First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.
— German Pastor Martin Niemöller’s quotation on display at the U.S. Holocaust Museum
Emily Tracy is a profile in courage. The Cañon City councilwoman has more guts than the membership of the whole U.S. Congress combined.
When the right-wing mob came after her, she was steadfast and fearless.
She’s not going anywhere.
Tracy was attacked for posting an opinion piece by Elizabeth Spiers from The Nation on her personal Facebook page. She offered no commentary about it. She simply provided it as a point of information in the spirit of free speech and open political discourse.
For that, a dozen local residents testified at a recent council meeting, calling for her to resign. A petition was created on Change.org, seeking signatures from people who want her out.
The vultures are circling.
So, to honor the true legacy of Charlie Kirk, let’s consider some of the statements from Spiers’ piece that seem to inflame the good people of Cañon City.
The writer quotes Kirk directly.
On Black intelligence:
To the late Texas Representative Sheila Jackson Lee who was Black, he said, “It’s very obvious to us you are not smart enough to be able to get it (success) on your own.”
And, referring to Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and former First Lady Michelle Obama, he said, “you do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person’s slot to be taken somewhat seriously.”
On women:
Upon hearing of the engagement of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, Kirk advised Swift to “Reject feminism. You’re not in charge.”
On Black Americans:
“Happening all the time in urban America,” he said, “prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact.”
It absolutely is not.
It makes me wonder if the Cañon City crowd even read Spiers’ piece.
While most commentators have tiptoed around the ugly comments from Kirk’s dark podcasts, Spiers and a few others have dared to get real.
Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times noted several of Kirk’s comments that might not sit well with those who only want to hear the sanitized version of the provocateur’s life.
In an editorial calling for a campaign of government intimidation against anyone who might be identified as having left-leaning views, Kirk said, “Investigate first, define the crimes later … And for even the most minor of offenses, the rule should be no charity, no goodwill, no mercy.”
He said former Vice President Kamala Harris was “the jive speaking spokesperson of equity,” and that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “was awful.”
And just in case you still don’t understand his underlying attitude about race, he slammed his viewpoint home. “We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s,” he said.
Spiers also points out that Kirk, who dropped out of college and was rejected by West Point, benefited handsomely from the kind of affirmative action lavished on the privileged. His political platform, Turning Point USA, was financed by his father, a wealthy supporter of right-wing causes, and other far-right donors.
All of this is part of his personal history.
It’s important to emphasize that neither Spiers nor Bouie suggested that the murder of Kirk was anything but a tragedy.
“I do not believe anyone should be murdered because of their views,” Spiers said.
“Wherever we stand politically, we all agree that he should still be alive,” Bouie said.
And no one has accused Emily Tracy of making light of Kirk’s assassination.
But Tracy and others, including teachers, civil servants, elected officials and journalists have been removed from their jobs or threatened with removal for any speech that departs from Trump’s post-mortem portrayals of Kirk as a “giant of his generation, a champion of liberty and an inspiration to millions and millions of people.”
Apparently, that’s the only acceptable speech right now, and the intimidation that Kirk called for toward anyone who dares to express an opposing view lives on as part of his legacy.
As Tracy told The Sun’s Sue McMillin, no one at the Cañon City Council meeting defended her. They were too scared.
“It’s hard to know what to say,” she said. “As disappointing as it was to see that kind of attack on a city council member, it was more disappointing that no one spoke up in my defense. No one in the audience and no one on council.”
So, it’s up to the rest of us to speak out for her and all the others who refuse to be censored or forced to participate in an orchestrated whitewashing of Charlie Kirk’s career.
To remain silent is to be complicit. And history is all too clear about where that leads.
Diane Carman is a Denver communications consultant.
The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy. Learn how to submit a column. Reach the opinion editor at opinion@coloradosun.com.
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