BUZZ
Key Takeaways
- K-12 educators expressed unprofessional and insensitive remarks on social media following Charlie Kirk's assassination, with some showing open delight at his death.
- Comments included expressions of hatred and mockery from various educators, suggesting that Kirk deserved his fate due to his controversial views.
- The backlash resulted in significant media attention, highlighting the troubling attitudes among some educators towards political violence and their responsibilities in the classroom.
UPDATED
There was no paucity of unprofessional and tasteless remarks from K-12 staff across the country following the Wednesday assassination of Charlie Kirk, and much of it was chronicled by the popular Libs of TikTok account on X.
What follows is a mere smattering of what was said by those in charge of your children’s education:
Melissa Easley, a member of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (North Carolina) School Board wrote on Facebook that while “political violence is not okay no matter what side you are on,” she added no one should “expect me to feel sorry, pitty [sic] or mournful” for Kirk as he “has gone around saying I or my spouse are abominations.” (Easley reportedly revealed two years ago that she is bisexual and her spouse “gender-fluid.”)
Easley ended her post with a currently-popular-among-leftists out-of-context quote from Kirk regarding the Second Amendment (see below).
Jonathan Washington (pictured), an elementary school teacher in Texas’ Pasadena Independent School District, posted on social media “Charlie Kirk is dead and I just saved $100 by switching to GEICO.”
Washington added that he won’t mourn Kirk; instead, he’s planning an “Even Nazis Are Expendable In The Eyes Of White Supremacy” soirée.
A Los Angeles Unified School District teacher told Kirk on Instagram to “rest in piss.”
Xenia Community Schools (Ohio) educator Jenn Davis-Johnson wrote “How appropriate that Charlie Kirk was killed on the same day as 3 innocent children in school. Charlie wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m so happy for the Kirk family” (emphasis added).
Davis-Johnson’s district colleague Kevin Keefe said “I don’t condone killing people,” but “I will point out that hate breeds hate, and karma is a bitch.” (Keefe added an “edit” noting he had hoped Kirk “pulls through.”)
Ellsworth Community School District (Wisconsin) math teacher Krista Lesiecki posted that Kirk had said “deaths are worth it for the second amendment. He spewed hate … if you liked what he stood for, then you can’t be upset that he died. He fulfilled his destiny.”
Student teacher Phoenix Davaroux in Idaho’s Vallivue School District — who’s also a drag queen — ended up resigning following social media posts under the handle “Aunt Tifa” that included “Another Nazi dead!!!! Rot in piss Charlie Kirk,” and “Shooting Nazis isn’t political violence, it’s human decency.”
In a subsequent apology, Davaroux said “[M]y comments were unprofessional and I regret everything I said. I made the decision to resign and never work in education again. I will also be seeking out intensive therapy to ensure that things like this don’t happen again.”
“Permanent substitute” teacher Brittany Reid in Maryland’s Anne Arundel County Public Schools posted she was “celebrating” the night of Kirk’s death: “May he rot in hell […] He doesn’t deserve fucking sympathy.” She also posted a video of Kirk’s assassination followed by a clip of her saying sarcastically “Oh no! Thoughts and prayers!”
New Hampshire English teacher Ed Tinney of Timberlane Regional High School wrote a long missive on Facebook about how America has never been “civil”: “In what fucking fantasy America land have people not been killing each other every damned day?”
He concluded with “And, yeah, I’m glad [Kirk’s] dead.”
Nimita Weiss, a diversity and equity specialist in the Jefferson County Public Schools (Colorado), wrote “I don’t support what happened to Charlie. Charlie supported what happened to Charlie.”
Another school board member, Chesterfield County Schools’ (Virginia) Dot Heffron, posted “Call me old fashioned, but I remember when we used to be okay with shooting Nazis.” (Does she look at least 80 years old?)
But Kirk wasn’t the only recipient of noxious comments after his murder — so was Libs of TikTok proprietor Chaya Raichik.
Byron Davis, who works in Texas’ Fort Bend Independent School District, wrote that Raichik also “should catch a neck shot.” Note that Davis is wearing an “86 47” t-shirt in the post.
