Singing “Amazing Grace,” bowing heads to pray and waving the American flag, a group of more than 400 people honored Charlie Kirk at the University of Cincinnati in the wake of his assassination.
Mostly college students joined some Cincinnati residents nearly a week after Kirk, a conservative activist and Turning Point USA cofounder, was shot during an event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.
The school’s chapter of Turning Point USA and its College Republicans club hosted the event to pay respects to Kirk, one of a handful in the Greater Cincinnati area in recent days and several nationwide.
Kirk surged in popularity through the organization’s college campus tours, where he drew large crowds of supporters and vehement dissenters looking to debate him.
Kyle Reynolds, pastor at Kenwood Baptist Church, and Cory Bowman, a Cincinnati mayoral candidate and Vice President JD Vance’s half-brother, called for unity in sermons to the crowd.
“And Charlie wanted us to live more according to Jesus’ commandments,” Reynolds said. “And if we did that, we could be reunited as a nation.”
The candlelight vigil Sept. 16 was somber, quiet and reverent. Many attendees rejected the division that has followed in Greater Cincinnati and elsewhere.
“The hatred is terrible. No one deserves that. It doesn’t matter what side you’re on,” UC sophomore Jacob Pickles said. “This is just a man who had his opinion and spoke his mind. He tried to help the youth and his life was ended for that.”
Employees across the country have lost jobs or faced pushback for criticizing Kirk in recent days, including local business owners and officials.
Edina Kovács, the Turning Point USA representative for Ohio, said at the vigil Kirk prayed for his enemies, including members of “a left that hates us” and politicians seeking division.
“God used Charlie’s courage to shape a movement. And though the enemy tried to silence his voice,” Kovács said, it lives on among his followers.
After the speech, Kovács told a reporter the people who hated Kirk and wished death upon him are the enemy, though not those who disagree with his ideas.
Annie Dierker, a freshman at UC, pushed back on the politics surrounding Kirk’s death altogether.
“It’s not right and left. It’s humane and inhumane,” Dierker said.
This story has been updated to clarify the phrasing of Kovács’ quote.
USA Today contributed.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: ‘It’s not right and left.’ Hundreds light candles for Charlie Kirk at Cincinnati vigil
Reporting by David Ferrara, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
