Keeping him alive through conversation.
It’s been a little over two months since the senseless murder of Charlie Kirk, and his widow, Erika Kirk, is sitting down for her first public interview since his assassination. Erika appeared on Jesse Watters Primetime on Wednesday, November 5, to share intimate details about the moments following his murder, how life is now, and more.
On September 10, the conservative political activist was shot and killed while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University. It’s still incredibly sad to think that Charlie Kirk is no longer with us, only because he believed in something and was willing to speak openly and debate with others.
Since the assassination, Kirk’s wife – Erika – has taken over Turning Point USA as its CEO, stepping into the role that her husband used to hold. And because she has powered through her widowhood and kept her late husband’s spirit alive, she’s been honored at the 7th Annual Patriot Awards with the “Charlie Kirk Legacy Award.”
During her interview, Erika touched on how she’s keeping his legacy alive outside of Turning Point USA, and that’s by keeping him alive in their home. At one point during the conversation, Watters asked Erika Kirk if she still spoke to Charlie, to which Erika replied that she absolutely still talks to her husband, even though he’s physically not on this Earth.
“I’ll get home and it’s late at night, I’ll be getting ready for bed, and in the bathroom, I’ll keep looking in the shower. Trying to see, he used to — He would always write on the shower when he was in there. He would write numbers and things, and at the end he would do his signature at the end.
Obviously, it’s been so long since he’s taken a shower at home, but I still look for it.”
Erika expands on this more, noting that she wants to be able to hear from Charlie and the Lord, and is trying not to cloud her mind with medicines or other substances that might numb her emotions. She says that she feels that if she’s under the influence of medication, she can’t communicate with Charlie, and when she stops talking to him, that’s when his presence and spirit die.
“I talk to him all the time, I’ll say, ‘Baby, just give me your wisdom.’ ‘Speak to me.’ People would say, ‘If you can’t sleep, take something to sleep.’ The Lord has let me sleep just fine. But I don’t want to take anything that’s not how we operate. If I take anything, it will numb me from being able to hear from the Lord and from Charlie.
I want to be able to talk to him. I want to feel this so deeply, so deeply, so that I know how the Lord wants to use it. And if I’m numb to that, He can’t use me.
But I talk to him all the time. ‘Charlie, what do you think of this?’ ‘Can you believe this happened today?’ ‘Gigi said hi.’ And I realize that’s healing. You don’t even want to stop talking about the people that you love, even though they’re in heaven. Especially to your babies, because that means that they’re still there.
I always want my husband’s voice and his name to be on people’s lips.”
Charlie Kirk’s name and legacy are still very much on people’s lips, and I am sure will continue to be for eternity. Whether you agreed with Charlie’s personal political beliefs, I think folks from both parties can agree that it was admirable how much he fought for dialogue, conversation, and the public marketplace of ideas.
As he traveled around to different colleges and universities debating students, he often proclaimed that face-to-face discussion was the only way to prevent violence. It’s how we maintained a sense of civility and humanity… sitting down and talking it out.
I am sure that Charlie loves the conversations Erika has with him and that his spirit is very present at home with their children. Rest in peace.
She also explained how she talks to her young children about the death of their father…. a conversation that I can’t even begin to fathom:
