Real Talk with Leigh Brown

friends. I'm trying out new restreams. I don't even know how it looks over there. I don't care. I know that eyes are puffy because, like many of you, nothing feels right today. And I'm trying to figure out why it is hitting so hard to watch the aftermath of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. And I will just tell you that This feels really personal, even though this is a man I met one time in my entire life. I got to say hello to him at the RNC last year and doing my usual mama thing, I thanked him. I thanked him for what he was doing for the country and for young people. And I had to write notes down. Y'all know that usually I just talk off the cuff, but This, this is so seminal, and I don't know if it's also because this is the 9/11 anniversary of the terrorist attack that changed America, but I do think just in a 24-hour span, we've had 2 days that will actually live in— So anyway, when I had thanked Charlie when I met him last year, I'm a middle-aged mom. I'm obviously not his target audience, but my kids are his target audience. And I think that's what's hitting me so hard about his loss is because he was doing work to prepare my kids for walking in a dark world that is in the middle of spiritual warfare. Y'all, I'm gonna tell you, there's no other way to put it right now. This world is in a battle of good and evil. And if you're the person who doesn't see that, then I'm just going to ask you to slow down and crack open your Bible and hit your knee, because what happened yesterday was the personification of evil. And Charlie was walking in a very brave way into really dark places that needed the light. So if you're wondering why so many of us are upset, it's because we watched a man get murdered whose whole life was spent walking in dark places to bring light. He was a lightbringer. Now, you didn't have to agree with him because he didn't go into places where he was going to be in a thought silo or in an echo chamber. Nope. He walked right into the places where the people were who had been trained for years not to, and he had that gift of being able to disagree without being disagreeable. It's very heartbreaking to watch so many of the people that I do know and respect say really ugly things right now about him, attacking his character. They didn't know him any better than I did. They're making assumptions because emotionally they didn't agree with him, but instead of listening and hearing and processing they're emotionally responding with some really ugly things. So anyway, I wanted to, to look at this space that Charlie was in at 31. I mean, just a baby, y'all. I mean, I could have been his mom, and I think that's a lot of us mama bears out there. It's part of why this is tearing us up. He's the age of our And we all want our kids to be prepared to walk in the world. We all want to safeguard them and protect them. But then you have to let them out of your nest, let them go into this really crazy world. And what we are seeing is that the world is very, very focused on destroying our kids, indoctrinating our kids, taking away their hope, taking away the life force in them. So that they could be under the thumb of somebody else, under the thumb of somebody who doesn't have their best interest at heart. And that would be generally the government, which is never going to love your kids the way you do as a parent. The teachers in the world today— now I know there are some exceptions, exceptions, and so I know I'm broad brushing here. So if you are a good teacher, please do not think I'm casting shade on you, because I know you're walking in that dark space too with your brand of light. But we have a problem in our education. Our children have been treated as test cases for really wicked and dark ideology. They've been told that families are bad. They've been told to walk away from their fam— they've been told the way they were created is wrong. They've been told that they need to rely on surgeries and drugs to change them. And they've been told awful— they've been told the country that they live in is— this country is not— our children weren't created— we're filling them with really awful stuff. And it does come educational. And if you're going to point at the teachers and the educational institutions, better be looking at the factories that turn them out, the universities that are educating the educators. That's where a lot of this— you have some really good kids coming out of high school that want to be teachers, help the next generation, and then they go into a 4-year college and they get put into that grinder machine of curriculum and indoctrination, and they're told what to think, and, and then they come out of that system changed people. So many examples out there. And then they put their beliefs in kids instead of giving your kids the gift of thought and gift of differing opinion, gift of math and science, and frankly grammar. So we have a problem there. And what's demonstrating that right now is that in the almost 24 hours since Charlie was assassinated, almost all of the very unhinged that are celebrating his death are educators. Now you got to ask yourself why, why are they so angry at a man who had political content? Well, it's because he's going against everything that they're teaching. That's the battle. The battle is for the next generation. Carly and his team at Turning Point USA They were one side of the battle and your educators are the other side of that. This is not right-wing conspiracy. This is not a talking point. This is what's happening. And it's happened because a lot of you just believed that the system out there now is the same system you grew up in. I sure wish it were because I revered my teachers and I can still look at what they poured into me and what they poured into me was encouragement and They poured into me the ability to go think, and they stretched to go, go learn, go do. They didn't tell me exactly what I was supposed to think or do. I didn't have to please them. And if you want to know where things have gone sideways, you look at how many kids now know how to answer a quiz or an exam correctly. They know how to please the teacher, not because they want to show that teacher respect by being really good students, but because they know how to thread the needle to get out of that class, they know that if they disagree with that teacher on any ideological grounds, they have a very real chance of failing. That's broken. And that's actually why Charlie mattered so much. He showed these kids that it would be okay to stand up and disagree with that teacher, which is hard, y'all, because remember, at the, the ages that he was reaching out to these high school age, when you have the college age kids, their frontal lobe isn't even formed yet. And so one of the things they want to do is please their elders. And Charlie told them, actually, if your elders are wrong, it's okay to disagree. And he showed them a way that wasn't disagreeable. He was not ugly. And I don't care what you've heard, you watch his video. He was firm, but he was always kind. I've watched so many of his pieces, and he wasn't trying to stoke hatred. He was trying to argue his view and challenge. Now, a lot of us don't want to be challenged. We really prefer that echo chamber because it's comfortable. To have everybody around you agree with you, but that's not how we can function as a society. And as none of us was created to agree with anybody 100%, it's why I didn't agree with everything he said or what anybody else says. I don't even agree with me all the time. Why would I agree with a stranger all the time? However, we've been told that if you disagree on any front, that other person be— wait, we get there. Did we get there because our kids have been told that? Our kids have been told to get in line, sit down, shut up by the generation that was also trying to get away from children should be seen, heard, talking out both sides of our mouths all the time, which is the one thing Charlie Kirk didn't do. He didn't talk out both sides of his— he was, he was pretty solid, pretty much on a foundation. And so what he gave our young people were words they didn't yet have. Instinctively, they felt like he was on their side, but maybe they didn't have the words. And so they could go to a Turning Point event and be lifted up and encouraged and given the strength to say things. And he gave them courage that they didn't know they had, because when you're 16, 17, 18, 19, y'all, you know you don't have a lot of courage. You think you do, but you don't. When you get older like me, you have more courage, you have less filter, because you start to realize the rest of the world isn't actually who you have to please. There's only one Father above who we are designed— 18-year-olds don't know that yet, and Curly stepped into that space to show them that there was a way to have the courage to— because His life being lived with conviction and grace and kindness might be why so many people hated him. There's a lot of people that they don't walk that way, they don't know how to walk that way, or they've forgotten, because it's easy to type in all caps with a lot of exclamation points, yell at people, and then declare that you're right and they're wrong and they must be cancelled without thoughtfulness. He was thoughtful. I I just want all of us to remember that you probably know what truth is, the truth. When you learn how to defend it with clarity, as it says in 1 Peter, you have to have a defense for the belief that you have. Charlie had that defense, and that was also what he modeled, not just political commentary, but he was modeling a family that our next generation must see for this society to We currently live in a death culture that celebrates abortion. Charlie was pro-life, and he gave very good explainers for why life was valued, training the next generation to hear something valuable and different so they wouldn't have to live with the idea of matricide. He showed them that it's okay to be a loving husband. He showed that it's okay to be a, a role model dad. This is a guy that whether you agreed with him politically or not, was a husband and a dad. And if for anything else, we should have enough humanity to say on behalf of that family that will never be the same, we could exhibit some of that grace and clarity at this time and toward any human whose life is taken too quickly. Here in Charlotte, we're still grappling with the brutal murder on the light rail, and we see a 23-year-old girl whose life was taken away right when she was starting to figure out her plan. Did y'all know she had just bought a car and she was set to take her driver's test next month? So I see an emptiness there because we don't get to know what she would have contributed. And I don't have any hatred for her killer. I feel a profound sadness for her killer, and I pray for his restoration before God, but his restoration shouldn't come at the hands of a young lady. His restoration should come through retribution. He should be in jail cell, if not capital executed, because none of us has the right to do that. And you can expect somebody to pay the price without wishing them into ugliness, because the ugliness hurts all of us. But it doesn't mean you step away from your foundational. And so if you want to look at Charlie's family again, his family was there yesterday. I, I don't get it. But their strength is going to come from the Lord alone, because he is our strength in our shield. And I look at how he was able to be a public figure but keep his family involved. That's, that's huge. It's so powerful for all of us to see examples that are living what used to be a traditional way, and good. And it's okay for things to be good. I'd like it if we got back as a culture saying that things are good, families are good, because right now our society is Like I said, it's in a death spiral. We're celebrating abortion. We're talking about assisted suicide. We've got just a culture that doesn't want to have babies. They don't think there's any hope because they've been told that climate change and the sun might kill them. Gotta get back to the good. And I remember last year in the congressional primary, I had made a comment in WBTV. Debate that the most beautiful part of life having kids. And one of the moderators that many of y'all that are local, you, you like her very well, she was mad as fire at me for saying that because she said I was explaining that the only valuable part of life is parenthood. Say that is because motherhood is a beautiful thing. Fatherhood, beautiful. That's your next gen— maybe that's the whole story of Charlie, is the next generation. It was what he did for my kids, your kids, what he did for his own family, about walking and talking, doing. Because here on the internet, we got a lot of talkers, but how many do what Charlie did? They get married and have kids and then continue professionally about walking away from most important— well, I will just say this, uh, the faith piece too, because it's such a visible part of, of who Charlie was. And the fact that 3 days ago he makes really prophetic post, and his wife was in the scripture right before took the stage there I have to wonder, because we're seeing this great revival starting to come up and coming from our young— if Turning Point's been going on since 2011, I believe, then how much of Charlie's legacy, great legacy— the young people are coming back to the Catholic Church in huge numbers, and they're coming back to the Latin they're coming back to traditional religion. And then in the evangelical side, we're seeing our young people just showing up and they're bringing their friends, the friends bringing their— we're seeing the young people leading in the revival. As Charlie told our kids, you're not the church of tomorrow, you're the church of today. Show up. It's good. Church is good. And that fellowship of believers, that's good. Because y'all, the church is not the four walls you sit in. I think some of y'all know that, and some of y'all maybe have forgotten it because you did get hurt at some point, ran into somebody who's a false prophet. But the four walls of the church are not the church. You, you the believers, are the church. And that's what Charlie was inspiring. He was inspiring this next generation that they are the church. They are the ones have to carry the torch. He wasn't saying it was about Charlie Kirk. And I think that's another unique thing about him as a leader He was always building out more people. Everything I was reading last night and not being able to thought process— these young people who talked about when they met him at 16 years old, he elevated them and encouraged them, and then they go to do big things, not because of him, but because he encouraged them. And that's a different thing. Good heavens, we need more leaders in the world that can take themselves out of that narcissistic place and can just encourage and push other people to try and go do. What a gift. What a gift to the church and a gift to Christianity and a gift to the nation. I mean, golly, when he got up there yesterday, he must have gotten a well done, good and faithful servant. Because how many of our young people have accepted Christ because they first encountered a Kirk video? I will just say this, the, um, at 31 years old, he was wise enough. And I would just say he would probably agree it was the wisdom from God to help guide a new generation. And as a mom, I'm just so grateful for that. Have kids that have watched his videos and learned from and learned how to defend America, learned how to defend the Constitution. That's one of my favorite videos of his, and I reposted it last night on X just to see that strength of conviction and the ability to— that I want my kids to have that. And I think that's why this just feels so— I will— I have to say that it was 9/11 And as a woman of certain years, 9/11 is a tricky day because I remember the world before 9/11. Y'all know the world after. I was actually showing houses when the Twin Towers— well, on my way to show houses, actually. We had a sales meeting that morning at the RE/MAX office, Hardov and one of the agents, Anne Vogelman, was shaken. He told us that the planes had hit the towers. Of course, all of us went to find a TV because remember 2001, we did not have these. We had Nextels if we were advanced or maybe a PalmPilot and we're gathering news and nobody knew what to do. But because I am a product of workers, because I am a product of working people, I put my buyers in my car and headed out. And I remember they were an African-American couple and they were from New York City. We're looking at some houses and we're listening to the radio because WBT is— "The door is always open." And we're just kind of processing what's going on. Looked at some houses. About halfway through our tour, they looked over at me and said, "We're not moving here." And I said, "Tell me about that." Well, as it turns out, one of their cousins worked in Twin Towers, and they said, we, we have to be there, we have to be home, we have to help rebuild the city. And I've never forgotten that because sometimes in real estate it's about the sale you do or don't make, it's about the things you learn, connect with, and They, in that moment of national crisis and great fear, decided roll their sleeves up, be in the middle of the restoration. And as a country, it felt that way at first too. If y'all remember who were around, we all, everybody went to church. I mean, churches were full. There was an American flag on every house and we really pulled it together. Of course it didn't last, but it was a moment that I remember how visceral it was, this decision that we collectively be a unified voice. And I just, I don't see that right now. Right now, I feel like this event of yesterday, probably as seminal a moment in our culture as 9/11 was in a different way. Loss of 3,000 innocent people, but because of the impacts. Impacts are very broad-reaching. And our nation was already in a fragile place before yesterday, and started during President Obama, and we saw the boiling pot. First election of President Trump with great gnashing of teeth, and said, if you didn't vote my way, and that's not my guy, so thrown out of the— era. And we see it right now. Yesterday we have a political commentator, a First Amendment guy who was thoughtful discourse, who disagreed with people and thoughtfully listened to their— then gave a you might expect us to see a great, oh y'all, we can't be like this. We would see a general decision that that's not the best of us. We can appeal to our better selves and we can pull this together instead of— see, I don't know what to make of people who are showing glee after assassination. Who was in the middle of a conversation. I think that that kind of celebration right now exposes the darkest, and that's maybe what we need to see. Maybe we need to see that there is darkness so that those of us that are the light— as Bible tells us, we are salt and light— but we can do our job reaching out, not, not blocking, but being visible. I've been fairly visible as a trainer and speaker, social media person, a long while now. I don't hide who I am. I don't walk around in a sense of fear. And I got to tell you that have to stop walking around. If people around you are gleefully celebrating an assassination, may not feel like engaging with— just be, be there. Be present. Presence matters. And I think Charlie knew that because he didn't just argue with X or in TikTok. He went into the line, walked in knowing that when his time to go home would arrive, it was going to arrive when God wanted it. So I— my sadness is for the next generation and for the loss of a voice, but I'm not sad for Charlie. I'm— frankly, those of us that are believers know he's got his room in that mansion that Jesus prepared, and he's healed, and he is at home. And his legacy doesn't end with But you're going to have to be a part of the testimony smarter, because for any of you who have said, how could God let this happen? Well, God doesn't let things happen to punish. Remember though, whatever you go through, any moment there is testimony on the other side. So this assassination happening is going to create wild and amazing, mighty, mighty miraculous testimony. And if you're the person who doesn't have that powerful open faith, need to get yourself and your family, because that's how we honor Carly Kirk. We get our families into a Bible preaching church, not a church of false prophets, but church that is strong in the Lord's word. We hang our flags, do what Americans did right after 9/11 and pull together. We, we have to do his work for him. So when you see a teenager, y'all need to speak to them. And even if they don't want to talk to you because you're a middle-aged woman like me, you say hey to that teenager, you pray with that anger. Let them know that you see them. And if they're living a life that is going sideways, talk to them anyway, because want them to come to the other side, they better know somebody over there waiting on them. This is the opportunity we have to raise our kids to have courage and to have foundational beliefs, apologize for, and not be ugly to those who disagree. But to be the voice of reason, be the voice of truth. There is one truth. There is not my truth and your truth and somebody else's. There's one, and it is the truth of God. And we have a moment right now that is a gift to us of remembering a very courageous and a moment of not letting— have been assassinated— that we pay attention to those who hate us. Do not accept the message that this is a both sides issue, because I'm just going to tell y'all this: both sides— there are very unhinged people in this world. Only one side of these arguments actively trying to the other side, trying to live and let live. Do that now. Have to stand up for what you— most important thing, show up. Any— I don't, don't know if anybody's watching the live stream or not, but I will tell you that in the last several weeks I've gotten a lot of death threats, and they've come from a group inside real estate that would have me move because I do not agree with them. Well, my sheriff, amazing man, office providing coverage for my office, and I'm still going to show up because I know that God's in control and I know that God wins. We can't better than— and if you're the person who— I'm wrong, then talk to me a little bit. Tell me your view. I will listen. Maybe you will say something that I will find to be interesting. Maybe I will say something that you will have to ponder later. But if you're the person who is wallowing right now in anger, trying to go after— turn this off, go outside, smile at us. Don't even talk to us. Smile. We have to solve this early