A group of about 80 local conservatives gathered at Noe Valley Park Saturday afternoon to honor the legacy of Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old media personality, activist, and Trump advisor who was shot Wednesday in the most famous — and public — political assassination in recent American memory.
A diverse crowd of various ethnicities, religions, and genders — including more than one person wearing a fire engine red MAGA hat — attended the emotional vigil, which was hosted by the San Francisco Republican Party. About two dozen people offered prayers and eulogies for Kirk, some holding signs which read, “Yes on Dialog. No on Violence.”
Attendees quoted bible verses and some, who had met him in person, recalled their impressions of the right-wing provocateur. Kirk, they said, will be remembered for his bravery, faith, and fervor.
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One of the speakers was Cheyenne Kenney, 24, who served as the former president of UC-Berkeley’s Turning Point chapter. Kirk founded the nonprofit organization, which now has hundreds chapters at universities all over the country, as a way to help shape young conservative minds. Kirk would go into the lion’s den of liberal college campuses like Berkeley, she said, and try to convince students like herself to join his cause.
Though Kenney was a conservative before college, Berkeley’s liberal climate and joining Turning Point “reaffirmed” her beliefs, she said.
“In honor of Charlie Kirk, I am never going to be afraid to say what I believe in again,” she said as tears streamed down her face.
Other attendees shared similar stories: They’d found Kirk when they were young and disillusioned with “cancel culture,” which was just reaching its peak.
“Charlie embodied free speech, not only for himself by speaking out and engaging in dialogue, but by giving the microphone to people who not only disagreed with him, but hated him,” said one male speaker. “He gave them uninterrupted time to speak their opinions.”
Amy Ningen, 53, was wearing a Trump hat — something she rarely does because she knows it can stick out like a sore thumb in a neighborhood like Noe Valley. But after Kirk’s death, Ningen has pledged to be even more authentic around her friends and family.
“We were silenced, and we went along with it, and that allowed them to dehumanize us,” Ningen said. “We need to be unafraid. You know, we’ve been cowards.”
By the middle of the event, several San Francisco Sheriff’s deputies and police officers had arrived and were standing at the edge of the park. While members of the San Francisco Democratic Party were invited for a conversation about nonviolence and free speech, The Standard is not aware of any that attended the event.
Bill Jackson, the Chair of the SF Republican Party, was equal parts sad and angry as he tried to explain why so many people in the conservative movement are shaken by Kirk’s death.
Before the memorial service began, Jackson acknowledged that Kirk could be “provocative” or, on occasion, “rude.” But he always heard people out and was “respectful,” he said. Moreover Kirk provided an alternative to a certain kind of closed-off worldview that has at times dominated left-wing politics.
“I think that to shut out all openness to a guy like Charlie Kirk because he says one thing that feels like it goes over a line is a missed opportunity for a young person,” Jackson said. “Maybe you don’t agree with most of it, but it was interesting to hear.”