This article was written by Jaden Ortiz, MacKenzie Comacho, and Megan Hinojos
The assassination of Charlie Kirk shocked the nation, with reactions ranging from devastation and mourning to outright glee from some fringes of the left.
Despite the pushback and risks, TPUSA chapters across the country are continuing to host events in Charlie’s honor as part of their “Pick Up the Mic” initiative. This week, we attended one of these events with conservative commentator Will Witt, hosted by the TPUSA chapter at UNM, and saw firsthand how these kinds of events are more necessary, and more polarizing, than ever.
If you didn’t know who Charlie Kirk was before Sept. 10, 2025, you certainly knew who he was after that day. His public assassination in front of thousands of students and attendees will shape the way this generation views opposing ideas and how people react to those who disagree with them.
Everyone had an opinion about Charlie and his death. As conservatives, it was devastating to see people we knew saying that Charlie in any way deserved what happened to him, knowing we believed many of the same things that he did. Friends, family, and acquaintances posting about how ideas that differ from what they believe, ideas that we hold as being right and true, should be punished by death was beyond jarring.
This is why events like the one we attended at UNM, where Will Witt sat behind a mic just like Charlie did and answered questions from a crowd, are still so important. When we stop talking and start seeing people with different opinions as enemies instead of neighbors, society starts to dissolve.
The event started with a small crowd that grew quickly. There was immediate opposition from a man with a portable speaker and microphone who was attempting to prevent people from hearing the conversations. He claimed Will and the TPUSA chapter members were “brainwashing” people and told the crowd not to listen to anything they said. It’s ironic when you consider that Will was there to have conversations, and that man was not willing to engage or do anything besides shout his opinions to the crowd.
The conversations themselves were mostly amicable and covered topics like illegal immigration, Iran, foreign policy, and homelessness. Most of the people who came up to the mic asked their questions in good faith and had genuine conversations; yet there were plenty of profanities thrown toward the event from those passing by. Some people stopped and were encouraged by TPUSA members to ask Will a question and have a conversation, which we heard several people decline.
The word “fascist” was the second most common F-word being thrown around, and though not surprising, we never heard any of those who yelled it define what they meant. One man who stopped and was screaming “fascist” at Will and the TPUSA members then proceeded to pull out a handheld speaker and hold it toward Will and the person he was speaking with. Shutting down conversations in an attempt to stop fascism. Again, ironic.
We didn’t see exactly what happened next, but a fight broke out, and the same man was then arrested and led away from the event in handcuffs by police.
All of this begs the question: what can we do to encourage the free exchange of ideas without incurring violence and attempts to shut people down? All of the anger, profanity, and hostility we saw was coming from one side, so what happens next? Do the loudest members of the left sway people toward them through sheer dominance of the narrative? The squeaky wheel gets the grease, after all. Or do they push people away with their intolerance for any views but their own?
At one point, a woman behind us, while talking to her friend, said that Charlie had deserved what happened to him. We turned around and asked her why she thought he deserved to die for his beliefs. She responded that she “didn’t really mean that”. But she still said it. Did her friend believe her? Did she post that sentiment online, and did others reading it think she truly meant it and begin to believe the same thing?
It doesn’t take a majority of people holding violent views to create a dangerous environment. It only takes one.
Events like this are so important because we need to talk to each other face-to-face. We need to see where we agree more than we disagree. We need to see each other as human beings with inherent value and worth, even if we don’t believe the same things. And we need to see those things soon, before families are torn apart by political differences, before friends stop speaking because of disagreements, and before our nation becomes divided by people who can no longer see the humanity in those who think differently than they do.
