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Erika Kirk walked onto the stage at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) Wednesday night to a packed house for her first Turning Point USA campus appearance since the murder of her husband, Charlie Kirk.
“It’s hard not to cry after watching,” she said of the video tribute that played before she took the microphone. “I haven’t seen that… that video since that day happened.”
“Being on campus right now for me is a spiritual reclaiming of territory,” she said. “There is a lot of symbolism in today. It’s Wednesday, seven weeks. And the more that I am coming to grips with the permanency of this nightmare, the more that I am starting to realize and witness that the enemy, he doesn’t want you.”
He wants your territory. He wants your influence. And I could just hear Charlie in my heart. I could hear him say, ‘Go reclaim that territory, babe. Go — the battles that God’s love conquers.’ And that’s why I’m here today,” she added.
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Erika Kirk speaks during a “This Is the Turning Point” campus tour event at the University of Mississippi, in Oxford, Miss., Wednesday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Erika thanked the students who filled the arena, many wearing ‘Freedom’ T-shirts like the one she wore at the podium. “You have no idea how helpful it is to have all of you in my life, because you help me feel even more deeply connected to my husband,” she told them.
She recalled how Charlie made a point at every Turning Point USA event to stop and talk with student leaders. “He would ask you what your name is, what you’re studying, what issues are going on on campus,” she said. “He wanted you to know he was investing in you: into your chapter, into your school. That was a pulse point for him.”
“Earn your voice,” she urged. “You are the courageous generation. That’s what you are. All of you, Gen Z, you are the courageous generation. Make him proud.”
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Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk’s widow, speaks during a Turning Point USA event where Vice President JD Vance also spoke at the University of Mississippi, in Oxford, Miss., Wednesday. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
“I lost my friend. I lost my best friend,” she said. “If you’re nervous about standing up for the truth, the murder of my husband puts into perspective all those fears. My husband never went with the flow. He believed the harder path was always the right one, because comfort doesn’t change the world.”
She shared for the first time with the audience present that for weeks after Charlie’s murder she avoided their bedroom at home.
“It took me a while to even just make it back into our bedroom,” she said. “I used to sprint from the opening door into the bathroom and sprint out. I was not ready to walk into our bedroom yet, and when I was finally able to sleep in our bed for the first time, I slept on his side of the bed.”
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Attendees listen as Vice President JD Vance speaks during a “This Is the Turning Point” campus tour event at Ole Miss, in Oxford, Miss., Wednesday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
From that spot, she said, she finally saw what Charlie saw every morning, the framed words on the wall: “They will be known by the boldness of their faith.”
“He saw that every single morning he woke up,” Erika said. “I didn’t, because I was on the other side, facing the window. But from his side, that’s what he saw first.”
On his desk, she added, were three questions Charlie had written out and asked himself each day: “What is something I can do for someone today? What is something I can do to add value to the world today? How can I honor God today?”
“Those were his action points for courage,” Erika said. “Ask yourself those questions every day, and I promise you, you will get courage. What death amplifies even more is that you only get one life. So live like it matters.”
“Love your family fearlessly. Love your spouse fearlessly. Love this country,” she said. “Defend her and serve our God. And don’t think that it’s someone else’s role to do it. You do it. You do it.” The audience broke into applause.
“This moment can either be your breaking point or your wake-up call,” she said. “Essentially, your turning point.”
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She then introduced Vice President JD Vance, a friend of her late husband, calling him someone who “understands the fight that we’re up against and can articulate that in a way that transcends race and background.”
“There will never be another Charlie,” she said, “but I know he’d be proud to see us here tonight.”