The Rev. Howard-John Wesley on Sunday spoke out against efforts to whitewash the legacy of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk in the wake of his assassination on a Utah college campus last week, declaring that “how you die does not redeem how you live.”
In a powerful sermon at Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, that has been widely circulated on social media, Wesley condemned Kirk’s murder but called out the double standard between the response to the conservative’s death and that to the deadly shooting of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband inside their home earlier this year.
“Charlie Kirk did not deserve to be assassinated, but I’m overwhelmed seeing the flags of the United States of America at half-staff, calling this nation to honor and venerate a man who was an unapologetic racist and spent all of his life sowing seeds of division and hate into this land, and hearing people with selective rage who are mad about Charlie Kirk but didn’t give a damn about Melissa Hortman and her husband when they were shot down in their home,” Wesley said.
“Tell me I ought to have compassion for the death of a man who had no respect for my own life,” Wesley added.
Over the years, Kirk, a controversial figure and prominent ally of President Donald Trump and his administration, frequently devolved into making racist statements.
While discussing affirmative action on his show in 2023, Kirk mentioned former MSNBC anchor Joy Reid, former first lady Michelle Obama, late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson — all Black women.
“You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously,” Kirk said. “You had to go steal a white person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously.”
Separately, following the deadly collision between an American Airlines plane and a Black Hawk Army helicopter in January, Kirk said: “If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified,’” before hedging, “that’s not who I am, that’s not what I believe.”
Wesley said he can’t ignore Kirk’s divisive rhetoric despite the ugly manner in which he was killed.
“I am sorry, but there’s nowhere in Bible where we are taught to honor evil,” Wesley said. “And how you die does not redeem how you lived. You do not become a hero in your death, when you are a weapon of the enemy in your life. I can abhor the violence that took your life, but I don’t have to celebrate how you chose to live.”
The Trump administration has taken steps to honor Kirk following his death. Trump announced he plans to posthumously award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Past recipients have included the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Mother Teresa. The president also plans to speak at Kirk’s upcoming memorial service in Arizona.
Wesley also used his sermon to forcefully rebuke some of the Trump administration’s policies, including its mass deportation agenda and its targeting of diversity and inclusion programs.
“I’m overwhelmed with the culture of division and violence that this administration fuels and fertilizes with an inability to show compassion for those who are in need,” he said.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misattributed a quote said by Rev. Howard-John Wesley to Charlie Kirk.