by Paul Bean
A young Vermont couple took to the streets of Montpelier Sunday with provocative ‘Charlie Kirk’ styled signs to show support of the slain conservative activist.
“Charlie Kirk died a hero, prove me wrong,” said one sign. “The left is a cult. Change my mind.” said the other.
Tyler Kardashian pictured on the left below with his girlfriend told VDC, “My intention was to make my voice heard, and hopefully draw the attention, and listen to the voice of others in peaceful discourse. I know that I’m politically outnumbered in the capital. I hoped that in the fallout of a slain youth political voice, that there could maybe be common ground, or someone would at least come to the table.”
“I found that instead, I was met with intimidation and menace, hateful rhetoric, chants of joy over Charlie’s death, and little helpful conversation. There were some who gave me fists of support and yells of ‘We miss Charlie’ But that was overshadowed by overwhelming vitriol.”
“The passing of Charlie Kirk has frustrated us due to the unjust and irrational nature of his murder. Charlie’s death ignited a wave of faith and unison bigger than anyone can imagine. We are fighting a moral and spiritual war,” Kardashian said.
Elsewhere in Vermont, about 300 Vermonters gathered Sunday evening at Ignite Church in Williston for a candle at Ignite Church in Williston in honor of slain conservative leader Charlie Kirk.
“We love you Erika!” said the crowd of 300 in a video sent to Erika Kirk, Charlie’s widow. On Facebook, that video now has 190K+ views, thousands of likes, and tons of comments saying from viewers who wish they had known about the event so they could have attended.
It is fitting that the vigil was held at Ignite, the site of his June, 2021 initial visit to Vermont. The meeting was a stepping stone to organize Turning Point USA in Vermont and to develop support for his October, 2021 rally with UVM students at a South Burlington hotel.
Paster Todd Callahan, Senior Paster of Ignite Church told VDC Sunday about he and his wife’s relationship with Charlie Kirk and how it was formed.
“When we reopened the church, we had closed for just a little bit trying to figure out what this whole covid thing was,” said Callahan in reference to 2020 when his church had been closed for around two months because of covid restrictions. “I was sitting at my kitchen table and I told my wife, you know what we got to reopen. We cannot allow the government to restrict our freedom of worship. So we did. I connected with Erika on Instagram, actually by leaving a comment on her shoes. And she looked at my Instagram account, researched the Church and found out that we were open. She sent me a message and said, ‘do you mind if I tell Charlie that you guys are open?’ I said of course. He sent me a message and said ‘Can I come encourage your congregation? He came in June in 2021 to encourage the Church and from that day on the relationship with Charlie was incredible.”
During the candle light vigil Todd had mentioned that since they had formed their relationship back in 2021, Charlie’s family and his have maintained regular contact and to hear of his assassination was truly devastating.
There will be a candle light vigil for Charlie in Springfield at Riverside Middle School on Friday, beginning at 7PM.