If You Think Charlie Kirk Is Your George Floyd, What Exactly Is Wrong With You?

I have a theory.

The other day, on PBS, New York Times columnist David Brooks remarked on how Charlie Kirk’s murder had affected his MAGA friends. “A couple of them said independently, this is our George Floyd,” Brooks said out loud where people could hear. “And they didn’t mean that literally, but in terms of emotional reaction.”

“Our George Floyd” is a statement that obviously reveals a total lack of empathy for the actual George Floyd, who a police officer murdered on May 25, 2020, in broad daylight and who Charlie Kirk defamed as a “scumbag.” George Floyd is not one of them, but Charlie Kirk is. Despite their protestations, all lives apparently don’t matter.

George Floyd is my George Floyd, not just because I’m Black but because I’m a citizen who might encounter the police. I’m a big fan of John Lennon’s work, but I lived in New York City for 15 years, eight of those years not that far from where a deranged gunman murdered Lennon outside his home. I never feared a similar fate. I wasn’t a famous rock star. However, I did fear the NYPD shooting me dead because they thought my wallet was a gun.

Even if you have the same political opinions as Kirk, including his more odious views, he is hardly your “George Floyd” because you are not a recognizable political influencer who has made a fortune peddling hatred and lies. You don’t have to worry when you see police lights flashing behind you on a dark night.

Charlie Kirk Deserved To Live In Infamy

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Kirk was murdered last week at Utah Valley University, but Brooks’ friends don’t compare him to the victims of any number of campus shootings that have occurred over the years. They don’t even liken Kirk’s murder to the fatal shooting of Democrat Melissa Hortman, former speaker of the Minnesota State House. Instead, they compare him to a victim of especially brutal police violence.

Kirk’s killer Tyler Robinson was not a member of law enforcement with the authority to detain and even take Kirk’s life if necessary. Black people across the nation watched as a thug with a badge murdered Floyd, who begged for his life and said he couldn't breathe more than 20 times while three other cops just stood and watched. (They apparently weren’t trained to identify and stop crimes in progress.)

Donald Trump Jr. posted on social media, “Anyone else notice that when one of our heroes was assinated [sic] in cold blood if front of thousands of people including his wife and young kids that not a single store in America had to board up their windows? That tell us everything you need to know.”

There were protests and, yes, significant unrest after Floyd’s murder because it was state sanctioned. Trump Jr.’s overtly racist comparison conveniently forgets that there was never any question that Kirk was actually murdered or that his killer would face justice, rather than receive a promotion. Most unrest after police violence occurs when people feel as if the state can summarily execute them without consequence. They are not even safe in their own homes, like Breonna Taylor or Botham Jean.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said shortly before his own assassination that riots were the “language of the unheard.” (No, he was not endorsing riots. Read his full quote.) MAGA will insist otherwise, but no one can honestly say are “unheard.”

I repeat: Floyd’s murder was state violence, and originally the police presented the killing as justified. The original coverup statement was titled, “Man Dies after Medical Incident During Police Interaction” — a rather banal description for murder.

According to the statement, officers were responding to a reported “forgery in progress.” A store clerk had accused Floyd of trying to pass off a phony $20 bill to buy cigarettes. Floyd worked as a bouncer at a nightclub, where he was likely stuck with a fake bill. He wasn’t exactly running a counterfeit operation.

The statement further claimed that Floyd “appeared to be under the influence,” all part of building the alibi after the fact.

“Two officers arrived and located the suspect, a male believed to be in his 40s, in his car,” the statement read. “He was ordered to step from his car. After he got out, he physically resisted officers. Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress. Officers called for an ambulance. He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance where he died a short time later.”

This was almost entirely fiction. Fortunately, a brave young woman on her cell phone recorded the horrible reality: Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck while he lay handcuffed on the ground: Four minutes and 45 seconds as Floyd begged for his life, 53 seconds as Floyd flailed due to seizures, and three minutes and 51 seconds as Floyd was non-responsive.

Licensed EMT Genevieve Hansen testified during Chauvin’s trial that she identified herself to the officers on the scene, but former officer Tou Thao told her not to get involved.

“There was a man being killed,” Ms. Hansen testified. “I would have been able to provide medical attention to the best of my abilities, and this human was denied that right.”

Repeating Right-Wing Propaganda Terms Doesn’t Make You Smart

Kirk’s killing was immediately declared a murder and his killer will face justice. There is no waiting on pins and needles over whether Kirk’s killer would actually be charged or indicted. No one will watch the trial assuming there is any possible outcome but guilty. Until Floyd’s killer was actually convicted, there was a chance that he would go free, even resume his career. This has happened before! And not just when the killer wore a badge. George Zimmerman shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin dead and walked out of the courtroom a free man. Right-wing pundits rejoiced when he was acquitted. Kirk’s loved ones won’t have to watch as the presiding judge orders his killer’s gun returned to him.

Claiming that Kirk is “Our George Floyd” ignores that Kirk himself was free to disparage Floyd and argue that he deserved his fate, all without any real threat to his livelihood, certainly not from the state. When 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot dead in less than two seconds, conservative and even centrist columnists were free to support this latest police violence. MSNBC fired Matthew Dowd for daring to say that “hateful words lead to hateful actions.” Gerardo Rivera questioned whether Trayvon Martin’s fashion choices — wearing a hoodie in the rain — contributed to his death. He later apologized but he kept his job.

This year, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene declared that Donald Trump should pardon Derek Chauvin, insisting that Floyd died from something totally unrelated to Chauvin choking the life out of him. No Democrat would ever suggest the same for Tyler Robinson.

Although there was some bipartisan consensus for a while that Floyd didn’t deserve to die because he was in possession of a bad $20, there were people who openly and grossly mocked Floyd’s death. In New Jersey, two “All Lives Matter” protesters re-enacted Floyd’s gruesome murder, all in front of a U.S. flag and a Trump 2020 banner.

Republicans — certainly not Trump himself — were never expected to denounce this grotesque behavior.

Perhaps nothing better reflects the perpetual right-wing victim complex than describing Kirk’s murder as “Our George Floyd.” It sounds a little too gleeful, as if David Brooks’ buddies feel as if they’re finally receiving something they were unfairly denied. Pity us all if they ever experience true persecution.