9/11, Charlie Kirk anniversaries loom large for Gen Z

Raw reactions from older generations to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have stuck in the minds of millions of Generation Zers, most of whom weren't or were barely alive when planes hit the twin towers and the Pentagon. The events of that day shaped the lives of those born after the terror attacks and grew up watching U.S. troops fight in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Gen Z and Generation Alpha have also lived through the threats from ISIS, al Qaeda and the Taliban.

It’s not surprising then that in a recent Gallup poll, 16 percent of Gen Z responded that 9/11 had permanently changed their way of life compared to 36 percent of millennials. Thirty-three percent of Generation X, 29 percent of baby boomers and 15 percent of the Silent Generation said the same. Gen Z walks a fine line between relating to 9/11 as a current event, as a historical event or holding a personal tie with the day.

Only 15 states require that students learn 9/11 in the curriculum, according to Joseph Kornhoff, executive director of the Pentagon Memorial Foundation (PMF). “It was so fresh and raw that schools didn’t have time to put it into the curriculum, but here we are 25 years later and we’re looking at generations coming up and still not having that ability to learn about 9/11 from a historical perspective, from a personal stance,” Kornhoff told The Hill.

The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Va., is set to break ground on their education center on Saturday, with the goal of involving those from all generations. Kornhoff, a millennial, says the terrorist attack inspired a generation of active-duty service members, including himself, who wanted to serve. “I think it spurred a generation of our military. It was entirely volunteer force at that time and remains.

You knew that you were going to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan within a year of enlisting or within a year of your commission as an officer … I think it was a catalyst towards a life of service for a lot of our nation,” he said. Conversations with Gen Z, particularly Gen Z New Yorkers, reveal that reactions from family members to the horrific event are engrained in their minds. “I don't remember 9/11,” Bianca Pagano, 23, who was born and raised in Manhattan, told The Hill.

“But I know exactly where my mom was and where my dad was.” She described the day as “this visceral part of history,” which has permeated throughout American life. “We've never known airports without security, like very immense security,” Pagano said. “But also we've really never known a world where somebody's ability to exist in the United States hasn't been threatened one way or another by their own identity,” she continued, referring to racial profiling following the terrorist attacks.

This is one area Pagano feels Gen Z differs from older groups. She recalls hearing parents at her Irish Catholic school say that “thinking of people differently based on their ethnic background” was “perfectly okay.” “I think amongst my generation, that's changed a lot,” the Manhattan native said, pointing to the popularity of Zohran Mamdani (D), the first Muslim mayor of New York City. When asked if Gen Z has a calamity it holds in its memory as strongly as older generations do 9/11, Pagano wasn’t sure.

Maybe for Americans born between 1997 and 2012, there has yet to be such a singular catastrophe. Pagano, however, offers another explanation: that perhaps younger generations have witnessed a buildup of other tragic events, like the mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. “These events have lost their significance — not to downplay them because they're extremely serious — but like we were so desensitized to them that it's like, ‘F--- no, I'm not going to remember where I was because it's my everyday,’” she said.

When conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University (UVU) last year, online mockery was not tolerated — people even lost their jobs. But in the weeks after his death, the internet culture shifted rapidly, driving the “memeification” of the late founder of Turning Point USA (TPUSA). A song created by artificial intelligence called “We Are Charlie Kirk” began as a tribute but shifted in a meme that has been widely mocked.

Others morphed Kirk's face with the Mona Lisa and millions of other images, and people created websites that can “Kirkify” any picture. Kirk himself carried a massive social media presence, reaching his audience and opposition through livestreamed debates where he defended conservative social policies. The camera was rolling the moment he was shot on Sept. 10, 2025, and the video rapidly spread on the social platform X, which received millions of views.

How do tributes become memes, and how does something as serious as a murder caught on camera become something that is made light of? And what does all that mean a year after Kirk’s death? Alex Turvy, a media sociologist and author of the upcoming internet culture book “Memes in the Machine,” said part of the dynamic comes from people on the internet feeling like they are being force-fed a certain narrative. “When you try to force people to see something a certain way, they resist that,” Turvy told The Hill.

As some social media users resisted the veneration of Kirk’s legacy, they made jokes. AI and social media algorithms made it easy for this content to thrive. “Whoever makes the weirdest, funniest, most unique joke gets rewarded with reach, which encourages more people to do that. It gets to a point where that’s most of what you see,” Turvy said. Mario Nicoletto, who chairs the New York Young Republican Club's campaigns committee, told The Hill he doesn’t understand the memes.

“Let the man rest in peace,” he added. To the 25-year-old Nicoletto, Kirk was a once-in-a-generation figure, and he remains shocked at the political violence that took his life. Nicoletto, like other conservatives, places more blame on the left for political violence but also said he wanted the country to get over its political divides. “I want to see Republicans win,” Nicoletto said. “But what I want more than that is to see Americans win.”

Young people in general are still divided over Kirk, just as they were when he was alive. It’s no different at UVU. TPUSA hosted an event on its campus Thursday night in honor of Kirk, and the university canceled classes for the day and amped up security. But the conservative-leaning university has been split over the activist’s death. UVU's Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) wrote an open letter that called for the event to be canceled.

They also hosted a peaceful protest. The university's president, in response to criticism from the student group, said he would attend both the event and the protest to support all students, which led to more frustration. Collin Grannis, a member of UVU's SDS, told The Hill that by picking both sides, the university picked no sides. “Charlie Kirk stood for being hateful and divisive. It’s not an issue you can have both sides on,” he said.

The Feed is a weekly scoop on Generation Z put together by three Generation Z editors at The Hill. We’re working to understand the ins and outs of our generation’s politics. Send tips or comments to awalker@thehill.com, jfeldstein@thehill.com or cleibowitz@thehill.com.