Nineteen-year-old activist, author and political speaker Brilyn Hollyhand took to the stage at the University of Mississippi on Tuesday, Sept. 30, as part of his contribution to the “One Conversation at a Time” tour. This event followed the murder of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk and was sponsored by the Kirk-founded organization Turning Point USA. Hollyhand gave a speech after which he answered questions from the audience.
According to The Brilyn Hollyhand Show, Hollyhand’s primary goals with this tour are to carry on Kirk’s legacy and to engage young people in conservative politics.
“We’re here for a conversation,” Hollyhand said at the event. “‘One Conversation at a Time’ is intentional. We named this tour because we want to have a conversation. We want to champion civil discourse.”
Hollyhand then mentioned Kirk, who shared the mission of encouraging young Americans to become involved in politics.
“That’s what my friend Charlie did best — he championed civil discourse,” Hollyhand said. “He went into the lion’s den, some of the darkest places in this country, set up a table and said, ‘Come challenge me. I want to have a conversation with you.’”
Kirk advocated for the “Make America Great Again” movement on his podcast, The Charlie Kirk Show, and during Turning Point USA events. He was known for visiting college campuses and debating students at his “Prove Me Wrong” table. President Donald Trump credited Kirk for swaying younger voters to his side, according to CNN.
On stage, Hollyhand encouraged other college students to get involved in politics and to start having conversations with those around them.
“Every single one of you has the same platform I had, and you’re older than me when I got started,” Hollyhand said. “You’re not in the fourth grade anymore. You’re on the college campus. You have a platform. You have a voice.”
UM is Hollyhand’s third stop on his tour spanning 10 prominent universities across the Southeast, including the University of Alabama, Mississippi State University and Florida State University.
Hollyhand emphasized the importance of having conversations with people who hold opposing viewpoints.
“The problem that we have in our country today is that we don’t know how to talk to each other,” Hollyhand said. “We know how to scream at each other, we know how to rant at each other through a phone screen, and we certainly know how to assassinate somebody, but we don’t know how to have a conversation. If we can do one thing, we have to make America talk again.”
Junior public policy leadership major Lesley Lachman, the president of the UM chapter of Turning Point USA, shared how important she views this event to be.
“This event is everything,” Lachman said. “I think it’s the beginning of seeing that people are wanting to be more involved. Our first meeting we had was just to kind of get a consensus of how many people were going to come, and the room was overflowing so much that the door was backed up. And so for this event, what we really tried to focus on was just seeing how connected we are. And you can see the passions there, and people want to be involved.”
Senior English education major Avery Kruthers shared her perspective as a future teacher.
“I’m going to be a teacher, and I’m really excited for that. But I want to be able to kind of know how to have conversations with both sides,” Kruthers said. “I think this organization does a really good job of teaching us how to conversate regardless of what side you’re on, and that’s really what I wanted to learn more about today.”
Mary Margaret McCracken, a senior entrepreneurship major, was inspired by Kirk and Hollyhand’s Christian beliefs.
“I have been really impacted by the murder of Charlie Kirk, and I know that I needed to reach out to people so I could get some questions answered,” McCracken said. “I wanted to come here and listen to questions being answered in the Christian mindset. I learned a lot about talking to other people that believe in other things than me.”
Ethan Benefield, a UM alumnus who graduated in 2023, applauded Hollyhand for encouraging civil discourse among peers.
“Being involved in different organizations and clubs and sometimes in the political scene, I often see disagreement, and I’m a big believer in hearing somebody out,” Benefield said. “Not everybody gets a voice all the time, and I’m a believer in allowing people to have that opportunity, no matter their political stance or their religious stance or just their stance in general, about any topic.”
Benefield also highlighted the importance of finding common ground.
“I wanted to see how our community comes together to find common ground with sometimes controversial issues, because I believe that is the way forward,” Benefield said. “I believe that finding common ground with these issues and our ability to come together and sit at a table and express our thoughts and our opinions and our beliefs and respect one another is the only way that we can see real change.”
Hollyhand looked up to Kirk for his beliefs, and that started for the young activist in fourth grade, when Kirk appeared on his podcast.
Hollyhand began writing political articles at age 11 after viewing debates and news coverage associated with the 2016 United States presidential election, and he launched his podcast soon after.
“I was watching a lot of news after school,” Hollyhand said. “I saw this debate going on on TV, but I didn’t see a lot of young people involved. I didn’t see the TV networks giving a platform for the next generation. Nobody that looked like us was on our TV screens, so I decided to take that initiative on my own.”
Hollyhand went on to appear on Fox News, where he gained the attention of President Trump. This led to the formation of the Republican National Committee’s Youth Advisory Council.
“I said some words in that interview that changed the trajectory of my life,” Hollyhand said. “The comment that I made, and I stand by today, is that the GOP is an endangered species at risk of extinction if right here, right now, we don’t reach out to the next generation.”
In the wake of Kirk’s death, Hollyhand believes that Kirk’s mission is alive and well.
“You can kill a man, but you can’t kill a movement,” Hollyhand said. “That’s what we’ve seen in the past three weeks all across this country. Every single one of you is equipped every single day with the college students in your life to have conversations.”
