How Do Victims Of Political Violence Become Martyrs? The answer, of course, depends on how their legacy is used by supporters to further their cause.
Steve Williamson and Gary LaMaster look at some examples of political martyrs beginning with Horst Wessel, a member of the Nazi Stormtroopers whose murder was elevated into the status of martyr and used to grow the Nazi Party.
Unfortunately, history includes many other political victims ranging from the abolitionist John Brown to the Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara to the civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. Some of the martyrs like King and Abraham Lincoln were leaders seeking freedom and civil rights for large portions of the populations. Others were simply partisan politicians or activists.
Not surprisingly, the discussion leads to the questions: Which is Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA? And what separates his memory from that of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman who, along with her husband, was gunned down in their own home?