By AlaskaWatchman.com

BLM protest pic

Black Lives Matter protesters will once again take to the streets of Anchorage on Monday, Sept. 7, to decry “systemic racism.” Originally scheduled for Aug. 28, the demonstration was postponed to Labor Day due to Mayor Ethan Berkowitz’s previous COVID emergency order which limited outdoor gatherings to 50 people or less.

The mayor’s latest order has no size restrictions on outdoor political gatherings but does require participants to wear masks and maintain a six-foot distance from non-household members.

Alaska Black Caucus asserts that “systemic racism” has tainted American society and institutions.

Alaska Black Caucus is organizing the event in partnership with the Rasmuson Foundation, the NAACP, a number of local unions and others. An online notice says the event will include presentations by “local officials, labor and business leaders, representatives of our diverse and faith communities and more.”

It’s yet to be seen whether Mayor Berkowitz will attend the gathering. In June, he disregarded his own warnings to area residents by attending a massive Black Lives Matter protest just weeks after he canceled a public Memorial Day event due to COVID-19 concerns.

“Show your support of ‘Black Lives Matter’ and help end systemic racism” a notice for the protest states. “Let’s socially distance together as one united force in building each other up for a safer more equitable Anchorage!”

The protest begins at 1 p.m. at the Anchorage Town Square and includes a march to the MLK Memorial on the Delany Park Strip.

The upcoming march is inspired by the death of George Floyd.

“Instigated from the protest movement arising from the police killing of George Floyd, the ‘Get Off Our Necks’ Commitment March on Washington will be a day of action that will demonstrate our commitment to fighting for policing and criminal justice, while standing in solidarity against RACISM!,” the notice states.

Earlier this summer Alaska Black Caucus urged Alaskans to only shop at businesses owned by blacks as a way to show solidarity with black people in working to eradicate racism through the use of economic influence. The goal was to ensure that not one penny was spent unless it was with a black-owned business. Like many left-leaning social justice groups, Alaska Black Caucus asserts that “systemic racism” has tainted American society and institutions.

The caucus has also mobilized opposition to end the use of police resource officers in Alaska schools.

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Black Lives Matter protesters to march in Anchorage Sept. 7

Joel Davidson
Joel is Editor-in-Chief of the Alaska Watchman. Joel is an award winning journalist and has been reporting for over 24 years, He is a proud father of 8 children, and lives in Palmer, Alaska.


17 Comments

  • Carol Allums says:

    Give me a break! All this time I have been so thankful to be living somewhere where people are too smart for this. Guess I was wrong. I have seen no evidence of systemic racism here and I first came to Alaska in 1989. Some people better go to the polls and get the idiots out of office including Berkowitz. We have a paradise here and yet there are people determined to turn it into a living hell.

    • Mary Graber says:

      This issue goes way beyond Alaska. Maybe you havn’t seen it because your not a non white person, or you just didn’t recognize it. This movement is for over all racial equlity, all races not just one. People have the constitutional right to protest, and if anti groups just let them be it won’t be a problem. Those groups can protest later.

    • Michelle Monteiro says:

      I agree. Many of us felt safe here and didn’t expect this. I’m so disappointed. I myself being a Hispanic woman have never experienced any racism here and I have lived here 65 years. I’m hoping Alaskans are too smart to fall for this. I remember when Malcolm X said “The most dangerous thing to a person of color is the white liberal” and he was spot on

  • Aaron says:

    Alaska Black Caucus is supported by several organizations and political leaders. In the article, Alaska Black Caucus demanded that people only spent money at black owned businesses. Support for something like this is blatant discrimination based upon a protected group (ethnicity). A political leader supporting this should be recalled. Organizations that receive federal funds should have immediate consequences. Businesses can’t discriminate against another based upon ethnicity / race. This is illegal at a state and federal level. I am sure such discrimination is also a violation of municipal code. If not, it should be.

  • Karen says:

    Please get rid of the outsiders who keep stirring up this baloney. Take your whiny cancel-culture bigotry and go fly that freak flag elsewhere…you’re not welcome here.

  • Mike Premo says:

    All Lives Matter!!! BLM Org. is racist and is being used by the radical left-wing agenda!

  • Caterina says:

    Ridiculous.
    And why is the Rasmussen Foundation giving money to an anti-Christian Marxist group?

  • Mark says:

    The Nazis used to hold their fist in the air too

  • AK49 says:

    Any source or links to details?
    Time, place, duration, itinerary etc?

  • Tammy says:

    There goes our town! This marxist group doesn’t belong up here!! Who is going to rebuild our town when they burn it down?

    • Teri says:

      Tammy Alaskans are a different breed. Our cities and towns will not be destroyed by rioters. The Last Frontier will stand strong because of it’s people. I believe the forces to be don’t understand people of the North.
      I just have one question. Please someone tell me how many black businesses there are here and where so I can go shop?

  • TPE says:

    We don’t want BLM here…or anywhere!

  • David says:

    All those here denouncing this organization and its behind the scenes socialist agenda. Kudos to you all and you are right that this outside interference needs to leave.

  • You see a lot of pandering. Like, McDonald s for example — when they put out a tweet saying, They were one of us, about all the people that have lost their lives to police. But they re still underpaying their Black workers, still not allowing them sick leave, he said. At the park strip where the march finished, Tim Riedell was wearing a Harry Potter mask and standing in the grass with a friend. He s a flight attendant and says he grew up on the West Coast and had what he thought was a liberal mindset. But he said the Black Lives Matter movement is making him see things differently.