Awww...

Okay, it's a crappy camera phone pic, and it's nothig of substance, but I went for a really long walk and snapped this mama and baby moose.

Native man wants to forgive attackers in hate crime against him

Reporters interviewed Eddie Barr, the victim of the hate crime captured on video and posted on YouTube. What is amazing about this guy is his total willingness to forgive, despite the fear he has now, and the fact that even during the attack, he was only trying to be a nice guy, and then trying to ask them to stop.

From the KTUU interview:

"I smile a lot you know," Barr said. "People I see, even people I don't know. I smile you know, but when they started throwing things at me for no reason that gets scary. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what's going to happen to me."

..."You know I pray for them, though," Barr said. "I'm hoping they'll change their attitudes. I'm hoping when they get older you know they'll forgive me. Maybe I'll forgive them. I already forgive them already."

The Anchorage Daily News has more of a specific play-by-play of what happened. I don't mind telling you that just reading it, I was struggling between disgust, sorrow, and fear.

According to charging documents, Gum and Powers, both white, spewed venom at their victim as they pelted him with bottles and eggs, mocking a Native accent and saying "I want my Monarch (vodka)," while the target of their fury meekly tried to walk away, according to charges filed in court Friday...

The victim stood there, extended a handshake and said, "Please don't bother me."

Gum replied, "If you touch my sister, I will cut you," the charges say. Powers pushed the man again, and, at Gum's direction, kicked the man in the behind. After Gum threatened to kick him in the head, the man protested that he wasn't dumb.

"You are dumb," Powers said, according to the charges. "You're a f-----g Native."

I was eating dinner with a couple of friends last night, and neither had heard about this incident yet. One was Native, one non-Native, and the reactions were interesting when I was telling them about it. The non-Native friend was shocked, and disgusted. The Native friend made a face, gave a sigh, and ate her food in silence.

Not that this is indicative of everyone, but I don't think there's any Native person I've talked to yet that's been shocked. Most seem to think it's disgusting, but inevitable. Although the stories report the "past incidents" of this as being in 2001 and before, I know these are only the "incidents" that have been caught. What the reports don't mention is that most of those attacks, this one included, were only caught because the idiots committing the crime videotaped the attacks. I gaurantee that for every incident on tape, there are hundreds of incidents committed with the victims remaining silent.

I've had racially charged hate spewed at me in this city, without provocation, more than once (I think this is the only incident I've talked about on the blog), and downtown is probably the most unsafe place to be Native in Anchorage, at least in regards to outspoken, public racism. And no - not in a single case was I drunk, homeless or even speaking my mind, three states in which, many times, people seem to think that a Native person must have been "asking for it," and the crime, while regrettable, is understandable.

Anecdotally, I know this kind of thing happens much, much more than is reported. I am not speaking of racially charged crimes in which there is provocation - groups revenging on groups, or people abusing each other. I'm speaking of people who are literally walking down the street, shopping at a mall, sitting down to eat that are attacked, both verbally and physically because of their race. Although I'm sure this happens to many races, the dozens of examples I have are from Native friends and acquaintances in this city, and my own experiences. The things these people were yelling at Barr are disgusting - but I can't tell you a single one I haven't heard myself.

I went on a walk today, and I've got to tell you this was on my mind. This is the first long walk I've gone on alone in quite a while, and I hated the fact that when a car slowed down near me, I turned my face, so maybe they wouldn't see I was Native. I am normally pretty proud of my heritage, and family might be able to tell you I can adventure in strange cities alone with great (probably reckless) abandon, and not think about my own safety (yes, I am VERY unwise this way). So why is it when I walk down a street alone in Anchorage, I don't want people to see my heritage because I don't want a paintball shot at me?

I feel discouraged today, because this seems to be the same old thing, and so many don't even see it as a widespread problem.

Video of interview with the victim, Eddie Barr:

APD arrests two in hate crime against Native man

From the Anchorage Daily News:

With their video camera rolling, a young white couple threw eggs at an Alaska Native man and kicked him, slinging slurs in what appears to have been a racially motivated assault, police said Thursday. During the attack, the victim held his hand out trying to shake the hands of his aggressors, police said...

The pair threatened the man, threw things at him and used racial slurs, police said. They pushed and kicked the man, police said. He didn't fight back, just asked to be left alone.

I honestly don't understand that level of hate.

And, "He... just asked to be left alone."

I'm having a problem grappling with the mindset of people who approach a man who has his handout in friendship, and then treat him so sub-humanly.

One of the first posts I did on Alaska Real was my own experience with hatred while walking downtown, and why I hate going downtown, being fairly obviously Native. My experiences were certainly nothing compared to this man, but I avoid downtown because I have a very reasonable fear something exactly like this could happen, for no other reason than I look the way I look.

I often wonder just how much of this is going on - the physical attacks anyways - and not getting reported. This man certainly didn't, and it sounds like police have reason to believe there is more from this couple. This isn't the first attack on Native people downtown caught on video, nor is it the most heinous.

The irony is when I keep hearing the refrain that "racism isn't a problem in this town."

A good day or Alaska... hopefully

In under an hour, Palin will no longer be our governor. Hallelujah.

I have no idea what her plans are after this, and the only way this could be a bad thing is if she decided she still wanted to run for office. If she wants to do some entertainment/newsy thing, go for it - I don't care. It would be easy to turn her off and ignore her - something I can't do while she's making (or, more likely, not making) huge decisions that will affect me and everyone I care about.

This Juneau Empire article did a great job, I think, of explaining some of the "ethical dilemna" Palin faced (or, again, didn't face) and is leaving us with. Basically, a great big mess. It really goes into the ethics complaints issues, and exposes all the PR lies about them from the Palin camp. Ironic that the BULK of the money the state is being made to pay on these "frivolous complaints" is from the complaint Palin filed against herself.

Palin's claims, from the article:

Those claims are contradicted by records released under the Alaska Public Records Law and interviews with administration and other sources. They show a pattern of the Palin administration using public resources and the state's ethics laws in an effort to block and discredit both frivolous and credible charges made against the governor.

Is this the "ethics reform" she was talking about accomplishing?

But as much as, yes, she's abanding the post with tons of unfinished business, and I STILL can't figure out what she was talking about on all her administration's "accomplished," I'm still glad she's leaving. It was pretty likely she was going to leave those things unaccomplished anyways.

From the other big newspapers around the state:

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner on the state vs. national access Palin's given, and her "open access" fail.

The Anchorage Daily News pondering some of the questions around why she's leaving. Might be because NOBODY believes the "Why can't you people believe it's totally atruistic?" defense Palin has given.

Moose flu?

I was driving around town today, enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather we are getting, and paused to watch this little moosie over by Potter Marsh. He was being harrassed by a couple of magpies - I think he was too close to their nest. He ignored them, slowly ambling away, though they crowed about it (all right, bad pun) like they scared him off - standing gaurd and yelling at him every now and then.

What I thought was funny about this moose is he kept sneezing... or ... I don't know if moose sneeze, but it sounded like a "snorf." Not a sneeze, not a snort. Every thirty seconds to a minute he would... whatever... and it was kinda funny.

Then I got to thinking how crazy everyone was for being so swine-flu nuts...

then I slowly rolled my window back up...

Mayor's forum on Alaska Native issues today

If you can't make this event (or are reading this after) the Alaska Native Professional Association has a live Webcast of it, and will have a transcription and audio of it after the event. I'll post it when it comes on.

There she blows!! ... again...

The sixth big eruption just a little bit ago, not including "six or seven" smaller eruptions, for Mt. Redoubt.

I've been taking in a lot of the comparisons, from Mudflats for instance, of the Alaska political volcanoes and the Alaska natural volcanoes.

So far, I prefer the natural... though I don't know that the folks up in Talkeetna, Skwenta, etc., who are getting the brunt of the ashfall may think the same thing.

But explosive, ring of fire metaphors abound in this environment. One question:

Did anyone else hear the volcano guy say this thing could go off for the next FIVE MONTHS?

Really? He didn't really mean that, right?

UPDATE: Okay, not a real update, but I just saw this on KTUU.com:

Alaska Airlines has taken a chartered aircraft and four senior pilots to do some test flights to make sure it's safe to fly.

Uh...

So I'm no pilot, but if I was, the last test to see if it's "okay to fly" would NOT be going up and flying.

Mt. Redoubt erupted!

From KTUU:

The volcano erupted at 10:38 p.m., according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. The Air Force says the ash cloud, estimated to be as high as 50,000 feet, is expected to arrive in Anchorage by 2 a.m.

UPDATE: Watching the news, and it looks like it might miss us, though. Ash fall expected in Talkeetna, Willow area (sounds like it's already falling) but Anchorage might get missed. This volcano has been threatening to go FOREVER now.

You can follow the Alaska Volcano Observatory updates on Twitter - alaska_avo.

Sweet. Looping radar images. I don't totally understand what I'm seeing, but you might.

Alaska Native Regional Corp. hosting Anchorage mayoral candidate forum

Buzzwinkle Jr.?

Okay, remember a few weeks ago when I counseled (and showed you bad examples of) moose safety?

Well, just the other night I had an excellent example of a very aware Anchorage-ite practicing excellent moose caution, and I thought I would share it.

Yes, it's a crappy picture, but it's a nightime camera-phone pic from a car. Although Anchorage people are allowed to slow to watch a moose, they are a frequent enough sight that, unless it is entirely convenient for all the other drivers, politeness decrees you should not stop. Unless, of course, a moose is taking his time crossing the highway in front of you, just daring you to try and honk at him to move faster (it doesn't really work.)

In any case, this moosie could just possibly be the moose I showed you before. But he was getting really rambunctious. Enough that I was considering he could be a less-sober cousin to Buzzwinkle the drunk moose I mentioned. He would grab a bite from the tree above him, and then hop and prance around the yard a bit.

Now, if you think of a deer prancing, I'm sure the sight is lovely and delicate. Moose have never, ever, ever been delicate. A full-grown, prancing moose is like a full-grown prancing Buick in your yard.

There were actually two examples of good moose safety:

1) A gentleman living in this home. He waited in the car for awhile, idling in the driveway. When moosie walked away a bit, he cautiosly got out, nearly making it to his door. Then moose snapped at the tree, and began dancing around the yard (this is actually the first time, in all my moose-watching days, I have ever seen a full-grown moose act this way.)

The gentleman promptly abandoned his try for the door and ran back behind his car. The moose stared, and then looked toward the street. As soon as he did this, the gentleman jumped over the chain link fence to the nieghbors backyard. I am presuming (hoping) he found home base.

2) The gentleman walking on the street. I will give a distant high five to this guy for braving this weather in the first place. My car died the morning after this picture, because of the 35-below-zero temps in my neighborhood. (No, I didn't plug it in. Yes, I know that was stupid.)

He was pretty bulked up for the weather, and cautiously watching the moose as he walked on the other side of the street. As soon as the moose started thrashing around, this guy BOOKED IT. I was impressed with his speed, especially regarding his bulky gear. He moved all the way up a nieghbor's driveway, and when the moose seemed to be moving towards the street, the guy actually ran to the doorway and rang the doorbell.

I moved my car in between the moose and the guy, just in case, but moosie just went a little nuttier. The neighbor opened the door and let the guy in, and they both were peeking out the window when I finally left. This guy gets my safety award of the year. Many are not willing to choose inviting themselves into a strnager's house over possible trampling, and so high marks for bravery and smarts.

I don't know if the moose was drunk, like Buzzwinkle, or just going stir-crazy with the cold like the rest of Alaska. I guess if I had to be outside all the time right now (I think it's about -25 now) I would be jumping around like crazy too.

Why yes, that is a moose butt.

The most unfortunate part about this is my coworker had just been freaking me out a bit by outrageously detailed descriptions of getting chased by zombies. This was fresh in my mind, at midnight, as I finished up my last blog post.

I hear the slow "clomp... clomp... clomp..." on the snow outside. It is EXACTLY midnight. My room is ground level. Yes. Tonight is the night I get attacked by zombies. Yes, I'm being a bit funny. And yes, a little bit of that thought actually did go through my head.


But then I (bravely) looked out the window and saw THIS.

Okay, I actually got to see the much better version. I saw a big ol' moose face chomping on the garden leftovers in the still un-snowed-over edge of the house.

But by the time I ran upstairs and got my camera, all that was in my window was a big hairy moose butt. Maybe quite fortunately, the flash didn't work so well against the window.



I would like to entitle this picture BAD EXAMPLE.


I see tourists making this mistake all the time, and wonder on how idiotic they are. Don't they know cute little (big) moosies have trampled people to death? Don't they know that moose run the show here in Anchorage?

Sure, you can honk, flick lights, make loud noises from a big distance, but that moose knows you're not going to do nothin'. From experience, I know little yappy dogs seem to have no effect. Big dogs do, but then you just get a squished dog.

So what I do I do with this goldmine of born-and-raised Alaska girl information? As you can see, I have literally thrown out the welcome matt for moosey here. Although technically inside the doorway, that moose would have no problems throwing a hoof or some spittle my way.

I do this for you, my lucky readers.


Well, that and the possibility that I'll get to show my grandchildren just how close I got to a moose one time. Actually, it's TWO times, but THEN I didn't have digital proof! Hence, the irrational behavior.


I was trying to show, in photograph, just how big these guys are. They really are impressive, and though most Anchorage-ites will not stop for long to view a moose anymore, most will still turn a head. Here I am raised up on the porch step, so it doesn't give quite the perspective, but really. I may be irrational, but not suicidal. At least one foot must be in the door. Grade school "hot lava" rules still apply.





























Seriously, I started to wonder about this moose. He stood like this forever - just showing me his butt. Revenge for all the camera flashes he must endure at midnight while he's trying to snack? Something more wierd or sinister? Sir Mix A Lot fan?

If you look carefully, you can see my sister patiently waiting in the street for the moose to move on. She's in a Jeep, but like I said, moose rule around here.

Moose vs. Geo Metro goes to the Moose.
Moose vs. Semi goes to the semi.
Moose vs. Jeep? No point taking chances.




















Though dark, at least you get a little perspective. That's a Doge Caravan, and that's a moose being much bigger than a Doge Caravan. And this is not very big moose.

Sister is still waiting.



Victory!

Sis gets in the door, and if you have Wonder Woman eyesight (okay, I don't even know if super-sight was a gift of hers) you can see the moose on the other side of the van. My suggestion to sis would have been to back in, and lessen the distance between herself and the door, but I was too busy creating flashes in her eyesight.

You see what she will put up with just to come do laundry? Brave trampling and rude sisters?

In the sixth grade, we had a "portable" classroom - the kind that is just it's own room outside. A freaked out kid trying to go to the bathroom came running back inside to tell us that a mama moose and baby moose were eating on either side of the doorway.

For those not trained in moose- or dangerous animal- awareness, this equals bad news. Mamas have tempers when you get in between her and her baby. So we waited for hours and HOURS.

Okay... I don't remember how long, but we had to miss recess. Recess people. Why not lock us up in a cage and throw away the key? In retrospect, I think my teacher must have been more affected than us. I mean, thirty or so pre-pubescents locked in a classroom with no bathroom and no recess?

Some brave teacher finally drove her car over and honked (annoyed) them away, because the buses couldn't leave without the trapped children.

I've also learned that drunken moose are much less dangerous than mama moose. Anchorage had the treat of its very own alcoholic moose for a few winters. No really. The moose, the Daily News named him Buzzwinkle, kept eating the fermented crap apples and staggering around downtown, with Christmas lights all tangled up in his antlers.

The funny part was he kept doing it. A news quote from the article - one you just can't buy - "You can't do much for a drunk moose except wait for him to sober up, Sinnott said."

Though no longer with us, many people still have a fondness for our little troubled moose.

What lessons did I learn from this? Apparently, not much. I am still willing to get the shot, readers. And next time, I'm going to try and not get the butt.

Alaska villages facing a generational problem

Today at the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention, Alaska Native leaders will be talking about the problem of inmigration. I have heard this covered in various Anchorage Daily News articles and on the local news, but much of the local coverage is focused on the local problems - more stress and impact on Anchorage. Mayor Begich and Superintendent Comeau recently released a letter to Governor Palin regarding the problem. Senator Murkowski had a meeting in Septmeber about it. This coverage and local focus isn't a problem - all politics is local. Mayor Begich yesterday in his newsletter:

Human Service Providers Focus on New Rural Residents.
As evidence mounts of a large number of rural Alaskans moving to Anchorage, Mayor Mark Begich is working with local agencies to improve public services, from affordable housing to food assistance. Begich met with about a dozen Anchorage human service agency officials last week. They reported hundreds of rural Alaskans moving to Anchorage, in part because of skyrocketing energy prices and lack of economic opportunities. The Anchorage School District has more than 420 new rural students and other agencies report increased demand for services. The officials are compiling their new service needs and plan to seek assistance from the State, which provides modest support at best.

And though this is a problem, it doesn't begin to touch the problem in the villages. The stress on the cities may be a problem - MAY, because I can't figure why a huge population increase is a "boom" and measure of progress sometimes, and just a stress on the city in others.

In any case, it is the villages that are really losing on this one. Just in school funding alone, each student lost is lost funding. There are some villages - big villages even - that are now at half the students they were just a few years ago. They are having to shut down classes, buildings, and in one case, at least, the principal of the high school became principal of k-12. Then, with further lost students, the superintendent became the principal. They're losing positions, classes, resources and students left and right. And that's just the effect on the schools, not the rest of the community.

The reasons for the inmigration are many, but the huge influx right now is mostly due to energy costs. Juneau has been fairly notorious lately for its high energy costs. Yet a nearby village's energy costs - after subsidies - is literally eight times the cost. A family in the village will spend several hundred dollars a month on electricity alone. Total energy costs for some families exceed $2,000 a month. Add that to less jobs, and lower paying to begin with, and you've got an energy crisis that is not an inconvenience - it is truly a crisis.

Jobs, leadership, a generation of children - so much is being lost from the villages, yet I think the economic impact is being focused on even more than the long-term effects. The cultural loss, the leadership loss, the impacts of children who might be raised in smaller classrooms with a culturally relevant base who will now be raised in a huge classroom with no cultural base - I can't even begin to cover all the impacts, really.

I don't think we will see the true effects for some years, maybe the next generation. But we have the evidence of the past - and not such a long time ago past - that shows us what can happen when a generation of people is suddenly apart from its cultural base.

Everybody loves Begich

Or at least all the convention-goers love Begich! From all across the nation, these Democrats love to talk about Mark Begich.

I assumed people would not know him by name, being an Anchorage mayor. Although everyone is mentioning the Stevens corruption (more on that later in the week,) I figured that Begich would be more known as just "the democrat" that is finally really challenging Stevens - and not well-known outside of Alaska.

Boy was I wrong.

From the more expected places, like the AFL-CIO rep at the delegate meeting (see earlier post) shouting (and I mean shouting!) "God bless Mayor Begich!" - to delegates to press to people we meet on the street and light-rail, the people are rooting for Begich. Some of them have asked us to "Tell Begich, 'Good job!'" or "Tell that Mayor of yours to keep it up!"

I met these two gentlemen (above) when they were talking right by me, and I overheard the name "Mark Begich." The guy on the left, from Trick or Vote (actually a pretty cool idea - take a look) laughed when I interrupted and asked if they were talking about Mayor Begich - "You must be from Alaska!"

But the guy on the right, the one who brought up the name Begich, is from London! (That's like the third guy I've met from London...) He's absolutely certain Begich will take the election.


These are two Texas delegates, and were so excited when they heard we were from Alaska. They are cheering on the "red to blue" movement, but were really cheering on Mark Begich. They gave us some encouraging messages to take back to him (I think everyone also assumes all Alaskans know all other Alaskans,) and actually knew a decent amount of his political and personal background.


Celtic Diva wears a Begich button, to which I've witnessed a few, "Mark Begich... hey, are you from Alaska?"

Just yesterday alone, I talked with people from Wisconsin, Colorado, California, Washington (state), Tennessee, Florida, West Virginia, New York, Rhode Island, Oregon, Iowa, Maryland, Texas and England who all knew of Mark Begich and his run for the U.S. Senate seat, and were cheering on Alaskans to get him there.

The growls heard round the nation

You know the bear problem is bad when the Washington Post is reporting on it. They did an article about all the bear attacks around Anchorage.

I remember going to the village dump with my grandma, and thought she was the bravest person ever when she threw rocks at the bears that got too close, to make them afraid of humans. Then again, the only times I ever had nightmares about bears was when I was visiting her in the village...

My dad got mauled by a bear. We actually heard this story all growing up, and he'd show us this big scar on his hand.

It was all true. What he failed to leave out, until I was pretty old, was that it was a bear cub.

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