To address some of the commentary

To see people all around the nation band together to help out a village in Alaska is a wonderful sight. Donations of food are being flown in, cash donations have come from around the world. The media, and blogger, attention has had the effect of poking a stick in the side of the State, and several prominent Alaskan politicians and leaders have spoken out.

(My previous posts about Emmonak, #1, #2... Mudflats on Emmonak... ADN on Emmonak.)

Of course, with the good, must come the less savory. As I watch the story unfold, and try to do what I can, I must also address some that which goes on that doesn't help at all - and in fact can make it more difficult. That is, people spreading around ignorance.

The blatant racism toward Alaska Native people is not new to me, yet I cringe (and I imagine many other Native people as well) when Native issues are brought up in public. Why? Because you get to hear so consistently comments about just how unproductive, deceitful, lazy, greedy, and probably drunk Native people are. Comments like this on ADN, regarding how Native people (in general!) squander all their money:

"In the future the State of Alaska should hold the PFD's for all native households and only issue them out in monthly amounts."

I wish people who made these remarks knew how each one feels like a punch in the stomach.

I don't know why this person feels the government should hold back money from me, and give it to her freely, only handing it to me like an allowance for a child. I admit I've never learnt the lesson my grandma tried to teach, and dismiss such people as ignorant, and move on. I wish I could, but they are EVERYWHERE. On the Internet, much more so.

So here are a few of the more consistent issues I see coming up. Mind you, none of them are new... just revisited for this issue.

The people got themselves into this mess through their own negligence/ ineptitude/ greed/ laziness (etc., etc.) so don't waste your own food/time/money.

I address this first, and I hope it is not taken as me agreeing with it, because there is too much evidence that it certainly is not true. But even if every word of that were true - when your neighbor's house is on fire, you don't go twenty rounds on whether it was their own fault or not. To expland on the metaphor, take the recent fires in Anchorage. I suggest the next fire that happens, the fire department only respond if the owners can prove they didn't cause the fire in any way. A little child might be hurt in the process? No matter. These people need to learn.

As for if it really was Emmonak's fault or not, please, PLEASE look at all the evidence before making this judgement. I can gaurantee there are people in Emmonak who don't handle their finances well, or at all. I gaurantee there are people who have bought things like expensive toys, alcohol, cell phones. But look at the whole region. For that matter, look at Rural Alaska as a whole. It is not thriving, and it has not been for years. There is a reason for this other than every single person in that region sucks at handling their money.

The native corporations should help.

They should, and they are. Most of the social services come from nonprofits, however, and they... you know... DON'T MAKE A PROFIT. And "the corporations should help" is not code for "the government that serves me doesn't have to serve people who belong to Native corporations." Many times this is said by people who have no idea what they really do, other than, "They hand out tens of thousands of dollars to all the Native people." Example: This past year, I finally became a shareholder (not all Native people are - most under 40ish aren't shareholders.) My check this year? Just over $150. No, not a thousand - $150. I do not belittle what I got - but to suggest this is good enough to live on is laughable. It literally did not buy me three tanks of gas for my car. In the village, it would buy much less. Other corporations give out more, but most don't. Look at the landless 13th Regional Corp. - it literally shut its doors and went belly up this year. In other words - you have to know what you're talking about before making this argument.

Didn't these people live off the land for thousands of years? Don't they keep talking about this supposed "subsistence lifestyle"? Why don't they keep doing that, and stop whining about needing money and electricity?

This is really one of the more frustrating for me to hear. First - okay, I'll take you up on your proposal. But you know, to truly live off the land like we did a thousand years ago, we have to have ALL the land. A thousand people absolutely cannot live off of twenty square miles of land. There was a reason people were so spread out, and much of it had to do with needing x amount of land to support x amount of people. Not to mention that to support yourself completely by the land is a full time job, and would require that all those gaming laws and limits be dropped. So yeah - if the state of Alaska, private businesses and citizens, and federal government are willing to give up all land, all laws, I'm willing to start talking about requiring everyone live "like they used to."

But really - WHY DO WE NEED TO DO THAT? I believe the people making this argument are the same people who, depending on the circumstance, also wonder why we can't learn how to just "be American." Get respectable jobs, speak "proper" English, learn to drive a car for Pete's sake. It's either/or. There is a push and pull for Native people of needing to maintain that cultural image, and yet prove you can be a productive citizen in the modern world.

Why don't they band together and help each other out?

Uhh... they are. I honestly don't even understand these comments. Please show me all these people who aren't. Every single family the man interviewed was in pretty rough shape.

They need to move out of the villages.

This is part of that push and pull. The need to stay and maintain the culture of millenia past vs. modernity and "don't stand in the way of progress." As if Native people in the city are faring that much better anyways. There are more opportunties for jobs and schooling, yet so many of the crime rates go higher. Is loss of culture and family, ties that go back, quite literally, to the ice age, an acceptable loss to gain city life?

Rural Alaska needs to stop asking for stuff - they are subsidized like crazy.

Let me say this. Everything worth anything in Alaska comes from Rural Alaska. Please think on that. What are our biggest state moneymakers?

The obvious - oil?

Rural.

Tourism?

Rural (No, folks, the tourists don't save all their lives to see Anchorage. It's just a convenient stopover.)

Fishing?

Rural.

Logging?

Rural.

Mining?

Rural.

My mother pointed out a comment in the ADN addressing this. How true. Rural Alaska gives and gives. The resources are taken over and over - most of them nonrenewable. The people who get the big bucks from these Rural Alaska resources live in Anchorage, live in Texas, live in England. By and large, even most of the jobs created by these industries do not go to Rural Alaskans. They go to people from Outside. I think Rural Alaska has given its share.

I'm not trying to pour cold water over a fire that needs to burn, but it appears to me this is all these kind of comments do in the first place. I certainly don't believe everyone in Emmonak has acted perfectly, but I don't for a second believe everyone else NOT in Emmonak has either.

I just hope that the people that are so hateful about helping don't lose a job, have expensive medical problems, have a house burn down, or have anything remotely tragic happen to them. They might then have to be subjected to scrutiny of everything they've ever bought, why they didn't save more, whether they should have had that many kids in the first place, and a judgement of whether they deserve help at all.

I did a little of what I could for the people in Emmonak. Not because Emmmonak needs help more than the next village. Not because I dug into their finances and deemed them worthy enough. Not because, despite the "obvious" sins of the parents, the children should at least get some food.

They asked for help. They needed help. They are human beings. That is all I need to know.

Some news about that forgotten bit of America

Father Oleksa urges us not to repeat the mistakes of our past

There are few people I have ever known that I think "everyone" should meet. Father Oleksa is one of them. He is a great speaker - storyteller really - able to make you laugh at your prejudices and silliness, and at the same time want to change them. He has a great passion and love for Alaska Native cultures and people.

I was happy to see his commentary in the Anchorage Daily News, and hope that many others heed his warning. It is not a baseless warning - we have gone down the route of Native removal before, and it is simply astounding it is still considered a valid approach. I understand the troubles, the money, the "inconvenience" of Rural schools, but the solution is not to go back to a time when We Know Better Now.

I cannot word it better than he does:

Now we hear that removal is being considered again as a "solution." That, I would submit, is a step backward, toward the Cherokee Trail of Tears. Uproot a Native village and you destroy it. All the social and spiritual bonds that have provided meaning, the very fabric of that community, will be disrupted and destroyed. It is time to learn from our mistakes. It is time to reform our schools. It is time we stopped killing our kids.

We are lucky in Alaska to be able to run into him now and then, but if you are on the other side of Canada, check out this book he wrote, Another Culture/Another World. It is a short but brilliant book that may open a few eyes to some cross-cultural issues we all have (it certainly did mine.)



Village life has been in the news quite a bit lately, a few of the items because of the money going into the VPSO programs, and the focus the new "top cop" Palin appointed has. I'm happy to hear he plans on honing in on the problems Monegan was attempting when Palin fired him... you know. To go in a "new direction."



I wonder if maybe people in the Lower 48 are tired of hearing things like, "It's different in Alaska" or if urban Alaskans are tired of hearing "Things are different out in the Bush." I KNOW, things are tough everywhere, but if you can, check out the "Arctic Trooper" episode from the series "Tougher in Alaska." It's on iTunes. You want to see some truly unique policing conditions? Check out the Alaska State Troopers! When one guy has a patrol area he doesn't drive around - he has to fly around to - it makes these VPSOs - Village Public Safety Officers - very valuable.

Legislature awards monies to VPSO program.

VPSOs, who report to troopers and receive much of the same training, serve as the highest level of front-line law enforcement in the villages. They carry tasers instead of guns, and they can stabilize dangerous situations until troopers arrive by plane from a post in hub communities such as Kotzebue or Bethel.

New Public Safety Commissioner "gets" the village.

I can't overstate how pleased I am about the new Alaska "top cop." He is someone who really sees the importance of and who will go after the issues facing Rural Alaska. This article recounts a pretty harrowing experience for Joe Masters right out of high school.

They left him with no illusions about the rigors of being a village public
safety officer, a job some people might mistake as easy because villages are
usually quiet.

And of course, the oh so controversial Chavez oil. I don't know how big of a nationwide story this is, but Citgo has a program that gets oil to high risk communities - including many in Alaska. My view is certainly that if the state government (thanks Palin) and the federal government (thanks Bush) can't help out, are we really going to judge people for taking oil in a time such as this?

The interesting thing about this article is it points out that last year, villages were not participating out of principle. This year, the (even worse) economy and lack of solutions have changed things.

Chavez offers up oil to Alaska villages.

"Last time I checked, (Citgo is) paying corporate taxes to the U.S.
Treasury," she said. "And we figure until such time that the U.S. government is
so offended by Venezuela and Citgo that they're not accepting any more funding,
then we're not being unpatriotic by accepting the same."

Although I am not as familiar with the situation, down in the Lower 48, Pine Ridge isn't faring so well this winter - and it's a bit early in the winter.

suzyishere blogged on it awhile ago, and there have been ongoing efforts to relieve some of the strain poverty and the weather have pulled on Pine Ridge. A snowstorm in November seems to be the straw that broke the camels back, and they are having a hard time recovering. From the HeraldNet:

Those who live there are hardy people. American Indians on reservations there no doubt have stories about long winters, and traditional ways of coping with the cold. This year, it was different. A severe snowstorm in November dumped 45 inches in areas of the state. The worst of it fell on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Sioux reservations, where tribal members, left without heat and power for days, resorted to burning their furniture to keep warm.