(NewsNation) — As police ramp up security ahead of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s funeral on Sunday, a growing trend of political violence in the U.S. is being called into question.
Kirk, co-founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot during a speaking event at Utah Valley University on September 10. The 31-year-old’s service is expected to draw President Donald Trump and other high-profile officials to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, prompting security measures comparable to those used during Super Bowl LVII.
Qanta Ahmed, a senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum, told NewsNation that a clear split in American society will be on display during the funeral.
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“We’re going to see this terrible split in response. One where we are revering it and we are weeping, and we are mourning. And the other where there will be a demonization of it,” Ahmed said.
Earlier this week, Ahmed penned an op-ed in The Spectator Australia titled “The martyrdom of Charlie Kirk: A Muslim’s elegy.” In the piece, Ahmed warns that Kirk’s death could be as impactful as the Iranian ayatollah’s fatwa against author Salman Rushdie in 1989. Rushdie had published a book the Ayatollah deemed blasphemous, and was forced into hiding when he and his associates were targeted in response to the book.
“During this week, I’ve spoken to many of my friends who also comment on incendiary issues. I’m frequently speaking about terrorism and radical Islam, and we now recognize the risks,” Ahmed said. “America was the one last place where this was safe to do and now, we see that safety has literally been devastated.”
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Ahmed told NewsNation that social media platforms need to be held accountable for their role in political violence.
“We have to recognize we are living in an assassination culture now that glorifies this. Remember the United Healthcare CEO? The commodification of that, the glorification of this, that is what is impacting so much of American youth,” Ahmed said. “This has become so deep, accountability has to come back.”
NewsNation will provide special coverage of conservative activist Charlie Kirk‘s funeral Sunday, with host Leland Vittert at 1 p.m. ET ahead of the 2 p.m. service.
