Don Lemon on Charlie Kirk: ‘Racism Doesn’t Become Righteousness Just Because Someone Dies’

LEMON: “And here’s another truth that I want to tell you about. While people are being kidnapped off the streets, some are trying to turn men. This is what I’m hearing from the folks out on the streets, when I said that people are tired of it and they’re tired of the shackles and what have you. They say that our government, our — this administration, the MAGA people are trying to turn people like, not just him, but like Charlie Kirk into martyrs, right? They say that he was a man who spent his career dividing this country, vilifying the vulnerable and waging war against equality and equity, that he is now being painted as a hero. And so, and if you dare question that, you’re going to hear from this gentleman, they say, if you do it out loud, that racism doesn’t become righteousness just because someone dies. If you say it, they call you hateful. But we are not obligated to participate in myth making. We’re not obligated to rewrite history to protect fragile legacies. And we’re not obligated to stay silent while our country’s soul is auctioned off to fear. A man exercising his First Amendment right told me this week, ‘this is racism,’ that’s a quote. And he’s right, it is. It’s racism dressed up as policy. It’s racism disguised as security. It’s racism hiding behind words like sovereignty and law and order. And until we call it what it is, we will never dismantle it. So, you cannot look away. You cannot, as I say always, normalize this. You cannot do it. Do not let anyone tell you that this is how it should be, because once you accept this as normal, you have surrendered. Once you accept that due process is conditional, you’ve lost the soul of this country. Once you accept that peace can exist without justice, you’ve given up on freedom itself. We are not powerless, people. We’re not voiceless. We’re not invisible. It’s time that everyone gets out and understands what’s going on in this world. They don’t want you to protest. They — well, they don’t — they want — they don’t want you to protest, but if you do protest, they want you to fall into a trap of violence. And so, when you’re doing it, you have to do it in a way that doesn’t give them what they want. We’re not voiceless. We’re not invisible. And as long as there are people willing to speak, to March, to vote, to document, to refuse silence, there is still hope in this country.”