Anchorage Mayoral Candidate Forrest Dunbar Responds to Hate Speech Outbreak
In response to the recent surfacing of Alaska license plates featuring anti-Semitic language and a series of explicitly anti-Semitic attacks on his campaign, candidate for Anchorage Mayor Forrest Dunbar has issued the following statement:
Hate has no place in Anchorage. The words in question are undeniably associated with unfounded prejudice and hostility. Our community cannot recover and we cannot get Anchorage back to where we want to be if we allow hate to take hold here.
My grandmother and great-grandmother came to the United States from Germany after my great-grandfather died in a Nazi transportation camp. Their example, and the Jewish principle of Tikkun Olam, informs the work I do today.
As a member of the Anchorage Assembly and during my campaign for Mayor we have repeatedly been a target of anti-Semitic attacks, including social media comments and hate mail sent to our campaign (examples attached). Additionally, APD officers informed us they have never seen the level of targeted sign vandalism that we continue to experience.
I will always speak out against prejudice and bigotry, as I did following the "Unite the Right" neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, VA. We need leaders who will move our community past bigotry to a future where all residents feel safe and welcome.
Forrest Dunbar has represented East Anchorage on the Anchorage Assembly since 2016. Over 1,000 individual donors, local labor unions, legislators, and Anchorage community leaders have joined together in support of Dunbar’s campaign.
