Greg Sarber: Homer Remembers Charlie Kirk

By GREG SARBER

Yesterday, Homer residents gathered together on a beautiful fall day to hold a memorial service for Charlie Kirk at Mariner Beach Park. The ceremony was facilitated by Representative Sarah Vance, and there were several things about the proceedings that are worth mentioning.

First is the service itself. There were several speakers, including church leaders from the community, a couple of citizen speakers, and Representative Vance. The ceremony focused on Charlie’s life and accomplishments. Representative Vance told a moving story about a local resident who is a student at the university where Charlie Kirk was speaking last Wednesday. The individual was in the crowd listening to him speak when Charlie was shot. Fortunately, the woman was unharmed, but she certainly had a close call. It is amazing how world events have an impact on people living in a remote part of Alaska like Homer.

The message during the service was one of remembrance, and that we should not hold hate in our hearts for the individual who killed Charlie. The service ended with a very moving rendition of the song Amazing Grace performed by noted Homer musician Silas Jones. The speakers gave Charlie a somber but very moving tribute. I can’t think of a better way our community could have paid our respects to Charlie Kirk than what was done yesterday. Everyone involved in setting up this memorial deserves our thanks for doing so.

Since Charlie Kirk’s life focused on politics from a Christian perspective, there were a couple of other items from yesterday’s event worth mentioning.

First is the police presence. At the beginning of the services, the first speaker noted that in the event of trouble, participants should not get involved. They should remain in place and protect themselves, while letting the police handle the situation. The speaker also noted that there was a medic in attendance should they be needed. I don’t believe I have ever attended a remembrance service where that warning had to be given. What a terrible commentary about the state of our country when the police are needed to protect attendees at a memorial service from possible protests. Thankfully, none showed up yesterday, but the fact that participants had to be worried is an indictment of liberal political organizations. I very much appreciated the police being there to keep us safe.

The second thing that struck me was the crowd, composition, and size. It was made up of people of all ages. There were families in attendance with young kids, there were young adults, and older adults; every age group was represented. This is in marked contrast to the crowd that attended a recent left-wing street protest in Homer on Labor Day.  That crowd was primarily composed of individuals over 50 years of age, looking to be a group of graying boomers, rather than an expression of the community as a whole.  Crowd composition is important because it shows the involvement and commitment of people in our town.  Those who attended Charlie Kirk’s memorial are people from all walks of life and all ages.  This shows that there is a healthy demographic of individuals who believe in conservatism and were willing to stand on the beach for an hour to honor one of our fallen heroes.  They were also willing to risk bringing their children with them to do so.  That bodes well for the future of conservatism in Homer.

The crowd size was also important.  Before the ceremony started, I took the picture at the top of this article, and the crowd at that time was about 250 people, according to my hasty counting.  More people continued to arrive after the services started, and I estimate that more than 300 people were in attendance. 

This is in contrast to the Labor Day street protest organized by liberal members of our community.  One of the local liberal Facebook pages thanked the 146 people who turned out to support their efforts on Labor Day.  Yesterday’s Kirk memorial had more than double that number of people.  When you compare those who attended these two competing events, it dispels the notion that Homer is a liberal town.  The left considers 146 people for a preplanned event a good turnout.  Conservatives given short notice show up with double those numbers. 

This memorial service was a fitting remembrance of Charlie Kirk and the contributions he made to our country.  Thanks to Representative Sarah Vance and the others involved, who put it together on short notice.  We should remember Charlie’s life and have hope for the ideals he supported.

Greg Sarber is a lifelong Alaskan. He is a petroleum engineer who spent his career working on Alaska’s North Slope. Now retired, he lives with his family in Homer, Alaska. Greg serves as a board member of Alaska Gold Communications, Inc., the publisher of Must Read Alaska.