Speaking of great ideas from rural Alaska...

Last night I "vocalized some frustration" about not recognizing the good things in and coming from the Alaskan villages - including encouraging the youth toward leadership and building the communities up.

With serendipitous timing, I was forwarded this (also from the Tundra Drums) about a great opportunity some smart, hard-working kids have to go to New York City, and win huge resources for their school... and they're from Kokhanok village. :) Using math, science and creativity, they came up with an idea, a solution to a big problem Alaska is having. The Tundra Drums:

"They answered three questions about how math and science can help the local environment and landed among the top 50 entries from all over the United States...
The next challenge to win that trip to New York and possibly a great deal more in prizes requires getting enough votes."

Most other schools have a leg up on votes simply because they have much larger population to draw from. Which means - go check out the video and VOTE! It's a great, simple idea that could have a huge impact.

Go Kokhanok eighth graders! You make Alaska proud!

_

Native groups vote to oppose Palin's AG pick

From the ADN rural blog, The Village:
AFN votes to oppose Ross appointment

AFN is the Alaska Federation of Natives - Native representatives from all around the state.The Association of Village Council Presidents also voted to oppose the appointment - Western Alaska representatives (the area you may have heard about lately with fuel shortages.)

In case you need a catch up - Palin appointed Wayne Anthony Ross to the attorney general position. Anti-sovereignty, anti-subsistence (not to mention very anti-gay,) Ross seems to be the last straw in Palin's long series of decisions against strong Native issues.

Yet she's never one to disappoint me with her irony. In her statement about Ross:

Now more than ever, it is essential that Alaska’s sovereignty be protected...

Alaska sovereignty good. Native sovereignty - eh, not so much. It's almost like she can't help but mention those key words that make it so ironic. Native attorney Heather Kendall-Miller on Palin:

Heather Kendall-Miller, a Native American Rights Fund attorney in Anchorage, said Palin picked an attorney general that represents her values rather than the most qualified person. She said it reflects more on Palin than on Ross.

"She's shown no interest in trying to work with the Native community on important issues of subsistence or tribal sovereignty."

The Village post cites another 1997 ADN article about Alaskan Indian country. Ross' quote about Native sovereignty:

''It's a giant leap backwards into the 19th century,'' said Anchorage attorney Wayne Anthony Ross, who represented sport hunters in the 1989 lawsuit that overturned as unconstitutional the state's subsistence preference for rural residents. ''They want to see Alaska balkanized into little fiefdoms where these self-proclaimed Native leaders will reign supreme with help from the Great White Father.''

The Great White Father? Can we at least try and pretend we didn't learn everything we know about Native sovereignty from old John Wayne movies?

The argument from Ross now that all this is out is that those comments he made on anti-soereignty, anti-subsistence were from another time. Not to mention that the anti-subsistence stance is that is wasn't anti-subsistence, but "pro-constitutional." Furthermore, these issues aren't as big a deal as they were.

Uh...

Only if you've had your head in the sand for the last couple years.

Palin's asserts that the protests are from a "few" vocal critics who may have a "different opinion."

First - it's not just a "few." Two major Alaska Native groups have now voted to oppose her appointment (and more individuals have spoken out), and though I don't know the vote count, I'm willing to bet it wasn't close.

Second - subsistence and sovereignty issues are not idle opinions about things that barely touch these people's lives. It's not an opinion about whether or not your favorite American Idol guy is better. It's an entire way of life.

Her response reminded me of (non-Native) friends that, once we were talking politics, said, "You always bring up the Native issues. We aren't talking about Native issues."

It's only outside the comfort of my own home and family that it becomes "Native issues." Within, it's just life. It's the stuff that makes up every day, not some subsect of my life.

I'm glad that these Native groups and leaders are finally taking a stand on the increasingly anti-rural break the government is taking... not that it was ever really "pro-rural." As even the Native groups say, they don't think there's a real chance he won't get affirmed, but there's a point that comes when you have to say enough is enough.

Finally! Funding for Emmonak through the BIA

From the Alaska Report:

BIA Announces Emergency Funding for Emmonak, Alaska

Traveling to Bethel with U.S. Sen. Mark Begich today, Bureau of Indian Affair’s (BIA) regional director for Alaska, Niles Cesar, announced the BIA will provide emergency financial assistance to help residents in Emmonak struggling with the price of fuel...

"I am extremely pleased that the BIA has answered Senator Lisa Murkowski and my request for assistance to help these residents get through the winter," Sen. Begich said. 'This is not a long-term solution, but it’s a step in the right direction. I am hopeful the State of Alaska will step in and help solve this for the future."

Sen. Begich arranged the meeting in Bethel today and asked BIA officials to go with him. Cesar said the assistance may range from $400 to $1,000 depending on a person’s income.

Wierdly enough,the Anchorage Daily News reported Palin just announced she's heading out to a few villages (finally) with evangelist Franklin Graham:

Rep. Ramras (who has been involved in a little bit of a verbal battle regarding rural assistance lately) commented:

"I applaud her for following in the footsteps of what Alaskans and nonprofits and churches have already been doing over the last four to six weeks," he said Thursday. "I think she's setting a great example for the next wave of giving."

Interesting - the residents of one of the villages she's visiting (Emmonak is not one of them) say they only learned about it today (she's there tomorrow) and aren't sure what she's going to do, except probably hand out food.

The ADN also printed Sen. Murkowski's speech to the state legislature. Some excellent comments regarding Native issues, and even a little shout-out to bloggers!

Every day we hear more tragic stories from communities in the YK Delta that are suffering from a triple whammy. Bad salmon runs, high energy prices, and an early freeze that prevented the second fuel barge from landing. These communities are flying fuel in at prices that force some in their villages to choose between heating oil and feeding their families.

Suffering in silence until someone writes a newspaper article or posts a blog about what life is like this winter. Suffering in silence in the hope that Hugo Chavez and CITGO will donate stove oil to those in need.

It is unconscionable that our Native people would have to depend on the charity of a South American dictator for their heating needs. But it is also unconscionable that they must continue to depend on expensive diesel to power their communities. We need to find a permanent answer to rural Alaska’s energy crisis...

Alaska is also home to more Native people per capita than any other State in the union. The federal government has a special relationship with the first peoples of the United States. It is a trust relationship with Alaska Natives as the beneficiary.
That relationship drives millions of dollars in federal Indian program funds to Alaska Native institutions which have become household names in ourcommunities...

These institutions hire Alaskans and purchase goods and services in the Alaska economy. Along with the Alaska Native Corporations they have emerged as important economic engines in urban Alaska as well as our villages.

Our Alaska Native health system is exemplary in many respects... Yet we still have so many challenges. The rates of suicide in our villages and throughout Alaska are alarming...

The health disparities between our Alaska Native communities and the rest of America are striking in nearly every respect. Consistent with the special relationship between the federal government and our first people, the United States has an obligation to adequately fund federal Indian programs. In this respect they have fallen flat. I have called upon new administration to do better. Much better.

Here, here! Although not explicitly said, I'm hoping much of this reference is about the reauthorizing the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. It has been stalled in D.C. for TWELVE YEARS now. It passed through the Senate last spring, waiting for the house, and Bushie kept threatening to veto. No biggie. It's just Native cancer and AIDS issues at stake.

There was actually TONS of Native/rural references in Murkowski's speech. I always fight against agreeing with Lisa Murkowski, because she can drive me a little nutty, but she has been paying attention to rural Alaska and Native issues since she got in office, including holding meetings in rural communities back when few others oustide the Native community were paying attention to the problem.

She doesn't seem to be following her father's footsteps with some Native issues (and that's a GOOD thing.) If Palin where to challenge her seat, I think I would find myself voting on the republican primary ticket to make sure the one with intelligent ideas and comments about Alaska Natives issues (something besides fluff about treasuring the culture) runs against whomever is on the dem ticket.

What a weird time for rural Alaska news...

More Emmonak coverage on CNN

Two more CNN clips using Denniz Zaki's footage. The word is really getting out to the world now!





Also on the Emmonak news front:
Anchorage Daily News on Ramras/Palin fight over village aid. And no, Palin STILL has not addressed this issue in any relevant way.

Dennis Zaki's Emmonak footage on CNN

Dennis Zaki of AlaskaReport.com went to Emmonak a few weeks back to film - sent there by generous donations from YOU! His footage has already hit KTUU (local Anchorage) but the first of it is now being used by CNN. Dennis says CNN plans to do multiple stories.

Spotlight on Emmonak

It struck me, listening to the KTUU coverage of Emmonak (video provided by Dennis Zaki, whom YOU helped send to Emmonak!) how showing Nick Tucker's words were:

"It was hidden. Each single household thought they were the only one, so they were ashamed to ask for help publicly."

This, to me, goes to the core of how I think most Native communities deal with it - internalize, be quiet about it, don't bring more shame on yourself than you already have.

It is the shame that has quickly risen to the top of this situation.

Most directly, it was mentioned in a Tundra Drums article about the food donations. Elders criticizing asking for help, and receiving donations. I wondered how long that would take. I have no doubt many in the community feel that shame sharply - it is as embedded in culture and life now as the roots of a tree.

I can only envision things will not go all that peachy for Nick Tucker in the days, and years, to come. Not in his community, I think. What he did in asking was a great leap of bravery. Not only will he be called a "scammer" and "beggar" by the most judgemental on the outside, he will almost certainly face strong criticism from many in his own community. You jut don't ask for help like he did. That's bravery.

Yet, would you like to see what is more disturbing (and, at the same time, hopeful)?

The Tundra Drums posted these letters:

Crisis in Kongiganak.

Crisis in Marshall.

Yeah. That would be MORE villages in Alaska writing letters about similiar plights in their own communities.

The Kongiganak letter talks about the job situation,

I've seen families in our village suffer with food and fuel, similar to what the people of Emmonak are facing. I'm trying to seek help for these people with jobs that are available here but only a handful will get a job.

The Marshall one is both a letter of empathy and encouragement:

Marshall people too have remained silent and endured the hardships and it is certain many other area villages are hurting as you mentioned but have yet to seek help.

Already critics are attacking and dubbing us as beggars, however, many just don't understand life in small rural villages and are quick to judge and condemn.

What is most disturbing of all is that this is not a surprise to anyone! Not anyone in Alaska, anyways. We've been hearing about just how bad it was going to get since last year. Truth be told, we've been hearing about it for a lot longer than that, but it was only on the "It WILL happen this year" level since last year. It was a gaurantee.

Many, many more villages are living in silence. Some are better off, some are worse, but I can only hope that the actions of right now will have far-reaching effects to the many other communities facing such hardships.

I feel a bit of the "hurry up and wait" for Emmonak, and other villages. I have donated, and I will be gathering some food this weekend (though I will also be looking into which of the organzations will be addressing some of the other villages, too) but, for the most part, the ball is a bit in the other court for the moment. Who will act? What will the state do? What will other citizens do? Much of the "next step" depends upon the leadership we will receive, and I am talking about from the state level, Native corporations, village leaders.

A few other bits about Emmonak:

The Tundra Drums did an excellent article on Emmonak, and had a bit more than other media outlets on the impact Alaska bloggers had on the situation. It was Alaska Newspapers (who own Tundra Drums) that first reported Nick Tucker's letter, and Alaska Newspapers that began Village Aid - a food drive. Not to mention they've been covering "what is going to happen" to Rural Alaska since forever. I give them a whole lot of credit for being on top of this from day one.

Celtic Diva informed us that the man on the radio from Emmonak calling it a "scam" was a Palin board appointee. WTF?!?

Progressive Alaska cross-posted a firedoglake diary he did.

Immoral Minority has a fairly disturbing post about just how long it could take to get help to Emmonak.

And... he's off!

Well, technically, he's IN. Alaska Report is off filming several villages in Western Alaska, sent there by YOU. He had to wait out the crazy weather for three days, but will be in Emmonak early this week.

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.

Another village in trouble

When I spotted this in the ADN Newsreader, I had a sinking feeling becoming very familiar. I've talked about a few dying villages, and villagers just trying to make it this winter. This story is one of the more heartbreaking.

Originally in the Bristol Bay Times, the article is actually about a letter written by an Emmonak resident, asking for help for his village. Short of fuel, short of money, short of food, he talked to 25 of the 200 households in the area, and every one of them had a grim story to tell. Just one:

P. R: Single, separated, with five children. (He chokes occasionally, holding back crying.) He and his children are staying in the same household with his brother’s family. Cost of fuel is so high and everything else and we’re able to get just a few things at a time. We have no other subsistence food left. Only thing we’re surviving on moose meat alone and it is almost gone. Everything is so high – only able to get little bit. We can’t catch up on our bills. We’re really hurting even we are given some from other people. Right now, we can’t eat during the day, only at supper time. And, it is still not enough. If there had been no school lunch, our kids would be starving. It is going to get worse in two weeks when our new heating fuel supply is airlifted in. Price of fuel will go way up again. I am lucky that the Women’s Shelter is able to give me some coffee.

Yes. This is America today.

I was privileged to meet with a family from Emmonak last month, getting to know them. Although going through a tough time, a death, I had no idea of the rest of this. This also makes me wonder how much the economic situation is affecting the alarming news of the suicides in the area. Although the area, and the area just above, are the two highest in Alaska for suicide rates - and Alaska the highest in the nation - lately there has been even more than usual.

This is just one village. I wrote before about a village on the Aleutian chain being told they should leave because the village couldn't power itself. Despite an article proclaiming that it's not as bad as people have said... it seems pretty bad.

The letter left some information on where to go to help. As he says in his letter though - these are just the ones he was able to talk to - how many more are remaining silent?

UPDATE: I've had some requests about where to send money, donations, etc. Although it is in the above letter (the link,) it is a really long letter and easily missed:

To help, please call:
City of Emmonak, (907) 949-1227/1249
Emmonak Tribal Council, (907) 949-1720
Emmonak Corporation, (907) 949-1129/1315/1411
Emmonak Sacred Heart Catholic Church Pastoral Parish Council Chairman, (907) 949-1011.
To assist with offsetting heating fuel costs, call Emmonak Corporation.
For distribution of food, I would suggest Emmonak Tribal Council handle this.

To send directly:

Emmanok Tribal Council
P.O. Box 126
Emmanok, AK 99581

Here's another way to give, and it could payout bigger even than the rest. Dennis Zaki of AlaskaReport.com will be heading out to Emmonak on Friday to shoot video of the situation. His coverage has some big possibilities for further national coverage, and could play out big (with big donations, big attention) with millions, not just those watching the blogs. He needs $2000 to get out there though, so if you can give a few bucks, I think you'll find your dollars will multiply in worth!

He's also donating anything above the travel costs to the people of Emmonak.

_

It takes a village... No really. It actually takes a village.

The Anchorage Daily News highlighted this Delta Discovery article, "Moms on Patrol".

Seems that the mothers of Akiachack (recently highlighted in the New York Times and the Yup'ik language vote court battle) are taking to the streets to get the kids home by curfew. It's making a difference in the children's school attendance and alertness already.

From the article:

“Oh, absolutely yes, the attendance got better,” said Kristen Peterson, who is the Literacy Coordinator and 10th grade teacher at the Akiacuarmiut School. “It is hard to enforce curfew in the village - the kids can run, the police do their very best but they are also doing other things. The kids were staying up later and having a hard time getting up in the morning and they were oversleeping or they wouldn’t come in at all. After we started walking and patrolling and telling them to get home, we noticed that attendance in the morning classes were better, definitely improved.”

Although I moved away from Rural Alaska by the time such an age beset me, I remember my sister and cousins adhering to the very strict curfew policy. The time I spent there one summer in high school, EVERYONE reminds you of when curfew is. And it works. I forget what time it was - I'll say 11pm, but by the end of the summer, the minute that clock hits 11 and you're not where you're supposed to be, it's programmed - you must get there, and you must not get caught.

Kudos to these communities taking "small" but hugely important steps to making sure their children are being raised right

Make sure you take a second look

A friend from Akiachak sent me a story recently published in New York Times about the place, "Remote and Struggling, but Still a Bit of America." I could identify with my friends' feelings about the article - proud that her hometown was highlighted, yet disturbed about the way the village was portrayed.

It is a line I myself struggle with. There are real problems to address, in the villages as well as, well, pretty much every where else. But these villages are not cesspools - they are not without great warmth and beauty.

My dad recently asked me, "What do you say when people ask you where you're from?"

Because of my dad's job, I grew up all over Alaska. Although born in in "Rural" Alaska, by the time I was twelve I had moved twelve times, between both Rural and urban. I spent only nine months of my life away from Alaska - my first year of college - and that was about all I needed to know I would never leave the state. But I still don't quite know how to answer the question - except to say where I was born and, "I'm from Alaska."

As both insider and outsider to Rural Alaskan life, I can't say I have quite the same connection to village life as some of my "village to city" friends do. Yet I was a preteen when we finally made the move to the "big city" - Anchorage. (Don't laugh - it's big when you spent all your life previous "off the road system!")

I can say, without hesitancy or shame, that my absolute best memories from my youth are from playing in the shores and rivers of Southeast Alaska and Kodiak Island, eating herring eggs until I was stuffed at my grandparent's house, and getting any number of scrapes, bruises and muddy skirts from the "no playground" backyards of relatives.

We have major, major problems, yes. I think few Americans are unaware now that we have the highest rates of... everything. Suicide, sexual abuse, child abuse, domestic violence... and on... and on... Things are serious - but I am sad to think that this is the only view we might leave.

This came up again when I read a post by Mudflats about "Another Alaska."

Yes, the facts are there, and there is concern, but things are not ONLY bad. The New York Times article brushed by children speaking in Yup'ik in kindergarten. In kindergarten! A serious judge of how strong a language is are the number of children in the culture speaking the language. In this extremely important piece of rebuilding cultures and lives, Akiachak is a leader.I wish the communities I come from could boast the same.

The post in Mudflats has some of the bad, but it is not always. Not having a playground is not the worst thing that could happen. My fondest memories of childhood were not on the playground - they were in the wilds (and sometimes backyard wilds) of the most beautiful land in the country.

The problem with stating this is that then people sometimes go, "See! They are happier living exactly as they are!"

No community in the world is perfect, and a community that can't save itself from a fire, or prevent a girl drowning in raw sewage had serious problems indeed. But the answer is so many times, "If you want to change one thing, you have to change everything."

You see, Native people who do not live in the villages of Alaska do not enjoy remarkably better rates of the social problems that plague the villages. In fact, many of the rates go up. It is not an entirely "infrastructure" problem. It is not even an entirely energy problem. The problems go back far into the past, and crop up now not because people have dirt roads and no plumbing - the problem is deep and rooted too far for that.

Many well-meaning people call only for the infrastructure - and are then frustrated when it does not work. "We got these people good plumbing, and they're still in trouble." The problems are not as simple as that. Yes, we need to get to a healthy standard of living - one that all agree should happen.

But a Native child in Alaska has a better chance of being sexually assaulted before he or she is grown than attending college after he or she is grown. A MUCH better chance - about four times more likely (visit the State of Alaska's Web site for much more grim facts.) The chances of this happening to a non-Native child in Alaska are not much better.

But it is happening in the cities as well as the villages. The indoor plumbing and access to fire stations is not the underlying problem.

The problems and solutions are much too big to describe in all detail - I will once again cite an excellent resource, the Alaska Natives Commission Report.

But the beauty of the cultures, the people, the land - those are all too big to describe in all detail as well.

Exodus from an Alaskan village

Everyone in Adak is leaving. The village cannot afford to pay its gas bill, and they have been cut off. Their numbers have already been cut in half in recent years, but gas prices will force them all to leave.

The mayor/chief of police resigned.

I cannot imagine where 130+ people go to start over, and from something that is not a natural disaster. A hurricane did not hit these people - high gas prices did.

I am still stunned at the lack of attention this is getting, from the local media, the state, our Governor, Sarah Palin. I posted this on Saturday night, and figured it would be headline news by the next afternoon (and no, not because of me - because a town in American cannot afford gas and is shutting down!) I posted again on Sunday night, happy to see it, at least, on the ADN.

The Anchorage Daily News reported on it Sunday night/Monday morning (and props to them for getting it on the front page of the Web site - if not the paper copy). A radio station in the region Adak is in mentioned it. No local TV news - or non-local, for that matter. I noticed a paper in South Carolina grabbed it from the ADN. But nothing else? Really?

Palin had a message today for Alaska that the local TV media did pick up - her message was to attack the man she fired and reverse her previous opinions and reasons. Her only message for Alaska today, the day Adak residents met, found out they no longer have a mayor and started planning how to restart their entire lives - her message was of defense of herself and an attack on a former employee.

In some wierd bit of irony, one of the news stations visited a different village to report on how many people were having to leave Rural Alaska because of the costs. No mention of entire town being told to leave that day.

This is not the first Alaskan village to have to leave the land, and it won't be the last. How many residents will be forced into the city this winter? How many villages will be facing extinction?

I have heard suggestions that the villagers go to stay in the governor's mansion. Why not? Even if she were not running for VP, she doesn't use it much. They will need a home, and jobs, and schooling. And they will need to get off the island - it will cost the individuals of Adak their entire energy rebate - $1200 - just to get them off the island. Will Governor Palin lend them her private jet?

I have also heard some terribly cold comments - so what, it's only 130 people? So what, it's a "newly incorporated" village - they should have known better? Palin shouldn't be responsible for their "irresponsibility."

I ask these people to look at the history of Adak - the real history. Aleut/Unungax people have lived there for thousands of years. They have prevailed through enslavement, relocation and disease during the Russian "discovery." They have prevailed during the further massive deaths after Alaska was bought by America. The Aleut people of the Aleutian chain were forcibly removed from their homes during World War II by the American government when the Japanese invaded and occupied two of the islands. They came back. They stayed after the military base shut down in the 90's, incorporated as a village to be able to stay, and they stayed through a winter of frequent blackouts.

They are finally undone by energy costs.

Big processing ships have outmanned them on the water, so they had little money to work with in the first place.

I cannot tell you what this does to me, to hear that another village is being emptied, that these people will not be able to stay, and it is entirely preventable. This is not a hurricane to prepare for and rebuild after - but nothing to do but wait in between. The gas is literally in the town - but they can't afford to buy it.

And our governor dares to run on the platform of being an "energy expert?"

Please, look at the exodus from the villages, look at this town that is vacating the island - then look me in the eye and telling me she's doing everything she can?

She is doing nothing at all.

UPDATE!: Thank goodness!

This is happening in Sarah Palin's backyard

The town will have no power. Residents are being asked to leave. One man has already suffered medical problems because he could not get power to his respiratory equipment. Teachers are trying to have classes in their homes with small generators.

This is not some third world country. This is not even Texas or Louisiana, where thousands are facing the aftereffects of a hurricane.

This is a small village in Alaska.

Adak cannot pay its gas bill. They've been struggling with this problem for some time, but they were finally cut off. A combination of problems - as the Anchorage Daily News reports, were the cause, but the obvious - rising fuel prices - is one of the main culprits.

The other is the fishing industry. This tiny village of less than 150 people has been hit hard by the prices. It's a village that has been hit before with so much, historically - first the Russian invasion and "relocation", World War II invasion and forced relocation, and more recently the shut down of the military base.

A quote in the Anchorage Daily News, from an Adak medic:

"It is beyond my comprehension that such a situation like this can occur in an American city," Adams said.

Ironically, the ADN reported on a Senate hearing in August about Rural energy in the paper on the same say. Sen. Murkowski was urging Rural residents to stay in the villages, and a panel of Native leaders and energy experts talked over solutions to the energy crisis in the villages.

I applaud all those at this hearing for working towards solutions. I was not much of a fan of Murkowski, but in things like this, and others, she's on the right track. But mere weeks after she urges villagers to stay in the village for the sake of culture and the connection to the land, residents are asked to leave Adak.

But where is our governor?

I asked this last night, and today I see she's campaigning in Colorado.

Even the Republican delegates took a half day to look after the Hurricane crisis. Why can't she come take a look at this? I don't know that she would do anything - check my earlier post for her veto on another small Rural community that went over on their energy costs last year. They were looking for state funding to help in their costs. Palin line-item vetoed it. Is this what she meants by "reform?"

She only just left - this would have been a good issue to address while she was here in Alaska to take care of ... well, giving interviews about how little she knows about foreign policy I suppose. And rallies. Several rallies.

Palin recently pushed through giving every eligible Alaska resident a $1200 check as an energy rebate - which began distribution this weekend. You can imagine the popularity of that for the public (for any doubters, you need only have gone by Best Buy this weekend and counted the game systems going out the door.)

The ADN reported on lawmakers that were opposed to this plan (you can imagine the cahones it took to oppose giving out free money!) before it was passed, and just WHY they were opposed:
"They said the House plan to simply pay Alaskans a $1,200 rebate and to suspend the state's 8-cent tax on each gallon of gasoline isn't broad enough to cover needs statewide, especially in the costly Bush (Rural Alaska) where $1,200 just won't go as far."

Looks like it only took until the very weekend the checks were being distributed to be proven right.

I have been increasingly frustrated with the coverage - or lack of coverage - on this situation. I posted on this last night (Saturday.) A few hours ago the Anchorage Daily News finally reported on it. There was nothing in the local television news, much less national reports.

WHY IS THIS NOT NEWS?

An entire community of people is without power and being asked to leave their homes because they cannot afford the fuel! The State of Alaska has a MULTI BILLION DOLLAR SURPLUS!

THIS IS PREVENTABLE!