The Old Florida State Capitol, now a museum, with the new Capitol in the background. By Roberto Galan via iStock for WMNF News (2022).
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A bill to create a Charlie Kirk Day of Remembrance in Florida advanced through a committee in the Florida Senate on Wednesday.
The proposed commemoration would fall yearly on October 14th – Kirk’s birthday.
Kirk, a controversial conservative activist, was shot and killed last September at a Utah university.
Republican Senator Johnathan Martin is the sponsor of Senate Bill 194.
“Charlie Kirk was gunned down engaging in his First Amendment right to debate, and to communicate, and to challenge controversial ideas, and we have to protect that.” Sen. Martin said.
Kirk notably criticized the Civil Rights Act, Martin Luther King Jr., and promoted COVID-19 misinformation.
During a meeting of the Senate Education Postsecondary committee, Democratic Senator Shevrin Jones said he was appalled by the bill.
“What we are doing here – we’re turning a blind eye to things that me, individuals in my community, and some people in your community also, would look at us and say what are we really doing? What are we really saying? What message are we really sending?” Senator Jones said.
Genesis Robinson is with the voting rights organization Equal Ground and spoke against the bill during public comment.
“Charlie Kirk is not a historical figure whose life expanded freedom, protected voting rights, or strengthened democracy. He was a political activist whose work was almost explicitly partisan and, in many cases, deeply divisive,” Robinson said.
The bill passed in the Education Postsecondary committee 4 to 2.