Are you happy with the state/province/country you live in?

[Molandfreak]

Naturally, however, if you are going to make a case against the specific legislation without clarifying that the act of desegregation itself was good, it is going to raise some suspicion from critics in the 2020s, and probably embolden more dishonest actors within your fanbase to repeat the same rhetoric.

The very next line that Kirk said after "I think we made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the mid-1960s" was this:  "Not because we shouldn't have dealt with Jim Crow — that was evil and immoral".

How much more explicit do you want him to have been that he believed the act of desegregation itself was good?

I've found his other expressed sentiments regarding the Act to be quite problematic (e.g., the nonsense about The Civil Rights Act of 1964 being overextended since it is used for legal action regarding inequal "effects" on racial groups (without delving into the reasons behind such effects) and to protecting trans rights) and pretty much be sickening to me.

Took some friends of mine who were Kirk fans up on their challenge to sit down and watch Kirk unedited for a long time the other day -- watched his America Fest 2023 speech, an episode of his show and some clips my friends suggested (which included the one where he said he was against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 due to it being extended to trans rights; have no idea why my friends thought that was a good point -- You see?  He's not racist!  He just has another terrible opinion!).  Kept an open mind and I was sickened to find that his rhetoric and tone made me feel worse than before the experiment.  Couldn't believe it.  Still sort of stunned/dazed about it.

To be honest, both his fans and haters have cherry-picked his statements to death to only include the positive or negative stuff and leaving out everything else.

I do wish he would have remained consistent on Juneteenth and not flipped on it just because it became a federal holiday under Democratic leadership.

[Rothman]

Naturally, however, if you are going to make a case against the specific legislation without clarifying that the act of desegregation itself was good, it is going to raise some suspicion from critics in the 2020s, and probably embolden more dishonest actors within your fanbase to repeat the same rhetoric.

The very next line that Kirk said after "I think we made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the mid-1960s" was this:  "Not because we shouldn't have dealt with Jim Crow — that was evil and immoral".

How much more explicit do you want him to have been that he believed the act of desegregation itself was good?

I've found his other expressed sentiments regarding the Act to be quite problematic (e.g., the nonsense about The Civil Rights Act of 1964 being overextended since it is used for legal action regarding inequal "effects" on racial groups (without delving into the reasons behind such effects) and to protecting trans rights) and pretty much be sickening to me.

Took some friends of mine who were Kirk fans up on their challenge to sit down and watch Kirk unedited for a long time the other day -- watched his America Fest 2023 speech, an episode of his show and some clips my friends suggested (which included the one where he said he was against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 due to it being extended to trans rights; have no idea why my friends thought that was a good point -- You see?  He's not racist!  He just has another terrible opinion!).  Kept an open mind and I was sickened to find that his rhetoric and tone made me feel worse than before the experiment.  Couldn't believe it.  Still sort of stunned/dazed about it.

To be honest, both his fans and haters have cherry-picked his statements to death to only include the positive or negative stuff and leaving out everything else.

Neutral stuff tends to be...neutral.
ETA: Wonder if you understood what I wrote.

[Scott5114]

Case in point—the President has the authority to nuke Beijing or Moscow pretty much whenever. That would affect everyone's life pretty much immediately. We only have the luxury of saying "the President doesn't affect my life!" because, so far, every President has chosen not to do that.

I mean, I'm pretty sure my next-door neighbor owns guns.  He could walk up to the house while I'm sitting on the front porch and shoot me in the face.  The only reason he hasn't is that, so far, he has chosen not to.

Which means something, probably.

And yet the President could do that without even walking up to the house.

[kphoger]

I've found his other expressed sentiments regarding the Act to be quite problematic (e.g., the nonsense about The Civil Rights Act of 1964 being overextended since it is used for legal action regarding inequal "effects" on racial groups (without delving into the reasons behind such effects) and to protecting trans rights) and pretty much be sickening to me.

Took some friends of mine who were Kirk fans up on their challenge to sit down and watch Kirk unedited for a long time the other day -- watched his America Fest 2023 speech, an episode of his show and some clips my friends suggested (which included the one where he said he was against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 due to it being extended to trans rights; have no idea why my friends thought that was a good point -- You see?  He's not racist!  He just has another terrible opinion!).  Kept an open mind and I was sickened to find that his rhetoric and tone made me feel worse than before the experiment.  Couldn't believe it.  Still sort of stunned/dazed about it.

I haven't weighed in on what I think of his positions, because (1) I don't know enough about them to form a proper opinion and (2) that would be political conversation by definition.  My only point was that he clearly and explicitly said he thought segregation was evil and was rightly gotten rid of, in response to the accusation by |Molandfreak| that he had made his CRA '64 statement "without clarifying that the act of desegregation itself was good".  That was clearly not true.

[NE2]

https://www.factcheck.org/2025/09/viral-claims-about-charlie-kirks-words/

Multiple readers forwarded us a viral graphic that makes reference to things Kirk said about the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Jewish people, gay people and the Second Amendment. We'll get to the last three in a bit.

Kirk did say that it was a "huge mistake" to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As the National Archives explains, the law "prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal."

According to a 2024 Wired story, Kirk made the remarks in December 2023 during America Fest, Turning Point's annual conference.

"I have a very, very radical view on this, but I can defend it, and I've thought about it," the story quoted Kirk as saying. "We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s."

In Kirk's view, the story explained, the Civil Rights Act has led to a "permanent DEI-type bureaucracy," referring to diversity, equity and inclusion, that has limited free speech.

The story also quoted Kirk as saying that Martin Luther King Jr. was "awful. He's not a good person. He said one good thing he actually didn't believe."

Those comments are not available in the recordings posted to YouTube of the conference that year. The reporter who wrote the Wired story, however, confirmed to us that while attending the event as a journalist, he had witnessed the remarks, which were made not on the main stage, but in a smaller conference room.

Kirk also did not dispute the statement when he responded to an email from Wired the day before the story was published. Reading from the email, Kirk interjected to say that it was "true" that he had described King as "a bad guy" and "also true" that it was his "self-described very, very radical view that the country made a mistake when it passed the Civil Rights Act."

When the email asked why Kirk believes passing the legislation was a mistake, Kirk said, "Now, again, apparently, they don't listen to the show. Because we do that at least once a week, right? Once a week, we talk about why the Civil Rights Act was a mistake."

A few days later, Kirk released an 82-minute podcast episode titled, "The Myth of MLK," which in part discusses "how the 'MLK Myth' keeps America shackled to destructive 1960s laws that have replaced the original U.S. Constitution," according to the summary description on the podcast's website.

Later that year, Kirk echoed similar sentiments about the Civil Rights Act. The legislation, he said on his podcast in April 2024, "created a beast, and that beast has now turned into an anti-white weapon."

[kphoger]

https://www.factcheck.org/2025/09/viral-claims-about-charlie-kirks-words/

Yep.  Already read that.  It didn't go into quite as much detail as I'd hoped regarding the reasons he was opposed to the '64 Civil Rights Act, but the very last phrase (anti-white weapon) touches on it.  It took further digging around to learn that it especially refers to affirmative action policies at universities that prioritize accepting minority applicants over white applicants.

I'm interested to learn more about his whole "Jewish money" thing at some point (and not just from left-wing sources that may or may not be fair to what he actually said in context), but I'm kind of tired of the whole Kirk topic for the time being.

[Roadgeekteen]

https://www.factcheck.org/2025/09/viral-claims-about-charlie-kirks-words/

Multiple readers forwarded us a viral graphic that makes reference to things Kirk said about the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Jewish people, gay people and the Second Amendment. We'll get to the last three in a bit.

Kirk did say that it was a "huge mistake" to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As the National Archives explains, the law "prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal."

According to a 2024 Wired story, Kirk made the remarks in December 2023 during America Fest, Turning Point's annual conference.

"I have a very, very radical view on this, but I can defend it, and I've thought about it," the story quoted Kirk as saying. "We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s."

In Kirk's view, the story explained, the Civil Rights Act has led to a "permanent DEI-type bureaucracy," referring to diversity, equity and inclusion, that has limited free speech.

The story also quoted Kirk as saying that Martin Luther King Jr. was "awful. He's not a good person. He said one good thing he actually didn't believe."

Those comments are not available in the recordings posted to YouTube of the conference that year. The reporter who wrote the Wired story, however, confirmed to us that while attending the event as a journalist, he had witnessed the remarks, which were made not on the main stage, but in a smaller conference room.

Kirk also did not dispute the statement when he responded to an email from Wired the day before the story was published. Reading from the email, Kirk interjected to say that it was "true" that he had described King as "a bad guy" and "also true" that it was his "self-described very, very radical view that the country made a mistake when it passed the Civil Rights Act."

When the email asked why Kirk believes passing the legislation was a mistake, Kirk said, "Now, again, apparently, they don't listen to the show. Because we do that at least once a week, right? Once a week, we talk about why the Civil Rights Act was a mistake."

A few days later, Kirk released an 82-minute podcast episode titled, "The Myth of MLK," which in part discusses "how the 'MLK Myth' keeps America shackled to destructive 1960s laws that have replaced the original U.S. Constitution," according to the summary description on the podcast's website.

Later that year, Kirk echoed similar sentiments about the Civil Rights Act. The legislation, he said on his podcast in April 2024, "created a beast, and that beast has now turned into an anti-white weapon."

I disagree with most of this but it's certainly not the worst thing I've heard anyone say. And opposition to affirmative action is not just something white people believe; it's commonly shared in the Asian community, which I'm a part of.