THE LEGACY OF QUEENS EPISODE 146: CHARLIE KIRK(political activist, author, media personality)

This special episode Tributes the Life of a Non-Native New Yorker who had a big influence on New York and the Whole World. Charlie Kirk was shot this past Wednesday on September 10 because of his beliefs and what he stood for.

Charles James Kirk (October 14, 1993 – September 10, 2025) was an American conservative political activist, author, and media personality. He was executive director of the student organization Turning Point USA (TPUSA), which he co-founded in 2012 to promote conservative beliefs in high schools and on college campuses. He published a range of books and hosted The Charlie Kirk Show, a conservative talk radio program. In his later years, he became recognized as one of the most prominent voices of the populist MAGA movement in the Republican Party.

Kirk was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs of Arlington Heights and Prospect Heights. After being rejected from the West Point Military Academy, he briefly attended Harper College but dropped out after one semester to pursue political activism full-time. He worked with various donors to fund TPUSA, rising to prominence via college campus debates held at his signature Prove Me Wrong table. He has since been credited with generating interest in political conservatism amongst the youth.[1][2][3] He extended TPUSA's influence through the Professor Watchlist and School Board Watchlist, founded to spread conservative ideals at liberal-leaning colleges. Under his leadership, TPUSA developed several affiliate groups, including Turning Point Action and Turning Point Faith, with the latter aimed at mobilizing religious communities around conservative issues. Initially critical of the evangelical right, he shifted to Christian nationalism, advocating a Christian form of government and a Christian population.

A key ally of Donald Trump, he promoted far-right and Trump-aligned causes and espoused a variety of conservative stances, including opposition to abortion, gun control, and LGBT rights. His more controversial views include his criticism of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Martin Luther King Jr. and his promotion of COVID-19 misinformation and false claims of electoral fraud in 2020.

On September 10, 2025, Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at a TPUSA public debate event on the Utah Valley University campus. His death gained international attention and led to the condemnation of political violence by prominent domestic and international figures. President Trump announced that Kirk would posthumously receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

PICTURE: By Gage Skidmore - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/54670961811/, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=172612805