The Anchorage branch of the NAACP said its members and their families have been targeted with violent, racially motivated threats in recent days “simply for exercising their First Amendment rights and speaking openly about the realities of white supremacy.”
The organization said it has reported the threats to law enforcement and is calling on elected officials, law enforcement and other community leaders to take a serious stand to denounce and reject political violence in all its forms.
“Silence in the face of threats is not neutrality, it is complicity,” said Cheryl Cox Williams, the president of the NAACP Anchorage branch. “We are urging all Alaskans to stand up now, before more harm is done. Anchorage and Alaska must protect the right of every person to speak the truth without fear of retaliation.”
The announcement called it a “state of emergency for our community,” warning that the threats and intimidation have the effect of silencing voices and undermining safety.
Violent political rhetoric has ratcheted up in the wake of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, with President Trump and his allies all the way down to the local level calling for a “war” on liberals despite the killer’s motives being far from clear. In the wake of the killing, Alaska U.S. Rep. Nick Begich vowed retribution and said, “The left is playing a dangerous game. … As they lose the battle of ideas, the left has reverted to violence and slander when faced with a difference of opinions.”
This week, the Mat-Su Assembly voted to add a Charlie Kirk memorial page to this year’s official borough election guide.
Even glancing criticism of Kirk, including direct quotes of his racist, sexist and xenophobic comments, or even mere efforts to contextualize his place in American politics, have been met with swift retribution from conservatives. That’s included targeted harassment, firings, expulsions and, in a particularly high-profile case, the yanking of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel from the airwaves (Kimmel’s sin was the suggestion that Trump and his allies would use Kirk’s death to silence their dissenting voices).
Columnist Karen Attiah, who is Black, was fired from her job at The Washington Post after she posted Kirk’s claim that “Black women do not have brain processing power to be taken seriously. You have to go steal a white person’s slot.” She also raised the issue of race around gun violence, writing that “Part of what keeps America so violent is the insistence that people perform care, empty goodness and absolution for white men who espouse hatred and violence.”
In her comments, NAACP Anchorage branch president Williams said that everyone should be able to voice their opinions without fear of violence.
“We cannot allow hate to win,” Williams said. “Our community deserves safety, dignity and respect. Every person must be able to speak the truth without fear of retaliation. Anchorage, and Alaska broadly, must stand up against these threats and take action to protect our neighbors before more harm is done.”
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Bluesky.
