The Charlie Kirk Assassination: A Few Words From Danielle

Dignity, depolarization, and nonviolence

I want to share with our Renovator community a message I shared this morning via Partners in Democracy, an org I founded to drive democracy renovation. Link to original here: https://partnersindemocracy.us/charlie-kirk/.

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The horrifying murder of Charlie Kirk is a dark tragedy for him, his family, and our nation. We wholeheartedly condemn his assassination and call on all of us to choose non-violence. Our vision for the future of our democracy was not Mr. Kirk’s vision, but we defended his right to articulate his view. The public sphere of a free society should be shaped by civic participants who wield only words and the power drawn from relationships.

The first rule of the public sphere is that we should never hold human dignity hostage—neither our own by descending to violence and deceit, nor that of others through attacks on their being—whether in word or deed. This is especially true at a university, or any educational setting, which should be a place where people learn how to contend with one another through speech.

Too many people in organizing and politics are taught to polarize the conversation in order to force people into a choice. But if polarization is an inevitable tool of politics, then polarization must be temporary and always coupled with depolarization. The Alaska Humanities Foundation has published a helpful guide to depolarization, which we recommend.

Our times need transformation, yes, but what we really need is to reorient ourselves. We need to turn our spirits away from hate—all of us—and toward connection.

The most important message is this: We can all help reduce political violence by committing to using only non-violent methods of dispute resolution. Our shared safety depends on it. The functioning of our institutions of self-government depends on it. This is why, at Partners In Democracy, in our civic education work, we work so hard to teach the democratic norm of civic reciprocity. This is why, as we pursue renovation to our institutions through advocacy, we work to build cross-ideological coalitions. We haven’t yet gotten nearly as far in this work as we would like, but we ask everyone who is ready to move beyond a world riven by political violence to join us.

Inch by inch, and every day, we are working to heal our civic culture.