TULSA, Okla. — Sen. James Lankford talked to 2 News Oklahoma Today about topics including free speech and political violence.
Christine Stanford: I do want to start with a heavy topic, and it is the assassination of Charlie Kirk. This attack, just the latest incident of violence targeting political figures including two Minnesota lawmakers shot and killed in their home. You say now is the time for unity and hope. I want to get your thoughts.
Lankford: Yes, it is a painful moment. Charlie Kirk was a patriot and a conservative and a commentator and a passionate believer in free speech and for people to actually talk.
In fact, he famously said when the dialogue stops, violence starts. So, he was a big promoter of people that disagree should talk to each other. That's the nature of our republic, and that's actually what's helpful to our society. We do have differences of opinion, that's OK.
We're Americans, we disagree on things, but we've gotta be able to still talk to each other. We're gonna still find areas of common ground to be able to work it out. But in a painful way right now in this cancel culture that's actually happening, uh, there's a challenge to say if you're them, you're evil, you're different, and then at… at the extreme of that for unstable people, they actually take it out and it takes someone else's life.
So, for me it's, it's continuing to be able to talk about the hard things. We shouldn't stop talking about hard things. Peace, peace, uh keeping is just trying to keep everybody quiet and to not yell at each other. Peacemaking is actually getting people to disagree together to be able to work it out. We need more peacemaking in this process.
Stanford: My next question. His assassination prompting strong responses, and we're seeing now the ramifications of those who publicly make negative comments about his death.
First, a Tulsa public defender losing their job. Tulsa teachers warned they'll lose their job if they make defamatory comments.
And of course, the latest ABC pulling the late night show Jimmy Kimmel Live off ((because)) of his comments on Kirk. Senator, you've said you're an advocate for the Constitution, especially free speech, and so was Charlie Kirk, as you just said. Tell me your thoughts on censoring free speech.
Lankford: Yeah, so this becomes this challenge where employers, and we've seen this in companies all over the country, for individual employers, look at their employees and what they're saying and say this could hurt our business, this could hurt our trust among the community if they see these comments made by some of our employees, they will then attach it to our company, and that's a risk to our company. ABC and Disney, for instance, has said we don't. Believe what Jimmy Kimmel was saying. He was actually promoting a conspiracy theory that the person who assassinated Charlie Kirk was actually an ultra-right-wing person, Trump supporter, which is false, and everyone knows that that is false, including Jimmy Kimmel, I assume knew that that was false. It had been debunked all weekend long by all law enforcement, by the governor of Utah, and saying that that is not true, (he) is a liberal activist and they went through all the details on him, but this online spin that he was doing with the conspiracy theory, I think became the last straw for ABC and for Disney to be able to say we just don't want to be associated with this person anymore. That has become the challenge because people pick and choose what companies they visit based on the view of that company and the individuals within that company. And so this is yet another moment of cancel culture that's still continuing to be able to rage in our society. People have the choice to be able to say what they want to say, but companies also have the choice of saying who represents our values as a company.
Stanford: I also want to talk to you about the new bill that you're reintroducing today. Protecting religious speech and practices at college campuses, you said in this article you posted it last night, freedom of religion, speech and association are constitutionally protected rights in every place of America, including America's campuses. Tell us why that's so important right now.
Lankford: Yeah, that has been important for a long time. We, we struggled with this years ago on the issue of religious freedom. I, I remember 35 years ago the, the prayer movement called See you at the poll, uh, began 35 years ago. There were students arrested that very first year of See you at the poll saying literally you can't pray on a campus. Well, that was not true then, it's not true now, but for Jewish students, for Christian students, for Muslim students, for uh Buddhists, for atheists.
Students, they have the right to have their speech protected to be able to actually practice their faith and for that to be known and to be able to talk about it. They don't have the right to be able to intimidate others, but they do have the right to be able to not only have a faith, but to be able to live their faith regardless of where they are. College campuses, secondary schools, high schools, those are places where people can live their faith out and. Be able to practice their faith and should be able to practice it without fear of someone in the administration or a government entity trying to be able to suppress their own beliefs.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- 2 News Oklahoma on your schedule | Download on your TV, watch for free. How to watch on your streaming device
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Watch LIVE 24/7 on YouTube
