The deadly reality of America's college campuses
Justification for the dehumanization of conservatives has flourished in the shadows of college campuses among staff, faculty, and students alike. It has been fanned by outside forces like Antifa and other radical far-left organizations.
Editor’s Note: Erik Suarez is an employee of Leadership Institute, which is the parent organization of Campus Reform.
As I write this, I am enroute to a vigil organized by passionate TPUSA students in Montclair, New Jersey, to mourn the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk.
This is just one of hundreds of tributes that are being organized across America today, and surely more will be organized in the next few days. I work with conservative college students across America and know the brutal shock of Charlie’s death hits close to home because young people in the Conservative Movement saw a little of themselves in Charlie.
I was born in Venezuela, a country riddled and corrupted by government censorship and political violence. I am all too aware of the evil lengths radicalized humans will go to force power and ideology onto others. My own family, which has experienced three generations of political persecutions, is a living example of that.
Yet, even though I thought I was already capable of controlling my emotions regarding these types of awful situations, the moment I heard and saw the news about Charlie, I couldn’t do anything but sit down and cry.
I cried because, like any immigrant from a country like mine, I expected that the United States was above what I escaped. But most importantly, I cried because what followed the initial shock was profound disappointment in the realization that political violence is not surprising.
I experienced discrimination when attending Pennsylvania State University that targeted me for being a conservative Latino. During college, I was part of a campaign to remove a Fidel Castro quote displayed on a wall on campus.
The media attention I received exposed me to the negative aspects of political activism on college campuses: the hate and intolerance people experience for exercising their right to free speech. I received messages saying I wasn’t a real Latino because I didn’t understand what I was talking about, that my opposition to Castro is rooted in privilege, and that I was a “traitor” to my own people. A campus socialist group called me a liar and a professor trashed talked me behind my back and seemingly tried to fall me in his class.
Discrimination comes in all shapes and sizes. I have seen left-wing student groups receive preferential treatment over conservatives and I had to intervene physically when an anti-Israel protester tried to harass a conservative Jewish woman commemorating victims from October 7.
I have also been called a Nazi, a fascist, and a “Gusano,” which Cuban communists call Hispanics who are not loyal to their party. I have received death threats, I have had the police called on me, and I have been threatened with assault just for passing around flyers bearing the TPUSA logo.
The saddest part of it is that I am not alone in my experience. No doubt countless others in the Conservative Movement share the same experiences.
There is great danger in dehumanizing others over politics because that hate can lead to the justification of violence. Justification for the dehumanization of conservative has flourished in the shadows of college campuses among staff, faculty, and students alike. It has been fanned by outside forces like Antifa and other radical far-left organizations.
[RELATED: Professors defend Charlie Kirk assassination on Bluesky]
On Wednesday, that lust for vengeance took the life of a man whose only sin was to believe that young conservatives had a right to exist and be heard on college campuses.
Charlie’s assassination was not just an attack on him; it was an attack on the foundations of American democracy. So, as I make my way to the vigil, I wanted to write this piece both as a warning and a call to action.
We can’t keep spiraling down into this cycle of violence, hate, or even retribution. Charlie understood and saw an America that was above that, where people could disagree passionately and never fear for their own lives. I know he believed that “when people stop talking, that’s when civil war starts,” and he did everything in his power to avoid that, even in his last moments.
For us who will keep working in college campuses today with sadness, we must maintain the resolve and hope of the future that Charlie had and worked every day to achieve. His legacy shaped a generation of young people to distance themselves from the lies of socialism and communism, and embrace American patriotism. Every day, we must continue that legacy the way he did, through dialogue and always with love.
We will miss you, Charlie. Rest in Peace.
Op-eds and editorials reflect the views of the author and not necessarily that of the Leadership Institute or Campus Reform.
