A Statement from Keene City Councilor Bobby Williams
September 17, 2025
I will accept any judgment that the Keene City Council has for me and bear any penalty that they impose.
I recognize that my words were unkind and inflammatory at a time when passions were running high, and I am sorry if what I wrote on Facebook caused any pain to those who knew and loved Charlie Kirk. It is a tragedy that two children have now lost their father.
While there are aspects of the charges against me that I would challenge, they are a trifle compared to the challenge we are all facing right now, as a nation. Namely, we are losing our democracy, more and more each day.
I believe that the death of Charlie Kirk is being used as a pretext for the undermining of the American people’s right to free expression. If I was just one guy who screwed up and was facing consequences, that would be one thing. But across the country, there are hundreds of cases like mine, in which people who have expressed negative sentiments about Charlie Kirk are being subjected to organized harassment campaigns, of the kind that Kirk himself pioneered. This is being supported by the Federal government, who are now using criticism of Charlie Kirk as grounds for deportation. People are losing their jobs and students are getting kicked out of college.
This is a concerning and frightening phenomenon, and its one reason I’m going to sit down and shut up for a while. But before I do, I want to remind my friends on the City Council of one thing: as the left-most member of our body, I am the canary in your coal mine. If I am loud and annoying, that’s a sign that things are going relatively well. But if I am intimidated into silence, what does that say about the danger we all face?
James Baldwin said, if they come for me in the morning, they will come for you in the night.
God bless us all.