Apologies, shaming and a state employee’s departure have come to Indiana following insensitive posts and comments about the murder of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Kirk was assassinated Sept. 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University.
Indiana’s Department of Child Services posted on social media Saturday, Sept. 13, that a worker was no longer with the agency after making a comment that was in poor taste and “does not reflect the values of this agency or the standards that have been set by this administration.”
“As public servants, state employees are held to a higher standard of conduct and ethics,” the statement continued. “That is certainly the case at the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) where child welfare and safety are paramount.”
Then, the post asked the public to stop calling Indiana’s Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline to complain about the former employee and also stop calling DCS offices about it.
“Our team members assigned to the hotline work 24/7 to address genuine child safety concerns throughout Indiana’s 92 counties,” the agency said. “Overwhelming the hotline and offices with complaints unrelated to child safety only hampers our ability to respond to emergencies.”
DCS would not confirm if the employee was fired or if she resigned.
Libs of TikTok, a conservative account, highlighted the woman’s statement: “Today was a real pain in the neck but I survived.”
Ball State University is dealing with a similar issue.
“The administration at Ball State University is aware of social media posts by two university employees. Both posts were on the employees’ personal accounts, and the posts do not reflect the culture on our campus nor the enduring values of the university,” the university said in a Friday statement. “The administration is gathering additional information about the posts in order to determine what discipline, if any, is appropriate and permissible under the First Amendment to the Constitution.”
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita also has a message for Hoosiers: “If you have evidence of Indiana educators or school administrators making comments that celebrate or rationalize the assassination of Charlie Kirk, we need to hear from you. These individuals must be held accountable — they have no place teaching our students.”
He encouraged people to submit evidence to his Eyes on Education portal, which previously has been used to report pro-diversity and pro-LGBTQ actions or materials.
Meanwhile, the Bartholomew County Democratic Party apologized for a post it made about Kirk.
The group had posted a news article about Kirk’s death with the comment, “Violent delights have violent ends.”
In a statement, the county party said Kirk “spent a good deal of his time advocating for the second amendment even to the moment that it took his life. In trying to convey the tragedy of this, a quote was taken from a well known Shakespearean tragedy. The quote was a message given that such a great passion like this could result in a terrible end, as this death was. It is obvious that our post was not received in the way it was meant and we are terribly sorry for the hurt it has caused.”
The party continued by saying, “We do empathize greatly with those who have lost people to gun violence and the pain that it brings, so we removed our post and its reminders from our page. We promise to be more mindful about our quote selections in the future. As always, we do not condone gun violence nor violence of any nature no matter what.”
Breitbart also published a story about a staffer for U.S. Rep. André Carson who posted the following on Instagram:
“Charlie Kirk isn’t a martyr. He’s a casualty of the violence he incited.”
“You’re never going to gaslight me into mourning a Nazi. Never.”
Carson has not commented directly on the staffer, but did condemn political violence in a post about receiving a death threat.
“My office received a death threat today — unfortunately, a common occurrence,” he wrote. “Political violence has been normalized for quite some time, and it must end. In this vulnerable time, I join my colleagues across the aisle in calling for compassionate dialogue, not reactionary hate.”
Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.
