Felix Rivera, fair-skinned hispanic gay Assembly member in Anchorage, raised eyebrows last month when he stated, during a forum on The Alaska Black Caucus Facebook page, that there are too many white males in office.
“I really think our political establishments need to get over this idea that only a certain typecast of individual can run for office, because when you do that, you’re typically going to go to someone who is white and someone who is male, and we need to get beyond that very rigid thinking in our political establishments.”
It is a racially tinged statement, and curious because the Anchorage Assembly of 11 has at least two hispanics, one Alaska Native, and several gay and lesbian members, some whom are public about their sexual preference, others who are not. The Assembly also has at least two Jewish members, and one veteran.
It’s a very diverse group except for one thing: Five of the 11 Assembly members do not have children: Austin Quinn-Davidson, Forrest Dunbar, Pete Peterson, Chris Constant, and Felix Rivera are all childless. Four have never been married.
In many respects, it can be argued that the Assembly actually does not represent the community at large.
Rivera’s statement may come back to haunt him, as Stephanie Taylor, a black candidate, last week filed to run against white incumbent Forrest Dunbar on the Assembly for East Anchorage. Rivera, wanting more minorities in office, may be asked to host a fundraiser for Taylor, a Republican running for the nonpartisan seat.
Read: Stephanie Taylor files for office against Forrest Dunbar
“Systems and particularly the systems of government that we are so concerned about aren’t going to change on their own. They don’t want to change on their own. In fact, they’ve, frankly, brainwashed people into thinking they are perfect, which is how we get people saying there is no racism,” Rivera said. He went on to say that systems need to be deconstructed.
The BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) forum featured minorities who are running for office, such as Troy Wuyts-Smith, running for Assembly in Juneau, who said that people of color have long been prevented from getting a good education or participating in political life.
“These are times of the past and we still face that oppression today,” said Wuyts-Smith, who is a stylist who runs his own pageant business, Crowned, under the name Troy Michael. Wuyts-Smith is the former “Mr. Gay Iceland.”
Wuyts-Smith said during the forum that he proposes carving out grants specifically for minority businesses in Juneau, specifically “black-owned businesses.”
George Martinez, an Anchorage former mayoral candidate who also participated, said working on political literacy is important, as is voter registration.
Barbara Blake, a candidate in Juneau for Assembly, said racism is felt every day by Natives in Juneau.
The Alaska Black Caucus was recently given a grant by the Anchorage Assembly to purchase a building, where presumably the group can continue to do political work. The money came from the federal CARES Act, funds intended to help those who suffered economic harm by the pandemic policies of 2020.
Read Alaska Black Caucus gets grant from Anchorage to buy a building
Felix the Racist spews his hatred again. Sickening!
He’s also cis- hetero-phobic. As well as a racist
Poor baby. Maybe your mother can explain the facts to you the next time you look in the mirror and see yourself.
There goes the mirror.
Sounds like he is being disingenuous AGAIN!
Felix was the campaign manager for “white guy” Vince Beltrami when he ran for state senate a few years ago. Apparently Felix had a different set of principles then.
Gay mafia going for broke.
A few years ago wasn’t a cat the mayor of Talkeetna. Just saying!
If you believe that crap, sure. The most obvious problem with this hypothesis is that Talkeetna is not an incorporated community. Therefore, it carries the exact same weight as me declaring myself the mayor of the street I live on. You’re giving it more weight because the national news media fell for a publicity stunt back in 2012? Let me explain. Beginning with NPR, a number of news outlets reported on the cat’s 15th anniversary as mayor. You want to know how many sources existed during those previous fifteen years referring to such a mayoralty? Try zero. NPR almost immediately backpedaled from their original story. I’d guess it was because the only media outlet in Talkeetna is KTNA, an NPR affiliate, and enough locals cried BS at what they were hearing.
Take a breath Sean! Everyone, who heard this story, realized it was tongue in cheek. It has since become AK folklore and a funny story to tell your outside friends. Stubbs certainly enjoyed the attention. Several years ago a local radio show mused whether or not to trade our Mayor (can’t remember if it was Begich or Berky) for Stubbs, since Anchorage would get better service that way…..
Perhaps a warm bottle and a clean diaper will help Felix.
Whether or not who runs for political office the decision is the individual’s choice. True! For a long time it’s been fair-skinned men and women who had the confidence to put themselves and family in the public spotlight to serve their community from a public office seat.
What is Rivera really asking? That specific brown skinned residents are appointed rather than elected? Just handing over a public office seat? The important part about running a race is the candidate has to gain the trust of the public and work for their vote, while learning how to run.
Alaska has two accomplished Alaska black persons serving who accomplished winning and staying electable in districts: Senator David Wilson and Senator Elvi Gray-Jackson, whether you agree with them or not. They are two black persons who I don’t think had anything handed to them. They worked for what they earned today.
Amen Jen – we could add a few more names… Those two worked for their position just like I’ve had to.
Apparently you conveniently forgot Elvi played the race card when her job as a administrative assistant to the assembly was eliminated. Just another 13%er playing the victim again.
Yes, I know Senator Wilson personally and while we do have our differences, I will be the first person to witness that he worked hard to get elected. He spent an unbelievable amount of time campaigning and talking to people. It was impressive! He has never whined about being black in a mostly white community and he just kept working away at it.
Pretty much every candidate ever elected “spent an unbelievable amount of time campaigning and talking to people.” Most unsuccessful candidates can say the same. In fact, most who achieve any measure of success in life worked very hard doing so. These are common facts. Nothing special.
Poor little Felix. He just can’t take the pressure. Someone give him another water bottle.
The more these folks whine that leadership isn’t handed to them on a silver platter (life too, for that matter) the less I respect them and the angrier this old man gets. Why? Because their whining demeans the accomplishments of my minority friends who have worked hard in the system to achieve much. Let them get elected on their own merits, not because of their identification in a minority.
This is what Anchorage wants. It has elected these clowns time and time again. It’s stupid to say they don’t reflect Anchorage- they embody it.
Anchorage is well on its way to becoming a 3rd world hellhole. How? Immigration from California and Washington. They ruined their homes and like locusts descended on Anchorage. Not content with Anchorage they are spreading into the valley and Kenai.
In the 80s Anchorage was one of the best places to live in America. Today? It’s a crap heap.
Irony is while Felix is race hating white people, it white self hating left coast liberals who put and keep him in office.
The Assembly is an exact mirror of Anchorage. Self Important, self absorbed, self hating, and determined to make people behave in ways they don’t want to.
Yep. If they are being elected then they do indeed reflect the values of the populace. People will destroy their families to abide by values that cause the harm.And their voting reflects that.
Respectfully disagree, Masked Avenger.
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What you write about is arguably not what Anchorage wants.
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Anchorage Assembly members, notably Dick Traini and Forrest Dunbar, forced their easily corruptible mail-in voting scheme on people without a vote of the people.
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Votes are tabulated by Dominion vote-tabulation equipment, the operation of which seems to be a mystery to everyone, including poll watchers.
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Nothing protects voters from vote harvesting or coercion.
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When Assembly members run for mayor, the Assembly Clerk, –their employee– counts the votes.
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How’s that for built-in corruption?
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So cut us some slack Masked Avenger, help people figure out how to ditch this scam and the trash that floated in with it.
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And keep your sense of humor… wasn’t failed mayoral candidate Dunbar a white male running for and almost winning political office… whose BFF Assembly bud was Felix?
The make up if the Assembly and it’s re-election rate says otherwise
Nothing protects the alleged conservative majority (doesn’t exist) from less than 50%, often less than 20% voter participation.
If all the alleged, butt-hurt-by-truth outraged conservatives actually voted and got actively involved, ranked choice – which passed overwhelmingly in Anchorage – wouldn’t matter a bit.
But it was a nice try. Thanks for playing. Better luck next time.
Good work, Citizen.
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Question nothing, believe everything your government officials say… surely all will be well. no?
You are exactly right!
Masked…
I partly agree. You are correct, we keep re-electing these people, but I do not think it is because the people of Anchorage want them.
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It is most likely because the average Anchorage resident just wants to be left alone, and if the current person in the seat is not totally screwing them over, they will likely vote them back in.
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However, 2020 and the panicdemic have demonstrated clearly to a lot of these people that the Assembly is not working in their best interest. The overreach and fiscal irresponsibility demonstrated over the last year and a half has woken up a lot of taxpayers. How the leftists on the Assembly remain blind to this is indicative of how out of touch they really are.
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There are, I think, five seats up for election next April. I have a feeling there will be some turn over. If there is, it proves clearly that Anchorage does not want what Rivera and his band of leftist collaborators are selling.
These perverse practices of socialism is very, very dangerous. All the racism I have seen so far are the people from the ROK (Republic of Karens).
Time to leave Alaska. The leftist takeover has begun and just like WA, we will all be subjects. Anchorage, Juneau, Sitka have all fallen. When the valley goes, the entire state is gone. I give it less than ten years and AK will be blue state.
This is why Biden want to end all industry here. It is industrious people that vote red. Losers on the left wait for government handouts.
Ten years? I say 1-yr.
LOL! What a dweeb!
Just as they did in the 1860’s, the Democrats must have a group of people to hate upon, for they are the party of intolerance, repression and division. #nothingchangesasitallstaysthesame
The Left’s objective is optical diversity in an intellectual desert.
Well said Suzanne! These hypocrites need to be held by the same standards they force on others.
Scratch a leftist, expose a racist.
It’s what they do. Separate us by our differences. Stoke envy, jealousy and finally anger. Against our
neighbors.
It’s a sick political party.
Anchorage’s assssembly and its homeless are currently more representative of San Fransicko…………
I’ll bet Felix voted for Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., the epitome of “Old, White and Establishment”, with out nary a second thought, not to mention his obvious support for the white male members of the Anchorage assembly, and the former disgraced mayor himself. What Felix really means to say is that there are too many white, male, conservatives in office, who promote conservative morals, ethics and values; believe decisions have consequences, and in the power of the individual, personal choice and responsibility.
White male conservatives in office in Anchorage? They’re in awfully short supply these days. While we’re at it, does the number include Don Smith continuing his political career vicariously through his granddaughter?
The Anchorage Assembly: Wasting time and money on make-believe problems while ignoring their real jobs and attempting to usurp power.
Until we white guys start getting accosted on the street by authorities asking for our “papers,” held at gunpoint during traffic arrests, and getting lynched in the dark of night, I think saying Felix’s comments are racist might need to be reconsidered. White guys the victims? C’mon, get real!
On the other hand, I’ve been places where I was in the minority and, in spite of the fact I was never in danger, I felt uncomfortable. Perhaps uncomfortable is a good sign that we all aren’t really equal. Perhaps it’s time to consider that a diversity of opinions about how to do things could work for the betterment of all. But when you have an old, rich white guy telling you what you need to believe to be an “American,” there’s gonna be problems.
Scratch a leftist, find a racist.
…to continue the corollary, scratch a racist, find a boll weevil Democrat. Scratch a boll weevil Democrat, find someone who favors slavery. Find someone who favors slavery, find a racist.
Who knew that boll weevil Dems were leftists? Maybe that was their way of favoring capitalism. Rs freed the slaves, Ds did their best to keep the slaves, or, at the very least, limit their civil rights to the point they were free in name only, and through some strange transmogrification, the Rs now want to limit civil rights and the Ds are trying to prevent that. Is that what makes them leftists?
My wits faint (and commenters, go easy on the target, my wits have been severely overloaded lately).
And he is one white male that does need to be removed.
There there Fe. If I’tweren’t for a few white guys we’d still be meeting in white tents in the train yards in February. Oh, wait…
Do we quit going to assembly meetings because the majority are idiots and will vote for their own agenda regardless of testimony provided? No, because we are Americans and must be heard. And we all know that the election that put them in office was tainted. They don’t represent the majority, let olone their own districts.
Love him! Just donated to his campaign.
There’s nothing to really add all of you have done a great job of describing the stupidly and the relentless, one-sided lies of Felix.
In other news, a legislator attended the Alaska White Caucus and said there were too many blacks in office.
So what is Rivera’s point exactly? Tell us Rivera! What precisely do you mean by that there are “too many whites in office?”
Cause to me it doesn’t matter what your skin color is, you judge people by their merit… period!
Why do people fail to realize that you do not have to be black or white or Native American to hold office and do a good job for all. You just have to be an American.
As soon as you bring race into it without having any specificity, you become the racist!.
Rivera is a racist.
This is the equivalent of a white person talking to a black person and saying “you people”.
Felix Rivera should not be making laws or representing anyone.
He literally represents a growing cancer in America.
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