrorism. Declaring states of emergency and deploying National Guard troops in Black cities is another weapon they’ve been wielding. They are going to use this killing as justification for another wave of repression and reaction. We’re going to oppose every attack, and we will be in the streets, with as many people joining us as possible.

But their weakness is our opportunity. A system this desperate and openly corrosive can’t stand. Through the cracks, and the incredible energy of the masses fighting back, we can see a glimpse of a different future.

The call is to build something real. Joining together in a revolutionary group means moving from just being a target of reaction to being architects of our own liberation. We are building a movement that has enough power and enough bounce-back to weather attacks, to tear down the rotting structure of the current system, and to lay down the foundation for what comes next: a society based on justice, equality and real freedom.

The question is not if this system will fall, but what will rise in its place. We’re not going to let them drag us into their dark age. This is a historic moment of crisis and transformation that we have to seize. Now is not the time to hide or slow down. It’s the time to organize, unite and fight for the world we know is possible: socialism.

The future is not something we wait for; it is something we build together starting today. Join FRSO.

#PeoplesStruggles #CharlieKirk #InJusticeSystem #PoliticalRepression #FRSO #Statement

Tallahassee, FL – On Friday, February 28, students and other groups held a protest against the arrival of right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk on FSU.

Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, is known for his reactionary statements about LGBTQ people and Black Americans, insisting that the Civil Rights Act of 1965 was a mistake and should be repealed, while calling Martin Luther King Jr. an “awful person.” He has spoken at several universities as part of his “American Comeback” speaking tour.

In the buildup to the event, Owen Girard, president of FSU Turning Point USA, reported the Black Student Union to school administration for posting a screenshot of the protest flyer on their Instagram story. He later claimed they had been “held accountable” by the school authorities. According to BSU’s mission statement, they are “an organization at Florida State University that addresses those issues that affect African-American students in a university setting.”

The protest began at 11:30 a.m. at the Integration Statue with impassioned speeches denouncing Kirk and FSU’s administration. After this, over 100 students marched to Landis Green, where the event was being held, and barriers were quickly put up by FSUPD, Tallahassee PD, and the Florida Highway Patrol.

Justin Jordan, a leader in Tallahassee SDS said, “It is disgusting for a university that claims to care about all of its students to allow Charlie Kirk, a man who has repeatedly made his disdain for Black people and our rights to come on campus.”

Hundreds more people trickled in throughout the duration of the protest and rallied against Kirk’s presence with chants such as “Racist, sexist, anti-gay, Charlie Kirk go away!”

Despite harassment from Turning Point sympathizers including slurs, bottle-throwing and even fascist salutes, the protesters successfully disrupted the event, as many attendees claimed they couldn’t hear Kirk speak amid the uproar.

The rally was organized and attended by Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society along with the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), FSU Veggie Power, FSU Graduate Assistants United, Tallahassee Food Not Bombs, YDSA, and FL Student Power.

The event ended around 2 p.m. and the crowd gradually dispersed without incident.

#TallahasseeFL #FL #StudentMovement #SDS #CharlieKirk #TPUSA

Tallahassee, FL – Florida State University students gathered in protest of Charlie Kirk on March 10.

FSU was the first stop for Charlie Kirk’s “Culture War Tour” sponsored by Turning Point USA (TPUSA). “FSUnite Against Kirk” was born in response to this event, a self-described student coalition dedicated to spreading a message of love and acceptance in the wake of Kirk’s purposefully divisive rhetoric.

A group of students of all walks of life attended, including six speakers representing different student organizations; Ellie Cooper, president of JStreet U; Alyssa Ackbar, State Director for Florida March for Our Lives; Sadie Cosgrove, member of College Democrats and Gender Odyssey; Delilah Pierre, graduate and organizer with the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS); and Isabela Casanova, vice president of Students for a Democratic Society.

Speeches were meant to convey a “story of self”, with each speaker voicing how rhetoric pushed by Kirk and TPUSA goes against FSU’s claims of diversity and inclusiveness and impacts them personally.

FSU is a predominantly white institution. “FSU’s decision to bring Charlie Kirk to campus sends a clear message that minorities are not valued here,” Ackbar stated. “Kirk’s rhetoric is hate-filled and targeted at minority groups that are already at a disadvantage on campus.”

Students engaged in chants such as “The students united can never be defeated!” and “Say yes to love! Say no to hate!” and waved signs with similar messages.

Organizer Chloe Ilcus also helped draft a petition that was distributed at the event urging FSU’s President John Thrasher and administration to release a statement addressing Kirk’s visit to campus.

Attendees also signed a petition by SDS aimed at bringing a more concrete accountability process for sexual abusers and rapists on FSU campus. SDS will lead a coalition of students, campus groups, area residents and community organizations in a march from campus to the state capitol on Saturday, April 11.

FSUnite Against Kirk was met with some backlash both in person and on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook due to the nature of Kirk’s event, but organizers took such backlash in stride.

“We have to organize like this,” Cooper insisted. “Being here today allows me to see the type of community I know FSU can be.”

#TallahasseeFL #US #PeoplesStruggles #Antifascism #DonaldTrump #TallahasseeSDS #CharlieKirk #TurningPointUSATPUSA