Comparing Kirk to King is a Disrespect to King’s Legacy
News surrounding the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk has quickly become a trending topic. The 31 year old Illinois native and one of the more recent rising voices of the MAGA movement in the Republican Party was shot and killed at Training Point USA (TPUSA) event at the Utah Valley University campus on September 10th.
Recent reports have been comparing him to the late activist Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. One meme in particular depicts Kirk next to King, Kennedy, and Jesus.
Writer Natasha Alford, in her 2025 article for The Grio,
“Bernice King reacts to meme comparing Charlie Kirk’s shooting to MLK and Jesus’ deaths: ‘I get tired’”, writes, “Dr. Bernice King, the youngest daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is expressing dismay over the publication of an image mentioning her father in relation to the killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk…the image was posted by Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, and depicted Charlie Kirk, alongside MLK, Jesus, and former Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy with the headline: “All Because of Words.”
The meme has been covered by multiple outlets creating a discourse surrounding the role race plays in how society views a martyr.
Kirk himself had been largely dismissive of King’s efforts which further adds to how insulting and disrespectful it is to even compare. In a post on the social media platform X posted on January 15th, 2024, Kirk wrote, “Who was MLK? A myth has been created and it has grown totally out of control,” Kirk had posted on X. Kirk continued, “While he (MLK) was alive most people disliked him, yet today he is the most honored, worshipped, even deified person of the 20th century. Today we are going to tell the truth and explain how this myth was born.”
Not only were his sentiments historically inaccurate but incredibly insulating to not only King’s family but the legacy of his work – a legacy he himself would not live to see. There are public documents and sources that legitimize King’s existence and work. To reduce him to a myth is as disrespectful as letting the American flag touch the ground.
Moreover, the use of artificial intelligence in creating false information, essentially attempting to rewrite history, continues to create concern around ethical use of the tool. What does it mean when one individual who explicitly put his life on the line for racial equality is erroneously compared to a politician whose platform was built on the disenfranchisement of people of color? What does it mean when this very comparison is even allowed to become a topic of conversation?
