By Matt Kyle | Staff Writer
Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk spoke against critical race theory (CRT) to a packed house at the Waco Convention Center Wednesday evening as part of Turning Point USA’s (TPUSA) “Exposing Critical Racism Tour.”
The speech was sponsored by the Baylor chapter of TPUSA, which recently received an official charter from the university. During his speech, Kirk attacked what he called the “hyper-racialization” of American politics. Kirk said he believes ideas like CRT are racist because they “[organize] people based on things they can’t change, rather than things they can change,” like their character.
“We are all made in the image of God; we are complex human beings,” Kirk said. “Skin color is the most immaterial part of you. That is a sloppy, lazy and, dare I say, divisive way to actually try and say this is the most important way to think about your fellow human beings.”
Kirk said that CRT is creating a divide in America and that many people stay silent about their political beliefs out of fear of repercussions or being called a racist.
“We decided to all of a sudden embrace this idea that we’re systemically racist,” Kirk said. “We’re a white supremacist country, and if you dare disagree with us, we will character assassinate you, mock you and ridicule you because you’re a racist; sit down and shut up.”
Kirk encouraged the audience to be vocal about their beliefs, even in the face of opposition.
“My challenge for many of you here tonight is to be the same person in public as you are in private,” Kirk said. “It’s not easy, but you’ll be free. I believe many of the issues facing American society stem back to this issue of people being deeply conflicted that they have to be somebody else — that as soon as they leave their home, they have to put on camouflage and pretend to be somebody they’re not and hold beliefs they do not have.”
Kirk also discussed his opposition to “sexual anarchy,” which he said is the belief to do “whatever you want, whenever you want to do it.” Kirk said people need to be able to have control in their lives or else risk living in a “state of spiritual anarchy.”
“This 1960s line of anti-biblical, anti-Christian, anti-natural law to do whatever feels good — to indulge in the flesh, do whatever you want to do, whenever you want to, however you want to do it — that doesn’t make people free,” Kirk said. “You will live in a state of anarchy spiritually. Liberty is not doing what you want to do whenever you want to do it. Liberty is doing what you ought to do.”
Kirk quoted Aristotle, saying that “tolerance and apathy are defining characteristics of a dying society.” Kirk explained this as people tolerating bad things happening in America. Kirk said this tolerance is creating a cultural change in America and is leading people to be unhappy.
“We have a big problem in our country, which is more and more young people are not getting married,” Kirk said. “It is the least married generation in American history. We are the first of a population collapse where young people are not having children do what they used to. I think it’s making America deeply unhappy.”
Highlands Ranch, Colo., senior Caleb Kim said he enjoyed Kirk’s speech and especially liked what he said about standing up for what you believe in.
“[Kirk] definitely inspires people to not be afraid of what they believe that is true and what is right,” Kim said. “Something that really stood out to me was him saying we need to take action and stand up for what we believe and not be pushed over by all this nonsense. When he talks about the next generation and coming up and what we have to do to not be cynical about our future — we actually have to take action.”
Kirk said it is the responsibility of Christians to resist societal changes that they disagree with.
“The reason for our existence as Christians is to first and foremost give our lives to Christ, to be obedient to the scriptures — obedient to God — and win other souls across,” Kirk said. “That’s the reason for our existence, not to lead social revolutionary movements. We, as Christians, have a moral obligation not just to say we disagree with this but to say that we are going to reject the re-titalization of any sort of society or civilization.”
