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Alana* was taken aback by the deification of Charlie Kirk after the incident on September 10. As an Afro-Latina genderqueer senior studying at Howard University, she felt uncomfortable observing an image on Instagram depicting Kirk hugging Jesus. “He did not represent a national icon or leader,” Alana, who is using an alias, remarked. He was “just a white man with a loud opinion.”

The sentiment among students at the HBCU suggests that Kirk’s rhetoric about marginalized communities contained harmful language with unfair accusations directed for his death. Over recent periods following Kirk’s death, multiple historically Black institutions along with African American scholars faced targeting through bigoted messages. Journalists have lost their jobs while minority students faced academic penalties for not properly mourning or for celebrating the event.

Interviews with Black, brown and queer students across the United States show a consternation regarding the elevation of Kirk in his death along with worries over infringements on expressive rights. Certain scholars fear that the incident would lead to increased hyper-militarization and restricted speech on college campuses.

Unexpected Appearance at an HBCU Campus

On 23 September, several right-leaning advocates made an unauthorized visit to Tennessee State University, an HBCU in Nashville. They were from the Fearless Tour, which initiates nationwide debates to memorialize Kirk, sporting MAGA headwear and displayed signs that read “DEI should be illegal” and “Deport all illegals now! Let’s talk.” The threats to HBCUs were on TSU junior Talia Talley’s mind as she approached the group’s table.

“I did feel a little bit fearful,” Talley noted. “Their arrival was unexpected on to our campus to do this.” Talley’s classmates were yelling at the activists, she recalled, and “trying to squeeze a lot of things about Black history into the little moment available.” Eventually, campus security and staff removed the tour participants from campus. ““Following institutional guidelines,” TSU said in a statement, “all protests or demonstrations need prior authorization and permits.”

Another senior at TSU, saw the visitors following a physics lecture. “It takes a particular audacity to come to someone else’s campus unwarranted and to debate students without permission,” Blair, using an alias, commented. ““We are not obligated to dialogue with them.”

Issues of Expression and Suppression

Many students have also questioned about expressive boundaries in the wake of Kirk’s death. Two African American students in Texas institutions were expelled or withdrew from their colleges due to recordings showing mockery Kirk’s death went viral. Recently, Camryn Giselle Booker appeared in a video saying: “Y’all homie dead,” during a vigil for Kirk. She was arrested for an assault citation and released the next day on a $200 bond. Booker is no longer enrolled the institution, according to Texas Tech University. “Any behavior that denigrates victims of violence is reprehensible, has no place on our campus, contradicting our principles,” the school affirmed.

Devion Canty Jr, a former Texas State University scholar, was also filmed mimicking the incident at a memorial on his campus. Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, called for Canty’s expulsion on X, writing: “Expel this student immediately. Mocking assassination must have consequences.” Canty later withdrew the university. “Such harassing behavior is in direct opposition to TXST’s shared values, and it damages our community at its core,” TXST representative Jayme Blaschke said in a statement. “The university continues to follow up on reports where there’s evidence, a name, or witness.”

“Expression on public issues – including offensive remarks – is at the core of our democracy,” Canty’s attorney Samantha Harris commented. “In these polarized times, we cannot allow fear or political pressure to justify suppressing our most fundamental rights. We should all be far more alarmed that the governor of Texas explicitly called on a public university to violate the Constitution by expelling a student for protected speech than a student’s impulsive comments made during heated discourse.”

Historical Context and Future Concerns

An expert in systemic racism studies, a law professor said that reform and retrenchment has been a common pattern in US society throughout history. Whenever there is a step forward, in social progress, he mentioned, a reversal often follows toward setbacks. “We have the abolition of slavery, then Reconstruction ended, followed by Jim Crow laws: a step back. The Civil Rights Movement emerged, advancing racial equity. Then mass incarceration reversed gains,” he stated. “We had the direct election of Barack Obama, which seemed like a big forward step, but then we had Donald Trump, a step back.”

After that election, Hansford said that the public might doubt the possibility of increasing segregation in segregation and whites-only businesses ahead. “Yet that trajectory seems likely,” Hansford said. The event “might mark a shift accelerating a slide into the era of backwards sliding”.

Conservative reactions to the incident are utilized as a mechanism to continue censoring ideals that challenge the status quo, noted a Temple University senior. “Authorities might prohibit Zionism critiques. It could restrict dissent of the US government’s foreign policy effectively for large segments of the population, especially those who were not US citizens,” the student, anonymous, remarked. “It could flirt with the idea removing citizenship from naturalized persons due to their statements. Now a convenient target exists of leftwing terrorism.”

To him, Kirk represented just a political commentator. “He held extreme right-wing positions,” he added. “He repeatedly voiced opinions on Black and trans communities. He echoed unfounded theories and lies about immigration.”

Scholarly Views and Individual Thoughts

Zoe*, an Arab woman, studying at Swarthmore, expressed confusion by the concentration on Kirk in media coverage. “When I’m thinking about political violence, I’m thinking about the genocide in Palestine,” Zoe said. “That is the political violence that I prefer to spend my time dwelling on and pushing back against. I’d rather not spend it to an individual profiting off of fear mongering and expressing extreme views.”

Progressive students in the south face challenges in difficult discussions with right-aligned relatives, said John, a white gay man. When his Republican grandmother brings up Kirk’s impact, John, anonymous, said he is often left speechless. “I empathize somewhat with his family. But when I ask my close friends, we concur he was detrimental; we don’t agree with anything he stood for,” John said. “It’s hard to juxtapose. While political violence is not something we should support. Yet how can I sympathize for him when he had no sympathy for me?”

Certain scholars contemplate relocating overseas post-graduation due to the heightened fear following Trump’s election and Kirk’s murder, noted a Pratt Institute senior. “Once the government became more conservative and religious influences into their politics, we thought we should look for further education,” Maria said. “Many seniors express interest in transferring to leave the nation.’

“America just isn’t a good place or welcoming.”

*Students chose to use an alias out of fear of harassment