Charlie Kirk’s last word was “violence,” but his last act, before an act of violence took his life, was an act of non-violence: the act of speaking that word. He died doing what he did all his brief adult life: working to persuade others through peaceful, yet powerful, speech.

His efforts were not in vain. In fact, he was phenomenally successful. His words persuaded multitudes of young people. And his bitter critics could not defeat him in debate. The more they tried, the more he won, and the more audience members he won over. So, as a last resort, one of his opponents used violence to silence his speech. An assassin shot him in the throat to still his mighty voice.

But even that failed. The shot fired backfired. The shooter only made Charlie an immortal martyr for free speech. In the days since his murder, the world has heard his words more than ever before, as video clips of him speaking have gone viral. And his resounding voice will echo on.

So must his example. To honor his memory, we must emulate his means. We must remember how successful his methods were: how many hearts and minds he changed. We must build on his gains and not reverse them. We must persevere in wielding speech and reason, and only use force for defence and justice, not collectivist vengeance or “preventative” tyranny.

We must be strong, not weak. That means using our grief and anger as motivation to redouble our commitment to the good, not as an excuse to indulge in the evil ways of our persecutors. We must remember that, throughout history, the ways of Charlie have triumphed gloriously, while the ways of his killer have failed miserably. We must choose to pick up Charlie Kirk’s microphone, not his assassin’s rifle. We must speak the truth more bravely than before and adhere to justice more steadfastly than ever.

That is how we redeem, and not compound, this awful tragedy. That is how we defy, and not affirm, this atrocious crime. That is how we pay fitting tribute to the life and work of Charlie Kirk.

This was originally featured on Dan Sanchez’s Substack and is republished with permission.