When Spencer Sanderson, a Mississippi State University senior agriculture business student, received the news of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk’s death Wednesday, he was sick to his stomach.
He went through the motions of the day but he wasn’t mentally present at his classes for the remainder of the day.
“My heart just broke,” Sanderson told The Dispatch. “I wasn’t able to pay attention the rest of the day.”
Sanderson said Kirk was an important figure in his life both because of his open dialogue in political conversations with others and his openness about his Christian faith, which is why he felt compelled to speak at the MSU chapter of Turning Point USA’s candlelight vigil on Thursday at the YMCA courtyard.
“I loved his message. … I was really inspired by somebody who would jump into the lion’s den, go into places like UC Berkeley or (NYU) and have an open conversation with people,” Sanderson told The Dispatch. “And I think it’s just so tragic that you have somebody that was this calm and this moderate, so willing to have an open discussion, and that he was still killed for it.”
More than 120 students gathered to grieve Kirk, who was killed in a Wednesday shooting at Utah Valley University.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox announced at a Friday press conference that Tyler Robinson, 22, had been arrested as the suspect in the fatal shooting after receiving information from a family friend about his alleged involvement.
Chapter leadership at MSU felt compelled to organize an event in Kirk’s honor after the news came of his death Wednesday, chapter president Samuel Gonzalez said.
“We were expecting to have our regular meeting,” Gonzalez told The Dispatch. “And of course, it is 9/11 Memorial Day for such a horrible event, and this happening it really was just last minute. Of course, we’ll never forget 9/11 and all the victims of that, and we remember them as well. But for Turning Point, this was an extremely important thing for us to remember our founder.”
‘They aren’t going to kill his message’
Students gathered in prayer, sang hymns and gave speeches in honor of Kirk and the impact he had on their lives.
“He was a great person … and while many people didn’t (agree) with his political beliefs, which is okay,” Izzie Frederick, a freshman kinesiology student at MSU said. “He stood for truth and he stood for love. And one of my favorite quotes by him was ‘The minute that we stopped talking, that’s when war starts,’ and he kept talking till the end.”
The turnout of students was larger than MSU chapter leadership were initially expecting after making the announcement Wednesday, chapter vice president Harry Williams told The Dispatch.
“Honestly, I had no idea if one person or 200 people were going to show up,” Williams said. “It was such a last minute event, but … we all put our heads together. We did our best, and you know, I’m very, very grateful for the turnout.”
The students held and lit each other’s candles throughout the event, eventually leaving them on the nearby Bully statue at the conclusion of the vigil.
While Kirk may have been a polarizing figure, Williams said the event Thursday night was meant to be a recognition of his life and of those impacted by his death.
“I understand that not everybody agreed with Charlie Kirk’s message, but this was not a political rally,” Williams said. “This was a mourning. This was not only mourning his death, but celebrating his life and his accomplishments. And recognizing not only the loss that we have of losing the founder of our organization, and the leader of the youth conservative movement, but just to really acknowledge that a wife has lost her husband, and children have lost their father, and that’s the most important thing.”
Sanderson said that Kirk’s message will continue to live on through others who hold similar values. He hopes that Kirk’s death will not deter people from sharing political dialogue in the future.
“Both sides have gotten even more extreme,” Sanderson said. “The rhetoric has been bumped up. It’s frightening, but I do know that everyone that was here tonight, this community that we have, we’re going to pick that microphone up off the ground and we’re going to continue that message. Because they may have got Charlie, but they aren’t going to kill his message. They just made 1,000 more of him with what they did.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 30 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
