HBCUs are recieving threats in response to the death of political podcaster Charlie Kirk

On Sept. 9th, political influencer and podcaster Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while debating a college student at Utah Valley University. In the following hours, many people gave their sympathies and statements about the situation. Some of those statements included threats to Black students around the country.

Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have felt the impact of the assassination of Kirk despite all suspects being white men. A few universities that have received threats are Alabama State, Clark Atlanta, Hampton, and Virginia State. Black college students who do not attend HBCUs have also been threatened. 

There is an obvious problem with the reasoning and timing of these threats. The biggest one being “What did we do?” This misplaced anger appeared to be caused by the lack of transparency in who the suspects were, allowing people to jump to conclusions about who would be motivated to assassinate Kirk. 

Countless others did not want to believe that the suspected individual would be someone of their race. This includes the Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who, in his address to the public, states, “I was praying that if this had to happen here, it wouldn’t be one of us, that somebody drove from another state, somebody came from another country.” 

When listening to the address in its entirety, it seems that Cox meant this as a way to say he didn’t want it to be someone from Utah. However, when these situations happen, you must be very clear on what you mean. As racial tensions remain, some internet users believe he was saying he hoped it was not a white Republican man. In my opinion, there does seem to be an underlying tone when he says he hoped “somebody came from another country,” as yesterday was the anniversary of 9/11. 

No matter who was shot when, to threaten entire ethnicities is an insane action to take. Now, the shooter has been revealed to be Tyler Robinson, a white, Republican-raised straight male. How could these actions against minorities be justified?

Sources:

• CNN News: https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/11/us/hbcu-lockdown-potential-threats 

• Utah Gov. Cox Address: https://youtu.be/WNWEwyPTh_M?si=WZdDH5JgbhywuS2g 12:05 - 12:23