Charlie Kirk built much of his brand by warning audiences to fear Black men. Time and again, he pointed to George Floyd and Karmelo Anthony as symbols in a broader narrative portraying Black men as uniquely prone to violence, despite the fact that crime and violence cannot honestly be reduced to race. He spent years telling people where they should be looking for danger.

The bitter irony is that the violence that ended his own life did not come from any of the Black men he spent years vilifying. According to authorities, it came at the hands of someone who looked like him.