Charlie Kirk and Local High School Students Host Anti-Mask Rally in St. Charles
Charlie Kirk and local high school students spoke to a packed Arcada Theatre in opposition of masks in schools.
February 21, 2022
As Illinois residents await a possible end to mask mandates and watch as the state battles in court to continue its mandate in schools, conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA hosted a “No Forced Masks Rally” in St. Charles on Feb. 16.
Kirk spoke to a full theater, outlining his issues with mask mandates in schools.
“More damage has been done to humanity in the last 100 years from people who thought they were doing the right thing….Very few people consciously think they are committing evil. Very few people. Stalin thought he was doing the right thing. So did Mao. They didn’t go to sleep like, yeah, I’m doing the wrong thing,” Kirk said.
Kirk, who grew up in the Prospect Heights area and attended Wheeling High School, said parents who want kids to wear masks in school are doing so under a false pretense that they are doing the right thing.
“A lot of suburban parents, you know some of them, are like, ‘No, this is the right thing for my kid. Masking them, not having them be able to see their friends. I’m saving their life.’ It warrants a question of how did they come to that conclusion.”
Kirk’s message to the audience was that masking children in schools is a coordinated effort by elected officials to condition the current school-aged generation to stay silent and always comply with authority.
The event featured speeches from Thomas DeVore, who represents the teachers and families who were granted a temporary restraining order in their case against mask mandates in schools, and three local high school students.
The student speakers included Peter Christos, Samuel Philips and Leslie Mendoza who are from Glenbrook North High School, Niles West High School and Lyons Township High School, respectively.
The students said they faced bullying for their conservative views, and encouraged students listening not to comply with mask mandates in their schools.
“You let those in the media spread fear and panic over a virus that has a 99.9997% survival rate for our age demographic,” said Christos (There is no documented evidence for this statistic).
The CDC provides a table showing risk factors for Covid-19 among age groups. The 18-29 age group has the largest cumulative number of Covid-19 cases and is used as a reference group. Compared to the 18-29 year old age group, the 5-17 year old age group tests positive at the same rate, is hospitalized at a rate less than 1x the rate of the 18-29 age group, and has reported deaths at a rate less than 1x compared to the 18-29 age group.
Christos told the audience about his experience leading students in a mask-less walk in the week prior and encouraged students listening to do the same.
As of Jan. 13, 2022 the CDC still encourages K-12 staff and students to wear masks in schools. A summary concerning the effectiveness of masks along with sources has also been listed on the CDC website. The studies show upwards of 80% blockage for people who are wearing masks and exhale virus particles, and show an increase of filtration of fine droplets and particles less than 10 microns, and in some cases 50% filtration of particles less than 1 micron for the mask wearer.
“You are the reason that the pandemic will never end,” Christos said. “Because you are too afraid to stand up. To all my students out here, if I wanted to relay one message to you it’s this: Do not comply.”
The students included calls to action in their speeches for audience members to vote out progressive officials and to run for office themselves.
Earlier this month Sangamon county judge Raylene Grischow issued a TRO preventing the state from enforcing a mask mandate in schools. The state filed an appeal, which Judge Grischow dismissed in an order filed on Feb. 17. In the ruling Grischow wrote that schools are still able to enforce their own mask policies.
Following the ruling, Hinsdale district 86 and Des Plaines District 63 have now made masks optional.
Gov. Pritzker is expected to take the case to the Illinois Supreme Court.
Turning Point USA is a non-profit organization. According to the groups website its mission is to identify, educate, train and organize students to promote freedom.
Mary • Feb 22, 2022 at 5:02 pm
I knew this article couldn’t just be a piece of factual news. The author/editor had to insert pieces of false propaganda for the CDC. You can’t just say “Charlie Kirk held a rally for unmasking school children”? No, you have to insert little tidbits of lies regarding mask “effectiveness” and your own version of statistics. The girl is right. Young people are at almost zero risk with this and at any rate they have the right to make their own decision and take responsibility.
Adviser • Feb 24, 2022 at 1:36 pm
Hi, Mary
Thanks for joining the discussion. There is no “own version” of statistics included in this story. Neither the Courier or the student journalist who reported it has generated their own statistics or scientific study of the topic. The CDC information is provided because it represents the consensus of the current American scientific understanding of these topics. That’s true, and has been widely accepted as true, for all health topics – not just COVID-19. If the story was about a chickenpox outbreak, or ebola, we would turn to the CDC’s recognized expertise on those topics as well. It is part of objective journalism’s mission to provide accurate factual information whenever possible. That doesn’t mean always ignoring those who have other views – covering this event is evidence and recognition that we aren’t doing that. So what you have is a story with the viewpoints of the attendees of the rally and information on what the current scientific consensus says about those views. It’s up to you decide what you want to think and believe. Journalism like this attempts to give you multiple points of information to consider in deciding what to think and believe. To understand more about how our students approach stories like this, check out the “Trusting Our Journalism” section of our website for a series of articles about our journalistic processes.
Anonymous Friend • Feb 22, 2022 at 9:21 am
The author argues that the statistic given by Charlie Kirk has no evidence to. Kirk claims the survivability rate – a statistic measured between positive cases and death rate – is 99.9997%. The author follows her argument against this claim citing case rates then ironically provides the statistics that leads us to Kirks magic number! Do the math. What percentage is 912 deaths from 87,998,838 cases. I’ll wait. Did you get it? 0.001%. Yeah, he’s pretty damn close. In fact, he underestimates the survivability rate for this age group. Take the time to consider other people’s points before you jump to quickly to disagree. We are sick and tired of partisanship in our news and especialy in our student courier.
Adviser • Feb 22, 2022 at 10:20 am
Anthony,
Thanks for commenting. Two points of clarification:
First, the statistic was not given by Charlie Kirk as your comment indicates. The stat was provided by Peter Christos.
Second, you are making a common error in your calculations. The CDC has said multiple times that you cannot use provisional death counts to calculate survivability rates. The time reference is too short to do so. Here is another fact check that points that out again. The COVID-19 survivability rate is simply an unknown at this time.
Pointing folks to what the keepers of the statistics being cited (the CDC) say about how the stats can and can’t be used is not partisanship. It’s giving people the proper information to understand what is and isn’t a valid statistic. It’s worth taking the time to actually know the the validity of claims people make before you jump to agree or disagree. Thanks for reading.
Jeremy • Feb 22, 2022 at 11:37 am
I tend to agree that mask mandates need to go away. Everyone should be responsible for their own health. If a person feels they are at risk, they can wear a mask. To try to force others to wear one because you are fearful is immoral.
Caitlin • Feb 22, 2022 at 2:25 pm
The problem is Jeremy, not wearing a mask does make you indirectly responsible for the health and the lives of others. Disabled folks and high-risk folks deserve protection. The lives of the many are more important than any temporary inconvenience caused by mask mandates.