Creatix / September 13, 2025
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BOWWA—Black or White Without Apologies: You didn’t choose your ancestry. You're not responsible for any chapter of human history written without your participation and consent. You don’t owe an apology. Regardless of whether society programs you to believe that you're "black", "brown", "yellow", "white", whatever, you don't owe an apology to any other primate on Earth for your so-called "race". That "race" is simply a measure of how much sun exposure (UV radiation) your ancestors had on Earth. It's a useless social construct by now and you're being played to repeat it. What you do owe yourself and the rest of humanity is your contribution to this journey that we call life.
Instead of rehearsing guilt over inherited traits or anger about past wrongs, mover on. Become wiser and kinder by leaning into what we share: we’re storytelling primates searching for meaning while trying to survive and thrive on this lonely rock called Earth. Learn history, pursue virtue, extend compassion. Learn and share this: there’s only one race, the human race.
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Comparing the public positions and messages of Martin Luther King Jr.’s and Charlie Kirk based on speeches, writings, and organizational work. Of course, these two men belonged to different generations and battled different circumstances impeding a direct comparison. Yet, here is it for your reading and mental exercise.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) built a program of nonviolent direct action to force negotiation over what he perceived to be unjust laws. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he outlined four steps: (1) fact-finding; (2) negotiation; (3) self-purification; and (4) direct action. MLK argued that unjust laws lack moral legitimacy and that tension created by nonviolence can open the door to justice. His most famous address, “I Have a Dream,” framed the goal as integration and equal protection, an America where people are judged “by the content of their character.” (MLK Institute)
King treated voting rights as indispensable to American democracy. The Selma campaign, which he joined with local and national allies in early 1965, helped catalyze the Voting Rights Act by dramatizing violent resistance to Black enfranchisement and spurring national legislation. (MLK Institute)
He also linked civil rights to foreign and economic policy. In 1967, King publicly opposed the Vietnam War in “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” urging a cease-fire and a reordering of national priorities away from militarism. In his final period he advanced an anti-poverty agenda, exploring ideas such as a guaranteed income and organizing the Poor People’s Campaign. He argued that economic rights and racial justice were intertwined. (American Rhetoric)
Charles James Kirk
Charlie Kirk led a youth-focused conservative mobilization built around on-campus confrontation, mass digital media, and electoral organizing through Turning Point USA and related entities. Mainstream reporting consistently describes his core themes as limited government, free markets, and a suite of “culture-war” positions (anti-DEI, anti critical race theory (CRT), opposition to transgender policies, strict immigration views), delivered via a prolific podcast and viral debate clips. TPUSA’s own materials emphasize educating and organizing students around free markets and limited government. (The Washington Post)
On race, the two men offered sharply different messages. King denounced segregation and police brutality and advocated integration under law, a vision captured in the “Dream” speech and pursued through campaigns in Birmingham, Selma, and elsewhere. Kirk, in speeches and videos, rejected the concept of systemic racism and argued against DEI and CRT programs as discriminatory; major outlets summarize this as part of his broader culture-war platform aimed at Gen-Z audiences. (National Archives) (The Washington Post)
Their approaches to democracy and elections also diverge. King’s 1965–1966 work in Alabama helped lay the groundwork for the Voting Rights Act and federal oversight of discriminatory jurisdictions. Kirk, by contrast, amplified false claims about the 2020 election and promoted “election integrity” activism; his political arm publicized buses to the Jan. 6, 2021 rally (a tweet later deleted). He later criticized entering the Capitol and distanced himself from the violence. (National Archives) (Reuters)
In foreign policy, King broke with the White House to oppose the Vietnam War on moral and practical grounds. Kirk expressed skepticism of U.S. military aid to Ukraine during the current war, arguing on his show against further funding. He was widely identified with a strongly pro-Israel stance, drawing public praise from Israeli leadership after his death. (American Rhetoric) (Kyiv Post)
On economic justice, King argued that civil rights required economic remedies. In Where Do We Go from Here? he explored a guaranteed income pegged to median earnings and called for new forms of socially useful work—positions that have influenced modern guaranteed-income pilots. Kirk’s movement, by contrast, frames its economics around free-market principles and limited government, consistent with TPUSA’s mission statements. (MLK Institute) (TPUSA)
Religion occupies visible space for both, but with different constitutional emphases. King was a Baptist minister who grounded nonviolence in Christian ethics while pursuing change through pluralistic, constitutional channels. Kirk increasingly fused politics and explicit Christian-nation rhetoric, asserting that there is “no separation of church and state”, a recurring claim on his show and in viral clips documented by media monitors and mainstream reporting on his Christian-nationalist alignment. (MLK Institute) (Media Matters for America)
On abortion, King never engaged the post-1973 policy debate; historically, he accepted Planned Parenthood’s 1966 Margaret Sanger Award via a speech delivered by Coretta Scott King and spoke favorably about family planning in the context of health and poverty. Kirk took a pro-life stance and, in widely circulated clips and press coverage, rejected common exceptions (including rape and incest) and at times compared abortion’s toll to genocide or the Holocaust. (Wikipedia) (The Times of India)
In short: King’s message joined nonviolent mass protest to voting rights, anti-war advocacy, and economic measures against poverty, all aimed at expanding equal citizenship within a constitutional order. Kirk’s message organized a large, media-savvy youth movement for limited government and socially conservative priorities (anti-DEI/CRT, strict abortion opposition, Christian-nation framing), while challenging prevailing narratives on race and elections and taking skeptical positions on certain U.S. foreign entanglements. (MLK Institute) (The Washington Post)
Victims of Political Violence
Both men, King and Kirk, ultimately met a similar fate: assassination tied to their public advocacy. Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot on April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. James Earl Ray later pled guilty and was sentenced. King’s killing is widely understood as retaliation for his civil-rights leadership. (Encyclopedia Britannica) Similarly. Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during a campus event at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025. Tyler Robinson, a 22-year old university student was arrested after a manhunt. Utah officials have characterized the attack as politically motivated and opposed to Kirk’s beliefs. The legal process is ongoing and Robinson is presumed innocent until found guilty. (Reuters)
Now you know it.
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