Let us put the "Palin's not using her husband's heritage to her advantage" arguments to rest.
In case you missed that, when asked what Palin is going to do to encourage more minority involvement...
"We've got to be all about the equality. Our constitution preaches...Todd is Alaskan Native and if you go up to Alaska, we have a problem with him being a minority up there. We live it."
We're going to ignore the fact that she didn't even come close to answering the question - or understanding it - and move right on to You've Got to Be Freakin' Kidding Me?!
So Sarah "lives" it? Please, please, please enlighten me. No minority person can look at this video and take her seriously. Those of us who live in Alaska, and have actually faced some hardships due to race can take her less seriously still. It is absolutely unimaginable to me that this woman can look a man straight in the face and claim to be part of a vast injured party - a party she has done nothing for, and has unrolled too many initiatives against.
I have posted these before, but just a few of Palin's highlight - apparently the result of "living it."
Sarah Palin's Record on Alaska Native and Tribal Issues
Palin and Sexual Abuse Poilicies
An Alaska Native man about his governor
But what could Palin have done about it?
There are plenty more, but really, Palin is no friend to the Native people of Alaska. Many have spoken out, and many more would like to speak out but cannot out of fear of retribution (and in all honesty, I can't blame them.)
The "experience" of being a minority is not a singular experience. I have had my own experiences, my own upbringings, have known the joy and pride, the pain and frustration of being an Alaska Native woman in Alaska.
Sarah Palin does not know what this is like. She has not, for one second of her life, "lived it." I cannot tell you just how much this belittles what it is to be Native in Alaska.
You do not get a buy in from your associations, no matter how many times she has tried to use it - or deny it - in the past. With this line of thinking, she is also a card-carrying member of the Alaskan Independance Party. But it didn't work when she tried to be a union member by association, and it won't work now.
I think what has been most frustrating is how many times I've been told by Palin fans that she's not using Todd's heritage to her advantage - that's just the McCain campaign, and she can't do anything about that. Besides the fact that she absolutely can do something about it, can we at last put to rest the argument? I haven't seen anything yet that Sarah won't grab onto to further her ambitions, and her husband and children's heritage is no exception.
I have yet to crack the Sarah gibberish code to know even remotely what she means by "..we have a problem with him being a minority up there" either, but it doesn't bode well for future Native policies in this state.
If Sarah really knew what a "problem" being Native was in Alaska, she would be fighting for better sexual assault policies, not charging women for rape kits.
If Sarah really knew what a "problem" being Native was in Alaska, she would be paying attention to the mass exodus from the villages because they can't pay their $2,000/month energy bills, instead of paying off the citizens with an ineffective bribe.
If Sarah really knew what a "problem" being a Native in Alaska was, she would be fighting for a public safety division that would get the backup and funding it needed, instead of cutting millions from it and firing commissioners over personal issues.
If Sarah really knew what a "problem" being a Native in Alaska was, she would be meeting with Native leaders, instead of repeatedly blowing them off and ignoring the issues.
If Sarah really knew what a "problem" being a minority in Alaska was, she woud be addressing the issues, being a leader on the problems, instead of not being present at all.
To pull a line from her now infamous acceptance speech, "Being a minority is kinda like being married to a guy with Yup'ik bloodlines, only you have actual experience."
1 comment:
While I agree with all of your statements, I feel compelled to remind you that this is racist Alaska. Meaning once you admit your a Alaska Native (no matter the blood quantum), the white hoods come out of the tundra. I'm sure Palin has gotten some of that "white hood" treatment since her VP announcement and Todd's bloodline acknowledgement.
Think Loren Leman, the undertaker. Once and just once, and post all his campaigning for some political office, Loren admited to being "a native man". Who woulda thunk it? After all those commericials touting his Russian and fishing background, or being a forth generation Alaskan, he admits to some Alaska Native blood. So when I did meet him a few years later, I had to ask about that bloodline admission. He said he was shocked at the racist people that came out of the woodwork post his little admission.
I'm sure the Palins have faced some racism since the admission of Todd's bloodline. This is Alaska, racism against Alaska Natives is a no brainer and a given in urban Alaska highschools.
Remember the paintball situation in Anchorage via some punks from that highschool out in Chugach? They had video taped their accepted hate crime against Alaska Natives. Well we Alaska Natives must remember that it was a Blockbuster Video clerk that turned those punks in.
Racists should remember that if they are going to tape their hate crime, that they don't mix up the tape and drop it off in that little box outside a Blockbuster store. Or you get caught ...
I was almost gleeful to see Palin had announced Todd's bloodline. Cause she'll get a little racism from Alaska's finest pioneers and a few newbies.
Last of all.... love the blog. ... love the thoughts expressed... Like I always got a thought after reading your stuff and I never comment... I'll try to comment more often...
quyana for the opportunity!
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