The way that we go back to the era that we all look at and say, wow, we could raise our kids without fearing for their lives, or we could go to church without seeing an armed police officer, go to our synagogue, without having to worry about having private security.

The way that we get back to that is speaking up.

It's doing exactly what Charlie did.

And, of course, he practiced martyrdom in the most extreme way, which hopefully none of us will ever have to experience, but we can practice it in small ways every day.

Today, we're sharing a conversation from Honestly with Barry Weiss at the Free Press, featuring A16Z general partner, Catherine Boyle.

In the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination, Catherine reflects on courage,

martyrdom, and what it means to speak up in a political climate where words and debate are

increasingly met with violence. Let's get into it. From the free press, this is honestly and I'm

Barry Weiss.

Yesterday in broad daylight in front of a crowd of some 3,000 people at Utah Valley University,

Charlie Kirk was murdered.

Charlie was not just a husband, not just a father,

and not just one of the most prominent young conservative voices in the country.

He made his name for doing something fundamental to the American project, debating and disagreeing out loud.

He famously said when people stop talking, bad stuff happens.

His thing was going to campus, setting up a tent, and asking people to talk to him to change his mind.

And people, tens of thousands of them on campuses across the country would line up to do so,

to challenge him often fiercely debating. And that was the point.

I don't think you can think of someone in American life, whether you agree with him or not,

who was more of a living embodiment of the First Amendment.

As our columnist Matt Contenetti wrote in the free press,

the attack on Charlie Kirk didn't just deprive a family of its center.

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