THE VIOLENCE OF SEPTEMBER 10TH, 2025

September 10th, 2025, was a day filled with an abundance of violence. Most notable was the shooting and death of right-wing political activist, Charlie Kirk. At 12:23 p.m. MDT Kirk was shot in the neck while on his “American Comeback” tour held at Utah Valley University. After being immediately rushed to the hospital, by 2:40 p.m., Kirk was announced dead by United States President, Donald Trump.

SHOT THROUGH THE PAPER AT THE PODIUM; GRAPHIC BY LILI NANDELL

In response to Kirk's death, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds ordered that all USA flags in Iowa should be at half-staff. This order is to stay in place from September 10th, 2025, until sunset on September 14th, 2025. This action is meant to show respect in the memory of Charlie Kirk. Following a similar path, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, U.S. Representative located in Iowa, has proposed the name change of a local building in honor of Charlie Kirk. Instead of the University of Iowa’s building being the “Center for Intellectual Freedom”, Miller-Meeks has suggested it be renamed to the “Charlie Kirk Center for Intellectual Freedom”. Miller-Meeks reasons that “Charlie Kirk dedicated his life to advancing intellectual freedom", so the building being named after him would make complete sense.

Along with the masses of media coverage over Charlie Kirk's death, a school shooting also occurred on the very same day. 900 students populate Evergreen High School, located in Colorado. On September 10th, 2025, at 12:30 p.m. MDT, the high school's scheduled lunch time, calls of an active shooter were received. The suspect, 16-year-old Desmond Holly, was a student attending Evergreen High School. In total two high school students were shot, but at the moment there are no fatal outcomes. One victim is in recovery, while the other victim continues to be in critical condition at the hospital. While being interviewed by CPR, local police spokeswoman Jacki Kelly claims Holly's motive is due to being “radicalized by some extremist network". At the moment no other information about the extremist network is available.

Ultimately, violence has become very familiar to people all around the world. It is at a point where it feels like the only stuff we see. Charlie Kirk’s death and a school shooting happening on the same day is proof. Violence has never been a good solution and should not continue to be the one chosen, no matter what side of politics people are on.