Charlie Kirk and Brittney Griner: Unity Starts with Self-Examination
Charlie Kirk is dead. Murdered. A young man gunned down in cold blood for daring to invade woke leftist safe spaces, and in a highly visible manner, present an unabashedly pro-American, pro-Christian viewpoint. Suddenly, now that Kirk is dead and his voice is silenced, the left wants “unity.” The same voices that call people like Kirk fascists, extremists, Nazis, and dangers to democracy are clutching pearls and preaching that we all need to “come together.”
Forgive us if we’re a little skeptical.
Unity isn’t something you drag out of the closet when one of your own has committed an unforgivable transgression. It’s a principle, a standard. For the right to seize the high ground in this moment, it must do more than demand an apology and a change in rhetoric from its opponents. It has to face its own track record, including double standards, selective compassion, and the times it turned its back on Americans who needed its support. You know who I’m talking about. Those people who may be open to listening to different ideas but present themselves in a way that makes rank-and-file MAGA members uncomfortable.
Anyone Remember Brittney Griner?
The WNBA star was locked up in Russia, trapped in a penal colony for a minor offense, while being degraded and used as a pawn in a geopolitical chess match. When she finally came home, it should have been a moment that transcended politics. An American citizen rescued from an authoritarian regime. That should have been a win for everyone, regardless of their political persuasion.
Yet, what did she get from the right? Crickets. Or worse.
What makes the right’s cold shoulder even harder to defend is Brittney Griner’s own evolution. After her harrowing time in a Russian prison camp, she had an epiphany. She now stands during the national anthem. She’s spoken openly about hearing that song in captivity and how it took on new meaning as a lifeline to home, to freedom, and to the country she once criticized but now cherishes. In other words, the very act that once made her a lightning rod in conservative circles has been transformed by experience. That should have been a moment for all of us to say, “Welcome home, Brittney. We may not agree on everything, but you’re one of us.”
Instead, too many shrugged, or worse, kept attacking.
Instead of treating her as a patriot, many conservatives treated her as a punching bag. They dragged out her protests during the national anthem, questioned her loyalty to America, sneered that Paul Whelan, the Marine who was still imprisoned in Russia, should have been brought home instead. They didn’t just critique the Biden administration’s deal; they practically ignored Griner herself.
Ask yourself this: How many times was she invited onto Fox primetime? Was she embraced by MAGA world as a returning American? No, she was shunned. Written off. Because she didn’t fit the mold of the “right kind” of American.
Everyone who reads this knows exactly what I mean, and that’s the problem.
Unity and Compassion Must Start with Self Reflection
Patriots demand unity for Charlie Kirk, and we deserve it on our terms. Political violence has no place in America. Kirk’s death is a tragedy, period. Full stop. Still, credibility matters. If unity only applies when it’s your guy in the coffin, it’s not unity. It’s opportunism.
This moment could be a turning point. Conservative leaders could show their principles aren’t just partisan weapons. They could say: We reject violence no matter who it touches; we stand with Americans who suffer at home or abroad, even if they disagree with us, even if they protest against us.
I understand that’s a tough pill for many Americans to swallow, but the message must be consistent if it is to be believed. Consistency means admitting the hypocrisy of demanding national compassion now, when a few years ago, a fellow American like Brittney Griner came home and was met with silence or scorn from the very people who now demand empathy.
Charlie Kirk’s death requires a national reckoning, but unity isn’t a prop you wave when it suits you. It isn’t a costume you wear only when your side bleeds. It has to apply across the board, or it’s meaningless.
So, here’s the challenge for my fellow patriots on the right: if we want to lead the way in healing the country, let’s prove it. Prove that compassion doesn’t stop at party lines. Prove that an American is worth embracing when she admits to having a change of heart that brought her to the side of patriotism and love of country, regardless of her past rhetoric, appearance or lifestyle. Let’s prove that the words “we reject political violence and the politics of appearance” isn’t just a slogan, but a creed.
Otherwise, the left’s call for unity will still look disingenuous, but the moral ground we occupy will be significantly smaller.
And in a country already ripping apart at the seams, hypocrisy might be just as deadly as hate.
