The Education Department just put a familiar face on its front wall. A large banner of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk now hangs outside the agency's headquarters in Washington, part of a series honoring figures tied to American education as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary. Kirk's banner is displayed alongside images of 19th-century educator Catharine Beecher, known for expanding schooling opportunities for women, and Booker T. Washington, who pushed for educational access for Black Americans after Reconstruction, the Hill reports. A neighboring sign reads: "Empowering our States to tell the Stories of our Heroes in American Education."
Kirk founded Turning Point USA to boost conservative organizing on college campuses, though unlike Beecher, Washington, and others featured on banners outside the building, he did not have a career as a teacher or academic, USA Today reports. Kirk was shot and killed last year at Utah Valley University. The accused gunman, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, faces multiple charges including aggravated murder.
"We are proud to honor visionary leaders whose contributions have shaped the future of education for generations," Education Department press secretary Savannah Newhouse said in a statement to the Hill, citing Benjamin Franklin's line that "an investment in knowledge pays the best interest." She linked the display to the upcoming 250th anniversary, calling it an invitation to "foster educational opportunity that empowers every learner to rise, contribute, and help shape a brighter future." The Guardian reports that the banner is controversial not only because of Kirk remarks critics consider racist and sexist, but because he called for abolishing the department as recently as last year.
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