Brett Cooper — Honoring Charlie Kirk: Where Do We Go From Here?

Hi guys. Um, this is a video that I did not expect to be making today. Um, it's a video I didn't expect to make ever. Um, but obviously I did not feel right just releasing a maternity leave episode today and I didn't even feel right not putting anything on the channel when there is so much to be said. Um, and we are deeply mourning as a country. I'm not sure if I even have the right things to say today. Um, but I'm going to try to express what I'm feeling.

Um, and what some of you might be feeling as well. But I'm sure you know by now that Charlie Kirk was assassinated yesterday on September 10th. He was doing one of his college events in Utah and he was shot from what they're saying was over 200 yards away. There are videos that are circulating online. They are absolutely horrific. Um, this doesn't look like it was something that was haphazard. Was a clean shot. Um, this individual was clearly trained in some capacity.

Um, reports say that he was airlifted to a hospital and they did emergency surgery, but with where the bullet bullet entered him, he would have just lost too much blood. Um, you know, I've said this before, but one of the most incredible things when you meet somebody who has a big online presence or as a prolific individual, um, is when they are just like when you meet them in person that they are just the way that they portray themselves online.

And that was Charlie. There's so many people in this world, in this movement that I have met, that do live up to their online, you know, personas. Um, there are many who do not, unfortunately, and Charlie was one of the ones who did. He was an incredible friend and mentor to so many people. He gave so many individuals their starts. He was incredibly generous with his support and his resources. I mean, we have seen, you know, stories come out of the woodwork over the past 24 hours of, you know, messages that Charlie had sent people dating back 10 years offering support, wanting to collaborate with them, finding people on TikTok, people, you know, students who had been cancelled, offering them a lending hand.

He truly went out of his way to do good and to support good people who were trying to do good things in the world. Um, I unfortunately didn't get to know Charlie on a deeply personal level. I knew him obviously through work. My experiences with him were always incredible. He was one of the first people um when I left Daily Wire who reached out, not in any kind of business capacity, but truly just to say, you know, I'm here for you.

I don't know what's going on, but um I'm excited for you and let me know if you need anything. Um, and the last time I saw him, um, was obviously at these turning point events. And again, he was just always so incredibly gracious. Um, and I keep seeing people online saying that this just feels different even than Trump's assassination attempt. And I think that that's because it sounds so bad to say, but it's not that we have expected hits on presidents, but that that is something that is, you know, has occurred a lot in our history as a country.

But to see a man who was a commentator, who was an activist, who was in politics but was not a politician, to see him murdered in broad daylight is a completely different story. And you know, forgive me because I'm 23 years old and I didn't live through these events, but um you know, my generation, we haven't had a MLK event. We did not um you know, we didn't witness the assassination of Kennedy. Um and I feel like this moment feels like one of those.

Again, if you live through those, you can um let me know. But this was a person who was larger than life, who was so prolific, who genuinely only wanted to make the world a better place. I think what was so incredible about Charlie is that his work was not about winning. It wasn't about politics at the core of it. It was about trying to promote goodness in the world and trying to promote understanding. He was a man who based his entire career, his entire life's work, his company's life's work, his organization's life's work on the basis of democratic debate of understanding.

And I know that you might have seen, you know, hit pieces on him. You might have seen clips. I'm sure many of you are fans. Maybe you're watching this and you were not a fan of his. But beyond those clips, at the events that he did across the country that he, you know, traveled tirelessly to do at those events was a man who just wanted to understand, who cared for every student who came up to the microphone, who would listen to their stories, who would respond with empathy, who would laugh with them, who would cry with them when they would share stories.

He would debate in good faith. And I go on social media right now and I see individuals who disagreed with him but who did go to his debates and they're saying the exact same thing. Like I went and I, you know, had a preconceived notion of this man and his beliefs and I walked away being so surprised by how well I was treated. And that was Charlie more than anything else. He wanted to encourage people to have courage, to have faith, and to seek goodness and to be empowered.

and he especially wanted to empower young people to stand strong in their beliefs and he lived that every single day. I am sure that he had many threats against his life. I know that that is something that he and his family were deeply concerned about and yet he still showed up every single day because he had something that he believed in and because he was courageous and that is an incredible incredible thing. Um, there's a video that's circulating from an event that he did.

I'm not sure when it was, but a woman asked him why he comes out and he does these events, why he sits at this table and lets people come up and just debate him, why he sits here for hours and hours on end. And his response was incredible. And it's so um it's so significant for this moment because he said when we start when we stop having conversations that is when violence begins. And unfortunately that could not be more true.

Charlie did incredible incredible things. He made incredible progress. He was so incredibly effective. That is why they hated him. That is why they feared him. And even with all the progress he made, even with all of the debating, all of the dialogue, there's still such dark, heinous violence. Um, but we'll play this video here and I'll let you guys watch. >> I go around universities and have challenging conversations.

Um, because that's what is so important to our country is to find our disagreements respectfully cuz when people stop talking, that's when violence happens. And following that, I also want to share a clip. This is actually from the Iced Coffee Hour podcast. And Jack Selby asked Charlie, you know, if it all went away tomorrow, how would you want to be remembered? What would you want your legacy to be? Um, and I'm not sure if you guys have seen that clip yet, but I think it's really important that you do.

>> How do you want to be remembered? If I die, everything just goes away. How would you, if you could be associated with one thing, how would you want to be remembered? I want to be I want to be remembered for for courage for my faith. That that would be the most important thing. Most important thing is my faith in my life. >> I can say without a doubt Charlie that will be his legacy. He was such a good man. He was a titan.

He was a lion for what he believed in and he was courageous until the very end to show up in such heated political climates especially everything that we have been seeing over the past you know couple of days the last few months the last year to continue showing up to sit in front of crowds and crowds of people thousands of people to know that your life is at risk and to still stand strong in your beliefs that is how he will be remembered um and I also just want to say it has been a very heavy few days um between Charlie's assassination, between the events in Charlotte and everything that we have seen um between the shooting at the Catholic school last week.

Um there was a shooting in Colorado at a school yesterday. Um it is just so abundantly clear that we live in a a very very sick society right now. And so that just means that there is a lot of work to do and we will keep doing that and we will keep fighting and encouraging people to be better and to be healthy and to find empowerment um and to stand strongly in their beliefs because that is what Charlie would want. And that is also what we should all be striving for as individuals, as communities, and as a country.

So, I am praying with you all. I am praying for Charlie's beautiful wife, Erica, and his two children. Um, all of his close friends, and I'm praying for our country, cuz obviously we need it. Okay, I will see you guys soon. Bye.