As Donald Trump awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously to Charlie Kirk Tuesday, a Kansas City-area school board candidate decried the slain patriot as a promoter of “White Christian Nationalism.”
Gardner Edgerton Unified School District 231 school board candidate Keith Davenport wrote on social media that a “person of color” was troubled by the district’s mention of Kirk. He then goes on to recount a series of statements by Kirk that lack context or are taken completely out of context to insinuate Kirk was a racist.
Specifically, he claims Kirk said “Black women needed affirmative action because they lacked the ‘brain processing power’ to compete with white people.”
In truth, Kirk in a July 13, 2023 podcast, celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision ending affirmative action in university admissions – and noted that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, admitted to being, in her words, “a clear recipient of affirmative action, particularly in higher education.”
Moreover, Kirk was speaking about particular individuals here:
“If we would have said three weeks ago […] that Joy Reid and Michelle Obama and Sheila Jackson Lee and Ketanji Brown Jackson were affirmative-action picks, we would have been called racist. But now they’re coming out and they’re saying it for us! They’re coming out and they’re saying, “I’m only here because of affirmative action.
“Yeah, we know. 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 go be taken somewhat seriously.”
It’s simply disingenuous to posit, as Davenport does, that Kirk was talking about black women as a whole needing affirmative action, when he cited four people by name.
Davenport also claims Kirk said he “felt uneasy seeing black pilots or doctors because he doubted their qualifications.”
Again, not true.
In making a point about the dangers of diversity, equity and inclusion in hiring – especially in public safety roles – Kirk clearly said he doesn’t want DEI to make him think, “If I see a black pilot, I’m gonna be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’”
Indeed, Kirk said, “that’s not who I am. That’s not what I believe,” adding that DEI “creates unhealthy thinking patterns. I don’t wanna think that way. And no one should, right?”
Yet, Davenport accepts out-of-context social media representations of Kirk’s utterances as gospel.
“Faith leaders across traditions have described his ideology as White Christian Nationalism: a blend of extreme political conservatism and fundamentalist Christianity so tightly woven together that one can’t exist without the other,” Davenport writes.
“He did not deserve to be assassinated – but neither should his ideology be sanitized.
“So on this National Day of Remembrance, let’s remember him truthfully. Let’s recognize why official school posts honoring him might make some families – especially families of color – feel unseen or unsafe.”
The X account Libs of TikTok took note of Davenport’s Day of Remembrance false memories of Charlie Kirk with its own post Tuesday:
“Meet Keith Davenport, a candidate for the @GardnerEdgerton school board in Kansas who also has pronouns in his bio.
“Keith is using Charlie Kirk’s birthday & Day of Remembrance as a chance to SMEAR Charlie, claiming people should NOT honor him because it could make some families feel “unsafe.”
“THIS guy wants to be in charge of your children’s education. Unreal.”
