Local leaders chose indifference in assassination aftermath

Charlie Kirk — whether you adored him or despised him — was an American who dedicated his life to ideas, debate and free speech. He walked onto hostile campuses and said, “Let’s talk. Let’s debate.” And for that — for words, for ideas — he was assassinated. Gunned down in cold blood.

And in the aftermath, many Louisiana elected officials throughout the state offered their condolences to Charlie’s family and friends, saying such political violence has no place in a free country such as ours.

But what happened in Shreveport? Not a single Democrat on the city council spoke a word. No statement. No condemnation. No acknowledgment. Only silence.

Now let’s be clear. Even if you thought Charlie Kirk was vile, even if you loathed everything he stood for, you should still be able to say one thing: Murder is wrong. Free people cannot tolerate assassination as a substitute for argument. That is the very essence of the First Amendment. If we must fear for our lives whenever we speak, then we are no longer free.

And yet, the Democrats on the city council refused to defend even that fundamental truth.

That, my friends, is not just ridiculous — it is shameful, dangerous and not of God.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great pastor who stood up to Hitler, said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” And he was right.

You simply cannot shrug off murder or look the other way when evil is right before your eyes. You cannot shrug when a man is slaughtered for speaking. God sees. God knows. And God holds us accountable.

You cannot excuse violence by saying, “Well, he had it coming.” God sees. God knows. And God holds us accountable.

Yet that’s exactly what Shreveport’s Democrat leaders did. They chose indifference. They chose silence.

Let’s not kid ourselves. The assassination of Charlie Kirk was also an attack on the First Amendment itself. Free speech is the foundation of America, and defending it doesn’t mean protecting only the voices you agree with; it means protecting the ones you despise.

And here’s the deeper concern, I believe.

When did it become socially or morally acceptable to shrug at victims of violence? How did we all become qualified to start deciding when murder victims “had it coming” and when they didn’t?

We see it everywhere, though. A conservative commentator assaulted? “Well, that’s on him.” A police officer ambushed? “Well, he signed up for it.” A Christian killed while praying in front of an abortion clinic? “Well, maybe they shouldn’t have been there.”

That is wickedness, which is Isaiah 5:20 lived out: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.”

When Democrats on the Shreveport City Council refuse to mourn a man assassinated for speech, they are calling darkness light. They are justifying evil. And Scripture says, “Woe to them.”

This is not of God. Indifference to murder is not of God. Excusing violence is not of God. Silence in the face of evil is not of God.

First Corinthians 13:6: “Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.” Yet in Shreveport, our leaders couldn’t even mourn wrongdoing. They chose indifference over love.

Every single council member — Democrat and Republican alike — should have stood together and said, “This is evil.” That would have been leadership. That would have been courage.

Instead, Democrats chose cowardice. They decided to stay silent rather than defend even the most basic principle: that murder is wrong.

This is the logical outcome of leftist ideology, a worldview that treats conservative speech as violence and real violence against conservatives as excusable. But the Word of God says it best: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.”

You see, if we want to remain a free people, we must reject silence. We must stand against evil. We must demand that our leaders do the same. Because freedom only survives when people are willing to defend it — even, and especially, when others refuse.

And to all those who call the assassination of Charlie Kirk “karma” or that he “got what he had coming,” remember this: Indifference to murder is not of God. It is not love. It is not justice. It is darkness.

And the only answer to darkness is light – the light of Jesus Christ – whether that fits your politics or not.

Louis R. Avallone is a Shreveport businessman, attorney and author of “Bright Spots, Big Country, What Makes America Great.” He is also a former aide to U.S. Representative Jim McCrery and editor of The Caddo Republican. His columns have appeared regularly in 318 Forum since 2007. Follow him on Facebook, on Twitter @louisravallone or by e-mail at louisavallone@mac.com, and on American Ground Radio at 101.7FM and 710 AM, weeknights from 6 - 7 p.m., and streaming live on keelnews.com.