MLK’s daughter Bernice King reacts to Charlie Kirk’s shooting

“It will require much more than quoting my father,” MLK’s daughter Bernice King reflects on Charlie Kirk’s shooting and violence in the US.

Bernice King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s youngest daughter, shared a poignant message with America on Instagram, following right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk’s assassination on September 10. 

“ It saddens me that Charlie Kirk’s children will likely one day view the video of their father being shot. No child anywhere should lose a parent in such a hateful, callous way,” she noted. “It will require much more than quoting my father for the United States to evolve from our current conundrum of multi-faceted violence, tragic apathy, and degrading policies.” 

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A post shared by Bernice A. King (@berniceaking)

Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump and conservative commentator, was fatally shot while speaking at an event at a Utah university. His death has shed an even brighter light on how divided America is politically, with some users grieving his death as a hero and others recalling his controversial comments on issues like gun violence, women’s rights, and more. 

However, King notes how the discourse underlined this country’s larger issues. 

“We need mature leadership, compassionate action, and nonviolent strategies for thorough, sustainable change. We need inner work, community work, communication work, legislative work, home work,” King wrote. “We need to stop the lie of “There’s no place for _____________ violence in this country. Because, clearly, there is a place. Historically and presently, this nation has been a place for policy violence, mass violence, genocidal violence, gun violence, economic violence, and other forms of violence.” 

Earlier this week, Bernice’s brother, Martin Luther King III, released a statement emphasizing a similar message condemning violence: “Violence, no matter the target or justification, is never the answer. The shooting of Charlie Kirk is not only a tragedy for one man—it is a wound to the soul of our nation. It may silence a voice, but it cannot change a heart or heal a nation,” the civil rights activist’s son wrote on X. “While I strongly disagree with Charlie Kirk on most issues, especially his comments about my father, we all agree that political violence is inexcusable.”

This week alone, as the country simultaneously grieved the tragedy of 9/11, different communities across the country, like Colorado, have faced gun violence or threats of violence. 

“And, so, here we are. A day after Charlie Kirk was shot and killed. 24 years after 9/11. A day when people across the globe, including in Sudan, Gaza, Congo, Tigray, Yemen, and Ukraine, suffer the devastation of political violence. A day when the National Guard patrols the streets of D.C. A day when low-income, Black communities in Memphis are besieged by environmental injustice. A day to more urgently begin praying with our actions and with our collective call and work for true peace, which, as my father said, “is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice,” Bernice King concluded.