Sign of the times: Kirk tribute draws some local criticism

A tribute to slain right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk kicked up a social media storm locally. And at Tuesday’s Morgan City Council meeting, two African American residents said they were offended by the gesture.
At issue is a sign at the Morgan City seawall memorializing Kirk with a single word: “Charlie.” Mayor Lee Dragna said the sign was up over the course of a week.
The death of Kirk, who was shot and killed Sept. 10 at an appearance at a Utah university, has illuminated a deep political division. For many, Kirk, 31, was an outspoken Christian who promoted free speech and open debate, and who attracted young people, including African Americans, to the conservative cause.
For others, Kirk accepted gun deaths as the cost of the Second Amendment, attacked gay and transgender rights, and made racially insensitive remarks about Blacks and Black leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr.
Crowd estimates fo ra Sunday memorial in Glendale, Arizona, ranged up toe 200,000.
“As a Black man, I was offended,” said Mike Ruffin at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Interestingly, Ruffin and some of the Facebook posts expressed not just about the Charlie sign but with the way the sign portrays Morgan City.
“People were spewing hate that really doesn’t exist in this city,” he said.
Another speaker, Wilbert Turner, said that it’s up to the “leadership to say something to those who were offended.”
And “just knowing it was up there offended me,” Turner said.
Dragna repeatedly described the sign as “discreet.”
“It was put in the most discreet way possible for a man who was executed — not murdered, executed — and left two children and a wife,” Dragna said.
He defended the posting of a sign that he said represents the feelings of a majority of the community. And “we just got pounded on Facebook,” often with comments that were “twisted in a way to show hate.”
Councilman the Rev. Ron Bias said the lighted sign is off now.
“We just need to make an order in this community that if we’ve got a problem, we can sit down and work it out,” Bias said. “That’s the main thing.”