Some Americans worry about threat of political violence after Charlie Kirk’s death : NPR
The Americans across the country react to the death of Charlie Kirk and that his assassination says of the threat of political violence in America.
A Martínez, host:
The death of Charlie Kirk led to a range of emotions – anger, sadness, fear, justification. Uncertainty is another while the Americans wait and worry if there will be more political violence. Liz Baker de NPR collected part of this reaction.
Liz Baker, Byline: In July, an NPR / PBS / Marist survey revealed that 73% of respondents thought that political violence was a major problem. This investigation was carried out just after two Minnesota democratic legislators and their families were slaughtered at home. Jackie Hunter, who participated in the survey, says things are only getting worse.
Jackie Hunter: We live in a very frightening period.
Baker: Hunter is a security guard in a high school in Fresno, California. He fears that the assassination of Kirk, which has occurred on a university campus, will make his students less safe. Garrett Yoshida of Birmingham, in Alabama, does not trust the political party or the media to cool the rhetoric.
Garrett Yoshida: We are nothing to solve and the quality of life does not improve for people. Mental health is getting worse, and we are there.
Baker: Tom Earl de Baltimore, Maryland, says, as a 70 -year -old black man who remembers the murders of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, it’s not worth walking in the fray.
Tom Earl: It’s a moment for us to sit down. We have to let everyone comment on this.
Baker: Many people we spoke to refused to make the assassination of Charlie Kirk because of the public broadcast which broke out against anyone who said something critical about Kirk’s inheritance. This is why Miles asked NPR to use his first name only to resume his comment on the Midi Talk show of the Boston station.
(Soundbit of archived NPR content)
Miles: Kirk himself was part of the political project which was trying to withdraw the dignity of many people in this country. No one should face violence for speeches like this, but I think that is flattened in our evaluation of this.
Baker: Jessie Williams never paid attention to Kirk before being killed. But since his death, Williams has listened to the old Kirk interviews. Williams does not agree with a lot of kirk, but says that Kirk deserved to be heard.
Jessie Williams: It’s a painful period of time, and I’m afraid, in fact. Who knows where it will go?
Baker: Charlie Kirk was a complicated individual, noted Williams. The reaction to his death is also complicated.
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