Several hundred people marched along Malabar Road in Palm Bay in honor of Charlie Kirk on the morning of Sept. 20. Palm Bay city councilman Chandler Langevin organized the gathering, which he called a “March for Charlie Kirk and all victims of left-wing evil.”
“This is not a vigil,” Langevin told a cheering crowd outside of Palm Bay City Hall. “We can pray, but the vigils were last week. This is an activation. I’m not going to preach unity right now. There can be no unity with an evil ideology, so right now I’m preaching activation.”
Langevin, speaking with a pistol on his hip, said those who criticize the name of the event against “left-wing evil” are simply “wrong.”
“We’re Christians. We believe in turning to prayer. We’re still going to do that, but it comes to a point where you start assassinating politicians… we’re going to have to take a stronger stand against that,” Langevin said.
In addition to Langevin openly toting a handgun, a coterie of armed personnel working as security at the event could be seen with pistols in holsters flanking the marchers as they made their way to City Hall. Wearing white tape around their arms as a way of identifying themselves members of the informal security detail, multiple armed men in tactical gear were present throughout the march.
Earlier this month a federal appeals court struck down Florida’s law making it illegal to openly carry firearms in the state. Technically, the ruling only applies to 32 counties in North Florida under that court’s jurisdiction, but State Attorney General James Uthmeier said the state would no longer attempt to enforce the law elsewhere in Florida.
Langevin said liberal and left wing policies are “evil” by design to weaken America.
“We’re in the throes of a Marxist revolution by the left right now,” Langevin said. “Their policies here in the United States in particular are meant to cause chaos and division and tear us apart and get people killed.”
Kai Harrelson, the coordinator for Kirk’s Turning Point USA at Eastern Florida State College , said Charlie Kirk’s death had a personal effect on her, adding that there is “spiritual warfare around the world right now” driving interest in the group.
“We need to spread God’s word. We don’t agree with these people. They’re being hateful and evil toward us. They’re honestly being completely demonic. We need to spread God’s word so we can bring them to Him so they can get forgiveness,” Harrelson.
Pastor Seth Tweeddale, a Turning Point USA Florida leader, spoke ahead of Langevin at Saturday’s event to decry Space Coast Pride Fest, an LGBTQ event scheduled for Sept. 27 in downtown Melbourne, as “25,000 people coming into our county to indoctrinate our children and pervert them,” giving it as an example of the kind of cultural change the rally was pushing against.
He spoke of the kind of “spiritual warfare” mentioned by Harrelson, labeling liberal policies as a form of that warfare against Christianity.
“The enemy is stealing, the enemy is killing, the enemy is destroying,” Tweeddale said. “The enemy is destroying families, people’s bodies and our children. The enemy is stealing our kids’ innocence.”
Others at the rally like David Hernandez said he was at Saturday’s rally to honor the loss of Charlie Kirk, whose influence in the conservative Christian movement will be sorely missed.
“It’s the real loss of a great American and a great patriot,” Hernandez said.
“The left-wing evil is a real issue and it needs to be dealt with.
Tyler Vazquez is the Growth and Development Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @tyler_vazquez.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard event for Kirk and victims of ‘left-wing evil’ draws hundreds