Hundreds honor Charlie Kirk at Michigan Capitol gathering

LANSING — Hundreds of supporters of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk rallied peacefully to honor him with speeches, prayer and song on a warm and sunny late Monday afternoon at the state Capitol Sept. 15.

A recurrent theme from speakers on the east steps of the Capitol Building was that Kirk’s killing was intended to silence his controversial voice but has instead emboldened conservatives everywhere.

“Do not be silent any longer,” state Rep. Angela Rigas, R-Alto, urged the crowd, which ranged in age from newborn to the very old, with many teenagers and young adults in attendance for the event that lasted nearly two hours.

“It is time to be bold. It is time to be like Charlie,” Rigas said, after asking: “Are you willing to be … threatened and doxed like Charlie was?”

Kirk, who was 31, died Sept. 10 after being struck by a gunshot during an event in front of some 3,000 spectators at Utah Valley University, part of his “American Comeback Tour.” Authorities arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson on Sept. 11.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sept. 14 that charging documents against Robinson were slated to be filed in court Sept. 16. Authorities arrested Robinson on charges of felony aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm and obstruction of justice, USA Today reported. He’s been held without bail in a local jail since his arrest.

Cox added Robinson was not cooperating with investigators, although people who know him were. A motive had not yet been identified, though Robinson displayed “leftist ideology,” Cox said during the NBC interview.

Prominent Michigan Democrats, including Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, who is running for governor, and state Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Bloomfield Township, have received bomb threats since Kirk was killed. Cox and elected officials from both parties have called for a tamping down of the political rhetoric.

Kirk galvanized conservatives — particularly young people — across the U.S. He founded Turning Point USA, a conservative student movement, and Turning Point Action, which has hosted rallies with Republican candidates, including Trump, and mobilized conservatives for a voter turnout operation in the 2024 election.

Kirk was making the first stop on his multi-state swing through college campuses as part of Turning Point USA’s “The American Comeback Tour” when he was killed. At the event, he asked students in the audience to debate him at his well-known “prove me wrong” table, an invitation for those to challenge his beliefs that he had hoped to bring to more campuses before his slaying cut his tour short.

Beloved by many as a likeable and approachable prominent conservative thinker, Kirk emerged as a “happy warrior” against the “woke” mindset. “Woke” is a term that evolved from one mostly used in the non-white community to describe those attentive to issues of social and racial injustice to one mostly used as a slur by some conservatives to describe anyone who supports a range of issues such as diversity, equity, and inclusion and LGBTQ+ rights, especially when support for those issues is seen as performative. Kirk also earned a national reputation as a far-right provocateur.

Kirk was a fierce advocate for gun rights, opposed gay marriage and gender-affirming care for transgender people, and was dismissive of concerns about climate change.

He faced backlash for many of his comments, such as his attacks on the Civil Rights Act and describing the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as “awful.” He called U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Black woman, an unqualified “diversity hire” even though she had more judicial experience than many of the other justices at the time of their confirmations.

Police watched the Capitol lawn from atop a nearby parking garage, but the event was peaceful. One counter-demonstrator briefly appeared, holding a sign that described Kirk as a fascist and a bigot, but then quickly left the scene.

St. Clair County residents Diane Hulett and Sandra Tannehill, both GOP precinct delegates, traveled to Lansing from Riley Township and Wales Township, respectively, Sept. 15 after earlier attending a candlelight vigil for Kirk in Lapeer on Sept. 12. They praised Kirk as a fearless truthteller.

“It was devastating,” Hulett said of Kirk’s killing. “They tried to silence him, but I think millions of Charlie Kirks are on the rise. People who were unaware, I think, have now been woken up.”

Hulett said she is showing up at Kirk memorials for her two grandchildren, who are 5 and 7 years old.

“I think we need to stand up,” she said.

Tanehill, who is also a member of the Republican committee for the 9th Congressional District, said she has 31-year-old twin sons and a 13-year-old daughter in middle school and she relied on Kirk for information about leftist indoctrination in schools.

Kirk is gone, but “a lot of parents are going to wake up to this and start seeing where their money is going,” she said.

Kirk did not shy away from controversy, nationally or in Michigan.

He repeatedly emphasized getting married and having children as being of primary importance for women, saying birth control “screws up female brains” and makes them less inclined toward conservatism. In a Sept. 8 post on X, commenting on a poll that showed women who voted for Kamala Harris ranked successful careers as most important to their definitions of success, Kirk said: “Democrat women want to die alone without children.”

He linked violent crime in America to the “catch and release” policies of lenient judges, saying on X on Sept. 7: “We don’t have enough people in prison in America. We need a lot more prisoners.”

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On Sept. 4, Kirk reposted a message on X that said the Dearborn Heights Police Department “now has the nation’s first-ever uniform patch in Arabic.” Kirk commented that “chain migration” had made Dearborn Heights a Muslim-majority city and “when you get conquered, you get a new language.” The city’s mayor told the Free Press Sept. 5 that an image of the patch the department posted to social media Sept. 3 and later removed was a digital mock-up that hadn’t been fully discussed with stakeholders or approved for use.

Two days earlier, Kirk asked on X: “Is Rashida Tlaib an American?” referencing the U.S.-born member of Congress from Detroit who has been highly critical of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Brothers Stuart Birn, 18, and Sparky Birn, 15, both students at New Coventry Christian School in Lansing, cited Kirk’s Christianity and willingness to try to change the world as significant in drawing them to him.

“He stood for religion and freedom and … freedom of speech,” said Stuart Birn. “He really made an impact on America, and I hope political violence ends for good.”

Sparky Birn said political violence of any kind is inexcusable and “it’s awful it happened to Charlie Kirk, who was trying to make an impact on younger people, whether they agreed with him or not.”

Michigan GOP Chairman and state Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, said Kirk was killed because he was effective. He added the battle for the future of the U.S. must be fought “peacefully, but relentlessly.”

Aleks Evans, chair of the Michigan State University College Republicans, also said Kirk’s death would be felt particularly on college campuses.

“Conservative students who’ve held their tongues will be loud when the time is right,” Evans said.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@freepress.com. Contact Clara Hendrickson: chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Hundreds honor Charlie Kirk at GOP rally at Michigan Capitol