Donald Trump and maga Republicans cannot create a moral martyr regardless of how tragically the Free Speech conservative was assassinated

Echo opinion published in the Boston Globe by Colette A.M. Phillips:

What the nation needs now is not more of what Kirk offered
It needs people committed to the hard, patient work of creating connection rather than conflict.

Colette A.M. Phillips is president and CEO of Colette Phillips Communications and author of the book “The Includers: The 7 Traits of Culturally Savvy Anti-Racist Leaders.”

In the days since the killing of Charlie Kirk, voices across the political spectrum have praised him as a symbol of free speech. His violent death was a tragedy, and political violence must always be condemned. No one deserves to be killed for their beliefs or their words — no matter how incendiary they may be.

But what if, instead of celebrating provocation, Americans asked for something else? What if, at this moment of deep fracture, we lifted up the people who create connection rather than conflict — those who make more room at the table rather than chase viral confrontations?

To be sure, Kirk trafficked in crude stereotypes, once claiming that “prowling Blacks go around for fun to target white people.” He dismissed gun deaths as a worthwhile price to preserve the Second Amendment. He smeared LGBTQ people as wanting to “corrupt your children” and dismissed white privilege as a “myth.” All of this is protected speech under the US Constitution.

But to paint Kirk as simply an outspoken conservative firebrand — or to focus on his often hateful rhetoric — misses something important. Through his organization, Turning Point USA,👎 he perfected a strategy of trolling and provocation and shamed those who disagreed with him.

Case in point: His “Prove Me Wrong” debates on college campuses were less about dialogue than baiting — putting students and professors on the defensive, getting viral content, provoking reaction.

Kirk regularly used insults, challenging students in ways meant to humiliate or trap rather than engage or convince.

While Kirk claimed that liberals used accusations of racism to silence others, he used intimidation tactics that chilled speech. 

One of the most disturbing is Turning Point’s Professor Watchlist, a public database that names and targets professors accused of promoting “anti-American” ideas or discriminating against conservative students. The watchlist frequently led to harassment campaigns against those professors, some of whom received threats or were doxed.

In the end, Kirk’s legacy is not one of bridging divides or fostering understanding, but one of deepening polarization and normalizing cruelty as a political tool. While his death is a human tragedy, to acknowledge the truth about Kirk’s legacy is not to speak ill of the dead. Rather, it is to resist sanitizing a career built on division.

What the nation needs now is not more of what Kirk offered. 

Rather, we need more people who are dedicated to the hard, patient work of creating connection rather than conflict — who lean into difference with empathy and humility, listen as much as they speak, and believe respect and dialogue are the foundations of a healthy democracy.

Here in Boston, there are corporate and social advocates like Eastern Bank’s Bob Rivers, Embrace Boston’s Imari Paris Jeffries, and The ‘Quin House’s Sandy Edgerley; educators and faith leaders like Bethel Baptist’s Drs. Gloria and Ray Hammond and Congregation Kehillath Israel Rabbi Bill Hamilton; and community builders such as Roxbury’s Thaddeus Miles, who foster connection every day in an increasingly fractured world.

History offers many examples of such bridge builders, though too often their sacrifices go unrecognized. 

Consider Jonathan Daniels, a young Boston seminary student who traveled to Alabama during the civil rights movement to support Black Americans fighting for the right to vote.

Daniels didn’t seek fame or power; he sought justice and solidarity. On Aug. 20, 1965, Daniels stepped between a Black teenager named Ruby Sales and a white supremacist aiming a shotgun at her. He was killed instantly, sacrificing his life to save hers. His name is not widely known, and there were no flags lowered to half-staff in his honor. But his courage and selflessness embody the very best of what it means to be American.

If we are to heal as a nation, we must choose whose example to follow. Will we celebrate those who thrive on tearing others down or lift up the quiet heroes who show us how to build one another up?

Our future depends on choosing inclusion over exclusion, dialogue over destruction, love over hate. While the world mourns Charlie Kirk, it does not need more provocation. It needs more bridge builders — people willing to stand bravely, and humbly, for the idea that we are all connected and deserving of respect and dignity.