Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) condemned political violence and hate on the Senate floor following the murder of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.
“Let me be clear, I disagreed with Charlie Kirk on just about everything, but I rise tonight, not in spite of those differences, but in a real sense, because of those differences. I rise to say that he had a right to speak, to think, to change his mind or not, to engage with others, to participate in the free exchange of ideas, to argue it out—that is what it means to live in a democracy, that is who we are,” said Senator Reverend Warnock. “We Americans engage in loud, heated and sometimes rambunctious debates, not as a precursor to violence, but to avoid violence, and we must learn to disagree without becoming violently disagreeable.”
“Let me be clear, there is nothing more anti-democratic than political violence. Democracy is about creating space for competing voices and countervailing visions about who we are as one people, and that debate in the public square is what has made us better over time,”continued Senator Reverend Warnock. “And so while pushing back, sometimes hard against those with whom we vigorously disagree, we must with the same voice and vigor, defend their right to be: their right to be heard, to be free. Our American family is held together by these democratic ideals, but I am afraid that what we are seeing increasingly around us is the tearing of those threads that bind us together.”
“Amidst our fierce debates, I submit that at the end of the day, we are all we’ve got. We the People. All we really have is one another, and a democracy is the imperfect institutionalization of that moral insight. All we have is one another,” continued Senator Reverend Warnock. “You either have a democracy or you have political violence. You cannot have a democracy awash in political violence.”
Read the full transcript of Senator Reverend Warnock’s remarks below and watch HERE.
“Mr. President, I rise tonight in deep sadness for a nation that is increasingly beset by political violence. Yesterday, political activist Charlie Kirk was killed while speaking to students on a college campus, a place that is set up for the exchange of ideas. He was just 31 years old, a husband, a father of young children. I pray for his wife, Erika, and for his children, who must now make their way without him.
“And his death comes on the heels of the devastating assassination of Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman of Minnesota, victims of premeditated political violence. This should shock the conscience of every American, and it should cause all of us to rise up and say enough.
“Let me be clear, I disagreed with Charlie Kirk on just about everything, but I rise tonight, not in spite of those differences, but in a real sense, because of those differences. I rise to say that he had a right to speak, to think, to change his mind or not, to engage with others, to participate in the free exchange of ideas, to argue it out—that is what it means to live in a democracy, that is who we are. We Americans engage in loud, heated and sometimes rambunctious debates, not as a precursor to violence, but to avoid violence, and we must learn to disagree without becoming violently disagreeable.
“Let me be clear, there is nothing more anti-democratic than political violence. Democracy is about creating space for competing voices and countervailing visions about who we are as one people, and that debate in the public square is what has made us better over time.
“And so while pushing back, sometimes hard against those with whom we vigorously disagree, we must with the same voice and vigor, defend their right to be: their right to be heard, to be free. Our American family is held together by these democratic ideals, but I am afraid that what we are seeing increasingly around us is the tearing of those threads that bind us together.
“E pluribus unum, out of many, one. The ability to see past our political differences and see in the humanity of the other a glimpse of our own, and so we must condemn what happened to Charlie Kirk, whether we are on the right or on the left, because condemning that heinous crime is not about the difference between right and left, it is the difference between right and wrong, and what happened on yesterday was wrong, whatever the motivation. This, we know it was wrong, and we have to say that clearly. And without hesitation.
“I serve as pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, spiritual home of Martin Luther King, Jr, and we all know that Dr. King was a victim of gun violence. What fewer people remember or know is that in 1974, his precious mother, Alberta Williams King, the wife of the pastor of the church, Martin Luther King Sr., was shot and killed in our church one Sunday morning while playing the Lord’s Prayer on the organ.
“Martin Luther King Sr. was asked what he thought about all of this, and I’m struck and inspired by his words, having lost his precious wife on a Sunday morning, having witnessed his son struck down, Martin Luther King Sr. said, “I will never let any man pull me down so low as to hate him?” He said, “hate is too heavy a burden to bear.”
“He’s right, and that’s why, in this moment, we must condemn political violence, but we must also condemn hate and hate speech. You cannot condemn one without condemning the other, for hate is itself a kind of violence that kills the spirit and corrupts the soul of a person and of a nation, and that vicious cycle of violence and hate, of hate and violence, can only lead to the demise of our country and the destruction of our humanity.
“And so in this defining moment, may we resist the seductive sirens of those who are trying to convince us that we are at war with one another. Amidst our fierce debates, I submit that at the end of the day, we are all we’ve got. We the People. All we really have is one another, and a democracy is the imperfect institutionalization of that moral insight. All we have is one another. You either have a democracy or you have political violence. You cannot have a democracy awash in political violence.
“And so every single day, let us choose democracy, choose what the Apostle Paul called the more excellent way, the way of love. Love come alive in the complicated story of a diverse people who refuse to give up on one another. It takes strength to love. It takes courage to love. It takes patience and persistence to love. God grant us strength and courage. God grant us patience and persistence for the facing of this hour and for the living of these days.
“I yield the floor.”
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