My state representative, Elinor Levin, on her official Facebook account:
There’s a lot of chatter around Johnson County Board of Supervisors Chair Jon Green’s decision not to fly the flag at half staff in honor of Charlie Kirk.
I abhor violence to my very core. It sickens me. I am a child who lost a parent young (not to violence, thankfully), and every time a person dies of unnatural causes, every time someone threatens another person, every time someone is at risk- I don’t think about the victim or potential victim- I think about those who will be left behind. It is never the person who dies who is left heartbroken- it is those who love them.
So, I have thought a lot about it in the past three days, and I respect Chair Green’s decision. Charlie Kirk SHOULD NOT have been shot. It was wrong, and left so many people across the country in grief.
But, we CANNOT let the honor of a flag at half-staff be used as a political plaything. We cannot lower it for every person who dies due to gun violence in the USA; there are not enough days in the year. Chair Green did not call for Charlie Kirk’s death- he would never do such a thing. He did not celebrate Charlie Kirk’s death- he would never do such a thing.
He recognized that Charlie Kirk was a man who, through the exercise of his right to free speech, hurt many, many people. Kirk spoke against the right to exist freely, to self-determination, for so many of the people I know and love. He invited people to “prove [him] wrong” without any demonstrated interest in changing his mind. He uplifted division and disenfranchisement.
Those he left behind have my deepest condolences and love. He does not get my respect.
Pretty pitch perfect.