Congressman Carter Statement on Misleading Charlie Kirk Resolution

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congressman Troy A. Carter Sr. (D-LA) released the following statement after voting NO on H.Res. 719:

"I did not vote for this resolution. While I stand firmly and without hesitation against all forms of violence, I cannot support language that requires us to praise a man who so often showed disdain and disrespect for others. This resolution is misleading. It attempts to make us forget the harm of his words and the pain caused by his ideology.

"No one should ever be attacked or killed because of their political beliefs. Violence is wrong. Period. As Americans, we resolve our differences through debate, through dialogue, and through the ballot box-not through bloodshed. I believe deeply in the Constitution, and that includes the right to free speech, even when we strongly disagree with it. But free speech does not erase the responsibility to tell the truth about its consequences.

"Charlie Kirk did not deserve to be murdered for his views. His life was taken unjustly, and that violence must be condemned in the strongest terms. My most sincere prayers go out to his wife, children, and his extended family during this time of great personal loss. At the same time, we cannot ignore that he used his platform to demean Black women like Michelle Obama and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, to dismiss diversity and fairness as "anti-White," to question the qualifications of Black professionals, to mock LGBTQ Americans, to oppose health care for transgender people, and to promote the so-called "great replacement" theory. He even went so far as to say, "I have a very, very radical view on this, but I can defend it, and I've thought about it. We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s." These are not harmless words. They carry the same spirit of division that once fueled Jim Crow-when racism and bigotry were written into law to deny people their rights and dignity.

"As a son of the South, I know how deeply such words can wound. They open old scars, justify injustice, and threaten the unity of our future. That is why I reject both violence and hate speech. Violence because no life should be taken for an opinion. Hate speech because no life should be diminished by the false claim that some people are less American, less worthy, or less human.

"I proudly represent a district that reflects the very fabric of this nation. Black, White, Latino, Asian. Christian, Muslim, Jewish, people of every faith and people of no faith. Men and women, gay and straight, transgender and nonbinary. Every person deserves dignity, safety, and equal protection under the law.

"This is what it means to be American. We do not honor our democracy by praising division or by rewriting the truth. We honor it by recommitting ourselves to peace, to justice, and to equality. That is how we heal, and that is how we ensure that the failures of Jim Crow, the poison of racism, and the sting of bigotry never again define our nation.

"And so I close with the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who reminded us: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Let us be the light, let us reject hate, and let us stand together as one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

###