09/10/2026
Reposting in honor of the memory of Charlie Kirk.
FRAGILE FREEDOMS: 9/11, CHARLIE KIRK, AND A CALL TO VIGILANCE
(A PERSONAL REFLECTION FROM THE CHAIR)
I was born in Manhattan but spent much of my childhood years living in Brooklyn Heights where my father often took me to the Promenade. This paved ribbon of parkland stretched along the East River, offering a front-row view of the World Trade Center’s rise- a soaring testament to American ingenuity. As we marveled at the steel construction, my dad told me that someday we would dine on the top floor. When that day came, I stood awestruck in the rotating restaurant, Windows on the World, the room spinning slowly to reveal New York City’s glittering sprawl- a 360-degree panorama of life. My father was conservative, later a leader on the Bob Dole campaign and a faithful listener of Rush Limbaugh. Though I admired my dad, I spent much of my college years and young adulthood largely apolitical.
All of that changed on September 11. My husband was a young lieutenant in the Navy stationed in Groton, CT, and he didn’t come home until very late that night. A member of Force Protection, he worked with others to guard the “Home of the Submarine Force” from further acts of terrorism. I was a middle school English teacher and my classes had ended early that day. Alone in my living room, I turned on the news and watched its images of ash and ruin, carving a wound into my heart. Something changed in me that day. Pericles said, “Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.” That day, his words rang true, igniting a quiet patriotism and a lifelong resolve to engage with the fragility of freedom.
Today, the assassination of Charlie Kirk- a shocking act of violence that silenced a voice of conviction- is another tragic watershed moment in our culture, reminding us that the freedom to speak is ever vulnerable. At 31, Kirk- founder of Turning Point USA and a voice as consequential as Limbaugh’s- inspired young conservatives with his fearless campus debates. Like the towers’ fall, his silencing struck at the heart of what makes America endure: the freedom to speak boldly. The Left’s growing calls for violence, evident in rhetoric that demonizes dissent as hate- like the nearly 1,000-student petition decrying Kirk’s Utah event as a threat- have poisoned discourse, fostering a climate where silencing opponents is celebrated. Just this week, the sixth annual College Free Speech Rankings was released by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. It paints a grim picture:
34% of students say using violence to stop someone from speaking on campus is acceptable
72% of students say shouting down a speaker on campus is acceptable
24% of students say they often self-censor with other students on campus
28% of students say they often self-censor during classroom discussions
This erosion of dialogue echoes the warning I heard in March from author Xi Van Fleet, a survivor of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, at our EGRTC event. She cautioned that those who strip away free speech will not stop there but will threaten life itself- a prophecy fulfilled in the blood spilled on a Utah campus. The ashes of 9/11 and the silence of Kirk’s voice are dual tragedies that bind my story to our nation’s. Both should shake us from apathy, revealing that freedom, whether from terror or censorship, is fragile and demands our vigilance. The Left’s escalating calls for violence mirror the intolerance that fueled 9/11’s terror and threaten the open dialogue Kirk championed. His assassination, like the towers’ collapse, is a call to mourn not just a man, but the vulnerability of the ideas that hold us together. I carry my father’s resolve and Kirk’s courage forward, knowing that to ignore the world is to invite its chaos to crash in once more. I pray that those who are similarly moved by this tragic loss will turn it into action.
Fragile Freedoms: 9/11, Charlie Kirk, and a Call to Vigilance
(A Personal Reflection From the Chair)
https://mailchi.mp/ca692d8875a0/fragile-freedoms-911-charlie-kirk-and-a-call-to-vigilance?e=c718c908f0
