Obama Administration supports Native Hawaiian self-governance

I'm a little surprised this isn't getting more play in the news, but it would mean huge changes for the Native people of Hawaii if it were to pass. From RezNet:

Sam Hirsch, deputy associate attorney general for the Justice Department, told the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Thursday that the department "strongly supports the core policy goals" of a bill allowing for self-governance by Native Hawaiians. Once established, the new government would negotiate with the state and the federal government over which assets the new government would own.

Though in none of the 200+ years of U.S. dealings with indigenous people is there a shining example of how it can be done right, I must confess I've never quite understood how, legally, morally, logically the Native people of Hawaii cannot be considered similar to Alaska Native and American Indian "tribes" (I use the term loosely, because up here, at least, "tribe" is only ever a government classification and never something used to describe any of the people groups outside of federal/state government terms.)

Of course it is complicated, but also silly to me the argument that Native Hawaiians have a "different" history from "Indian tribes" of the mainland. Of course they have - but it's only a statement made by someone who groups all Native people on the mainland of North America the same.

Although I belong to a federally classified "tribe," I can gaurantee you my people's history, with the U.S. government or otherwise, doesn't look a thing like that of the Crow tribe's history. Outside of being treated pretty poorly, there are little similarities, and the differences are at least as great as the difference in the Native Hawaiian history and any other federally recognized tribe.

The articles (one also from the Honolulu Advertiser) don't mention any real possibilities for passage of the bill from the Senate, but it is good to hear that it has support from the White House all the same. I would love to hear where each of the senators stands on it.

Two worlds

After "recovering" from a nice little vacation, including an awful lot of "light" fair on the blog lately, I came across this beautiful, thoughtful article in the Arctic Sounder. It was written by Yaari Kingeekuk, a woman I've met on several occasions, who now works for the Alaska Native Heritage Center. It is not a pointed article so much as a discussion of being in and of two worlds - rural and urban, traditional and contemporary, Native and non-Native. She ends:

Even though I feel broken in half, I have to make the best of both worlds to survive. My heart is at home living the cultural ways, but my physical being is here in the city. This is me, this is who I am. Living in both worlds and must remember to keep paddling against the wind.

She paints a picture that I think many Native people around my age/generation feel, but don't know how to put into words - or maybe even feel they shouldn't put into words. Is it complaining? Is it not being grateful? Is it focusing on things that can't be fixed?

Even here, though, I don't know if I'm totally where Yaari is. Even those of us from similar culture, and similar generation get lumped into the idea that we all had a similar experience. I don't, like Yaari, feel "broken in half." Yet at the same time, living in a state with ancestral ties going back literally tens of thousands of years - I have never felt as if I belonged anywhere.

If you asked any of my relatives from where I was born, I can lay money on them saying I was a "city girl." Raised in an urban environment - long removed from any rural setting. Yet friends, people I've met here in town, see me as coming from rural stock. A village girl. Even my own father asked me just a few months ago, "When people ask you where you're from, what do you tell them?"

I haven't actually figured that out yet. I graduated from a high school with more people in it than the town I was born in. I didn't grow up in Anchorage, and even if I'm traveling out of state, I never say I'm "from" Anchorage. I love herring eggs on kelp, but like my restaurant options. I love button blankets and learning the formal Tlingit introduction - but see the need to spend as much time honing computer and job skills. I would love to move back to Southeast, even in the near future, but see the possibility of that as slim to none, with little job opportunity and high cost. In Anchorage I have a great job, lots of creature comforts, "stuff to do" every weekend - but I also have limited access to my culture, the kind of "nature" I love, or an awful lot of family.

The real fun stuff is navigating the racial front. I am half Native - why don't I say I am half white? Why don't I identify with the "white" side? Message: Native people need to get educated, get good jobs, build the economy - leave the villages. Simultaneous message: Native people need to learn the cultural ways, remember ancestral ways, be "real" Natives.

One thing I am certain of when I read things like Yaari's article - in the struggle to figure out what is best, how to honor culture, how to honor the gifts you're given, what to compromise, what to fight for... all these things I don't feel I'm any closer to figuring out - I am not alone. There are a couple of generations of Native people that are stumbling along this path with me.

Essay contest from the Alaska Federation of Natives

Open to all Alaska Native, American Indian and Native Hawaiians - six winners will receive $10,000 each! You can also submit as a group.

A month of (Native) poetry #6

The last "official" poetry entry for National Poetry Month, while there is just a few hours left in April. I do plan on posting more poetry though - I've found a few poets I'm hooked on, and I have some books on order, still on their way, from the excellent suggestions I received.

The first is from an author I am familiar with, but as a novelist. She has beautiful prose, so it is no surprise that her poetry is also quite beautiful.

The second is a "traditional" Native poem (looks like a song, that was translated), though I don't know much about it. It is quite haunting when spoken though, and it reminded me of a ceremony (though brief) held at my grandfather's memorial/remembrance party.

The Strange People

_

The antelope are strange people ... they are beautiful to look at, and yet they are tricky. We do not trust them. They appear and disappear; they are like shadows on the plains. Because of their great beauty, young men sometimes follow the antelope and are lost forever. Even if those foolish ones find themselves and return, they are never again right in their heads.
—Pretty Shield, Medicine Woman of the Crows transcribed and edited by Frank Linderman (1932)
_

All night I am the doe, breathing
his name in a frozen field,
the small mist of the word
drifting always before me.
And again he has heard it
and I have gone burning
to meet him, the jacklight
fills my eyes with blue fire;
the heart in my chest
explodes like a hot stone.
Then slung like a sack
in the back of his pickup,
I wipe the death scum
from my mouth, sit up laughing
and shriek in my speeding grave.
Safely shut in the garage,
when he sharpens his knife
and thinks to have me, like that,
I come toward him,
a lean gray witch
through the bullets that enter and dissolve.
I sit in his house
drinking coffee till dawn
and leave as frost reddens on hubcaps,
crawling back into my shadowy body.
All day, asleep in clean grasses,
I dream of the one who could really wound me.
Not with weapons, not with a kiss, not with a look.
Not even with his goodness.
If a man was never to lie to me. Never lie me.
I swear I would never leave him.

_

- Louise Erdrich

_

A House Made of Dawn

_

The Navajo Night Chant

_

In Tse'gihi
In the house made of the dawn,
In the house made of the evening twilight,
In the house made of the dark cloud,
In the house made of the he-rain,
In the house made of the dark mist,
In the house made of the she-rain,
In the house made of pollen,
In the house made of grasshoppers,
Where the dark mist curtains the doorway,
The path to which is on the rainbow,
Where the zigzag lightning stands high on top,
Where the he-rain stands high on top,
Oh, male divinity!
With your moccasins of dark cloud, come to us.
With your leggings of dark cloud, come to us.
With your shirt of dark cloud, come to us.
With your head-dress of dark cloud, come to us.
With your mind enveloped in dark cloud, come to us.
With the dark thunder above you, come to us soaring.
With the shapen cloud at your feet, come to us soaring.
With the far darkness made of the dark cloud over your head, come to us soaring.
With the far darkness made of the he-rain over your head, come to us soaring..
With the far darkness made of the dark mist over your head, come to us soaring.
With the far darkness made of the she-rain over your head, come to us soaring.
With the zigzag lightning flung out on high over your head, come to us soaring.
With the rainbow hanging high over your head, come to us soaring.
With the far darkness made of the he-rain on the ends of your wings, come to us soaring.
With the far darkness made of the dark mist on the ends of your wings, come to us soaring.
With the far darkness made of the she-rain on the ends of your wings, come to us soaring.
With the zigzag lightning flung out on high on the ends of your wings, come to us soaring.
With the rainbow hanging high on the ends of your wings, come to us soaring.
With the near darkness made of the dark cloud, of the he-rain, of the dark mist and of the she-rain, come to us.
With the darkness of the earth, come to us.
With these I wish the foam floating on the flowing water over the roots of the great corn.
I have made your sacrifice.
I have prepared a smoke for you.
My feet restore for me.
My limbs restore for me.
My body restore for me.
Mt mind restore for me.
My voice restore for me.
Today, take out your spell for me.
Today, take away your spell for me.
Away from me you have taken it.
Far off from me, it is taken.
Far off you have done it.
Happily I recover.
Happily my interior becomes cool.
Happily my eyes regain their power.
Happily my head becomes cool.
Happily my limbs regain their power.
Happily I hear again.
Happily for me is taken off.
Happily I walk.
Impervious to pain, I walk.
Feeling light within, I walk.
With lively feelings, I walk.
Happily abundant dark clouds I desire.
Happily abundant dark mists I desire.
Happily abundant passing showers I desire.
Happily an abundance of vegetation I desire.
Happily an abundance of pollen I desire.
Happily abundant dew I desire.
Happily may fair white corn, to the ends of the earth, come with you.
Happily may fair yellow corn, to the ends of the earth, come with you.
Happily may fair blue corn, to the ends of the earth, come with you.
Happily may fair plants of all kinds, to the ends of the earth, come with you.
Happily may fair goods of all kinds, to the ends of the earth, come with you.
Happily may fair jewels of all kinds, to the ends of the earth, come with you.
With these before you, happily may they come with you.
With these behind you, happily may they come with you.
With these below you, happily may they come with you.
With these abovee you, happily may they come with you.
With these all around you, happily may they come with you.
Thus happily you accomplish your tasks.
Happily the old men will regard you.
Happily the old women will regard you.
Happily the young men will regard you.
Happily the young women will regard you.
Happily the boys will regard you.
Happily the girls will regard you.
Happily the children will regard you.
Happily the chiefs will regard you.
Happily, as they scatter in different directions, they will regard you.
Happily, as they approach their homes, they will regard you.
Happily may their roads back home be on the trail of pollen.
Happily may they all get back.
In beauty I walk.
With beauty before me, I walk.
With beauty behind me, I walk.
With beauty below me, I walk.
With beauty above me, I walk.
With beauty all around me, I walk.
It is finished in beauty,
It is finished in beauty,
It is finished in beauty,
It is finished in beauty.

_

From Four Masterworks of American Indian Literature edited by John Bierhorst, University of Arizona Press. The text is the translation of Washington Matthews.

A month of (Native) poetry #4

Fourth installment to honor National Poetry Month, and all those brilliant Native poets out there!

The first, really, the first line still rings in my ears, like an anthem. "Today, I am more native than yesterday..."

And I promise it's not just because she's a fellow Tlingit, and Raven moiety as well! The whole subject of the poem is really only something I've begun to understand in the last few years, "And my heart spoke a purpose in my life,/of seeking integrity in myself..."

It's the kind of poem that you have to think on for a few hours, or a few years, and really let it sink into your life. The rhyme scheme isn't that strong, maybe, but it is easy to ignore because of the quite peaceful, and strong, words she writes.

The second messed with my mind a little, so I thought I'd share. It kind of reminded me of my Intro to Philosophy class, when the professor showed us the french painting of an apple, with the words painted across it, "This is not an apple."

Moses is a Canadian First Nations member, I believe.

Today

Today, I am more native than yesterday,
I didn't hurry so fast, running from my past,
I sat real still when I was alone,
didn't have to call someone on the phone,
listening to the silence until my head heard,
my heart speaking to me....
And my heart spoke of purpose in my life,
of seeking integrity in myself,
of walking a solitary path of peace,
seeking harmony instead of wealth,
of seeing the strength in a prayer,
sharing with my children the power there,
of honoring everything that is alive,
being one with nature, not strife....
On this journey I walk,
my heart continues to talk,
turning me into what I was born this day,
for I am more Native than yesterday....

- Melody Jackson

The Line

This is not the poem, this line

I'm feeding you. And the thought

that this line is not the poem

is not it either. Instead

the thought of what this line is not is

the weight that sinks it

in. And though this image of

that thought as a weight is quite

a neat figure of speech, you

know what it's not

this time let the line smoothly

arc to this spot, and now lets

it reach down to one other,

one further rhyme

of which almost does measure

up, the way it keeps the line

stirring through the dampening

air. Oh, you know you can hear

the lure in that. As you know

you've known from the start the self

referring this line's doing

was a hook bit of wit that made you look

and see how clear it is no

part of this line or its gear

could be the poem. Still it cast

and kept the line reeling out

till now at last the hook's on

to itself and about to

tie this line I'm feeing you

up with a knot. Referring

to itself has got the line and us nowhere. So clever's

not what the poem is about

either. We're left hanging there

while something like a snout starts

nudging at your ear, nibbling

near my mouth

it's the poem about to take

the bait. From the inside ought

to be a great way to learn

what the poem is. And we'll use

this line when the poem's drawn it

taut and fine as breath to tell

what we know, where we are and

where we'll go

breaks. How would it feel, knowing,

at last, what the poem really

is, to lack the line to speak?

- Daniel David Moses

My Earth Day resolutions

So Earth Day kinda snuck up on me, and I do try and recognize it in some way. For several thousands of years, the Native people of this continent did a pretty good job of being responsible with the earth. But I think we're slipping, big time now. "Taking care of the land" should not be a past value, and I don't think it totally is - yet.

But today, I didn't really do anything because I forgot about it until about noon today. I also got to thinking that every Earth Day I reflect on how I SHOULD be doing more, and down the way not that much happens.

So today I actually reflected on WHY that's usually a fail. And I came up with two pretty obvious reasons:

1) I start too big. Somehow, overnight, I believe I'm going to change all my habits? As utopian as that is... that's a set up for a big fail right there.

2) I'm not really that specific. "Recycle more." "Use less energy." Uh, right. Not ,only is it kind of copping out, there's no accountability, even to myself.

So I've gone over some very small, very realistic changes I know I can make and instead of making them, "change these for the rest of your life" kind of moves, I'm going to commit to them until the end of the summer (Sept. 1.) Then, re-evaluate. My small changes include:

1. Do not purchase DVD's, or physically rent them.
Benefits: Save on packaging, the energy to create the physical DVD, save on gas. I will download any movies I want to rent or purchase, and if it's not available on iTunes... well, I'm SOL. I think it's something I can survive.

2. Do not purchase anything from the grocery store if I'm not using a reusable bag.
I started something like this last year, and even have all the bags, but kept forgetting them, and shrugging it off for a "I'll remember next time." So, for grocery shopping only, if I don't have the bags, I'm not walking in. Benefits: Save on plastic AND paper, landfills not as full.

3. ONLY use environmentally conscious cosmetic brands
I'm halfway to this goal, as the brand I prefer for my basics is pretty much there. But I looked up one of the items I use every day, and... yikes. I checked it on Skin Deep cosmetic database, and holy crap. I'm basically washing my face with toxins... which seems a little self-defeating as well. So only earth-friendly brands. This includes my shampoo, shower gel - the works. Benefits: Not putting freaky hormone-ridden stuff on every day, save on packaging, supporting companies with a green conscious.

4. I will dispose of any medications correctly
I didn't even know this was a problem until I was made aware of how BIG a problem it is recently! Not disposing of medications correctly can mean a lot of things, like danger to yourself or children by accidental poisoning, but it can also (and DOES) get into the water systems, and doesn't come out. This goes into our drinking water, but it can also effect salmon (and other wildlife) populations. You can check out proper disposal here from the State of Utah (hey, they popped up first.) Benefits: Non-poisoned drinking water and oceans, less chance of poisoning.

So that's it. It seems like so little to me, but this year I'm focusing on small changes, and succeeding small, instead of focusing on big, and failing hard.

A few other Native environmental bits:

Here in Anchorage, is was apt timing of the Indigenous People's Global Summit on Climate Change. This APRN audio focuses on the importance of traditional knowledge in the environment discussed at the summit.

A few Native environment sites and organizations:

A Native drum-making business that creates their drums from fallen trees.

The American Indian Environmental Office focuses on "environmental protection in Indian country, with a special emphasis on helping tribes administer their own environmental programs."

Honor the Earth is a Native American environmental advocacy organization.

Let's at least remember the real Columbus

Yet another Clolumbus Day rolls around, and every time it is mentioned, I stop myself from rolling my eyes. It seems that some people even forget about the holiday, but for those that do, I hope they are at least remembering there is a different perspective on just what Columbus meant for the world.

While so many remember Columbus as a great savior who "discovered" a whole new world and brought the old and new together - the beginning of what would become a great nation, even - for the indigenous people of both North and South America, it was a black day indeed.

For those that might say, "History is history - it's in the past... leave it there."

Umm... exactly. While we're at it, let's stop dragging up the past when we remember a man who treated two continents of people as little better than animals, and contemplated the conquership strategy on day one. When we celebrate his memory, why is it we must only celebrate the false image generations of bad history lessons have given us?

I fell about Columbus the same as I feel about President Andrew Jackson (you know, the "Trail of Tears" dead Indians are the best guy?) Why do we continue to hold these people up as good people? Can we remember them with honesty?

I have heard that Adolf Hitler did some good things to Germany's economy. Does the "good" he did excuse the horrors he committed?

Quotes from passages of the Columbus' voyage - ship's diary:

Day One:
(of the Native people they are encountering)"It appears to me, that the people are ingenious, and would be good servants and I am of opinion that they would very readily become Christians, as they appear to have no religion."

Day Four:
(of the Native people they encountered)"I could conquer the whole of them with fifty men, and govern them as I pleased."

Day Five:
(of an indigenous man)"...and give him his property, that he may carry a good report of us, so that if it please our Lord when your Highnesses shall send again to these regions, those who arrive here may receive honor, and procure what the natives may be found to possess."

Really? This is the guy I should honor?

Yes, it was a pivotal moment, but we do not remember the attack on Pearl Harbor with the same rose-colored glasses. Surely Pearl Harbor ranks up there with days that changed the world. Or maybe September 11? Far less people died because of the terrorist attacks, but we shudder at the men and women who have made martyrs of the terrorists.

I have heard arguments too, that "it was just the time and culture." Yet any time that there is gross social injustice, it is people of the time and culture that must change it. Not fifty years ago, it was socially acceptable to be racist. It took the people of the time saying, "No, it is not acceptable" to change the culture. People know right and wrong, and have always had the ability to discern between them.

And yes, the Native people of the Americas - for that matter every culture EVER - have committed great atrocities of their own. But I am not suggesting we make a holiday of their actions. From my own heritage - the Tlingit people and the Haida people regularly made slaves of each other in their warfare. I have never tried to hide that, and I have certainly never tried to make a hero of those who did it.

We can celebrate the good that came of Columbus' voyage (and yes, there were some) without making an idol of the man himself.

A few endorsements for a day off

I'm taking something of a day off from the blog - but not leaving you totally empty handed! some of this is old news, but you may not have heard it. These are mostly Alaska Native or American Indian endorsements of Obama, a few Alaskan endorsements, and Obama's letter to Alaska Native leaders. Sort of letting all these people talk for me today.

I haven't heard of any tribal endorsements for John McCain, so please let me know if you hear of any.

Question I have been asking myself - how effective are endorsements? Any endorsements?

Obama gets strong endorsements from New Mexico tribes (most recent endorsements)


100 tribal leader endorsements

...including...
· Andy Ebona, Councilman Douglas Village, Tlingit Tribe, Alaska
· Ian Erlich (Native Village of Kotzebue) – Vice Chairman, Alaska Inter-Tribal Council



Former Alaska Governor Tony Knowles has endorsed Barack Obama



REPUBLICAN MAYOR OF FAIRBANKS-NORTH STAR BOROUGH ENDORSES OBAMA

Jim Whitaker has served as mayor since 2003 FAIRBANKS, AK – The Barack Obama campaign in Alaska today announced the endorsement of Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Jim Whitaker. Whitaker is a registered Republican.

Whitaker said, “Barack Obama has the unique ability to bring people together from all political backgrounds—Democrats, Republicans, and independents. Partisan business-as-usual has crippled Washington. It’s time for a president who will work to unite our country and bring about the change we need.“Barack Obama will stand up for Alaska’s families. As president, he’ll support the Alaska natural gas pipeline and work to lower the skyrocketing fuel prices that have caused an energy crisis here in Fairbanks. He has a plan to move this country forward and will be a president who is as independent as Alaskans are.”

Barack Obama said, “I’m grateful for Mayor Whitaker’s support. Fairbanks residents are paying some of the highest energy prices in the country. Mayor Whitaker knows firsthand the importance of solving our energy crisis. He believes as I do that we need to bring people together in order to solve the many challenges our country is facing right now, from energy to the economy.”

Jim Whitaker was elected mayor of the Fairbanks-North Star Borough in 2003. He served as a Republican member of the Alaska House of Representatives from 1999 to 2003. From 1999 to 2000, Whitaker served as Chair of the Special Committee on Oil and Gas.

Sen. Obama endorsed by Great Plains Tribes


A look at Barack Obama - Indian Country Today

(Tribal endorsements include the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, Crow Nation (Montana), Salish and Kootenai tribes chairman, Oglala Sioux tribe president)

Fifty tribal leaders have endorsed Obama, Harper said, as have all Indian Democratic superdelegates who have announced how they'll vote at the Democratic National Convention. In Montana recently, the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of Fort Peck and the Crow Nation endorsed Obama, Fort Peck by a unanimous council vote. Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Chairman James Steele had previously endorsed Obama. In South Dakota, Obama has secured the endorsement of Oglala Sioux Tribe President John Yellow Bird Steele.

Obama adopted by Crow Nation

Obama's letter to Alaska Native leaders

Alaska's AFL-CIO endorses Obama

Todd Palin and his heritage, the "Series of Tubes" looks at both the Palins

I'm Palin'd out. Again. Or still. The freudian slip she posed today by calling it the "Palin and McCain" was chillingly unshocking, not to mention the refusal by Todd to speak, despite the subpeonas.

I paused today to Google Palin with some keywords to see what was being said about her and Native issues. The last time I did this was a bit horrifying. There was a lot of "Her husband is Native, so she must support Native issues" kind of information, a flash-back to her gubernatorial campaign here in Alaska.

Now, the bulk of the information on Palin and Native issues, though still relatively tiny, is fairly accurate. The pdf document Sarah Palin's Record on Alaska Native and Tribal Issues is, by far, the most dominant document/article in regards to her stand on.... well, obviously Alaska Native and Tribal issues.

Some myths, and questions, persist about Todd Palin's Yup'ik ancestry. A few:

For starters, the PC terms (I know, I know, but we Alaskans have a set of our own terms, too) would be Yup'ik or (groan) Yup'ik Eskimo if the person is okay with it. Eskimo is not the most popular term to be used by non-"Eskimo" people in reference to them. Yup'ik is best.

NOT Inuit. NOT Native American. NOT American Indian. Alaska Native is acceptable. (I have a big ol' post about this, and the confusion of it, but just trust me on this. You'll make more Native friends this way.) Some of these terms are not even because of PC, but government distinctions.

As for the "ancestry," the numbers of his blood quantum I've heard range anywhere from 1/4 to 1/16. I've seen a few comments of "why does this matter?" Ah... the long raging politics of blood quantum!

We, as Native people, must show proof of Native blood for most things regarding Native services, organizations, or (in my case) jobs. To me, it sounds as though Todd must be 1/8 or less at least. Although he is a shareholder of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation, all you need to be a shareholder is to inherit the shares (which he could have gotten from his grandmother or mother.)

What hasn't been mentioned is whether he is an enrolled member of a tribe. There are more stringent blood quantum requirements for some tribes. That they haven't said, "And a member of X tribe... or X village tribal organization..." is pretty telling.

What keeps being mentioned is that he is a descendant of a Yup'ik woman (his mother.) I didn't connect with why this kept coming up in American Indian (Lower 48) commentary until I realized that, as Alaska Native people, this is a very common term because of the corporations. For many services or memberships, you can either be an "original shareholder" or a "descendant." If you were not 1/4 blood quantum Alaska Native in December of 1971 or before, you could not be an original shareholder - which is why, though I have more than the required blood quantum, because I was not born earlier, I am not an original shareholder. I am a "descendant." The frequent mention of his mother and of his being a descendant tells me that he is used to signing on as a descendant, not an original enrollee, which means that, despite him being born before 1971, he was not 1/4 or more Yup'ik.

To be very clear - I absolutely do not believe that blood quantum defines how "Native" you are. The frequent mention of it as a disqualifying factor is wrong. For that matter, there are countless ways to be a proud member of the Native community, and none of it has to do with that extra 1/16 more Native blood you have than the next guy over. What defines you as a Native leader, and a Native example is much easier to nail down, and in this case, Todd would not be the definition of either.

He has also never been part of the Southcentral Alaska Native culture, nor have his children, despite being raised here. To me, this says he is either disinterested, or because he is limited in a few of the organizations (namely tribal) he is rejecting the whole. In any case, both the Palins have a dismal record on Native issues, so please, do not look to Todd's heritage to help with them. That he hasn't done anything because of it so far is a good indicator that he won't be encouraging his wife on anything in the future.

Here are just a few of what I am finding now around the "series of tubes" (just one more Alaskan nod for ya'...:

From Indian Country Today, the examination of John McCain and Sarah Palin on some Native issues and legislation.

Presidential snakes on the Indian plane

From the Washington Independant, more on Alaska sexual assault than purely Alaska Native women, but it makes the connection well.

Palin and Alaska Native Women

From Green Party Watch, focused on (you guessed it!) more Green Party concerns than strictly Native issues, but these issues often coincide.

Sarah Palin and Alaska Natives, Part 1

Sarah Palin and Alaska Natives, Part 2

From Native American Netroots, an unabashed Biden supporter stacks the two VP candidates up (I know, she said the Palin/McCain administration, but she really is still technically going for the VP slot)

Biden vs. Palin on Indigenous issues

From Daily Yonder, it would almost be funny, if it weren't so frustrating. Democratic Convention Native Delegates = 143. Republican Convention Native Delegates? 1. No, that's not a typo. ONE. His name is Bobby, he's a Bible cover manufacturer, and he used to be a Democrat.

Searching for signs of Native American life at the Republican Convention

From New American Media, a more broad look at what Palin has done on... well, the title sort of says it all...

Palin has no record on diversity or civil rights

But what could Palin have done about it?

For about the tenth time this week, I was asked - by a non-Native - well, what should Palin have been doing for Alaska Native people, if you say she wasn't doing anything?

Totally fair question. As I've said before, it is obvious to me, but then I live and breathe it. Native issues are not seen in the general public eye unless someone makes a fuss over them. Alaska Native issues, maybe more so.

I decided to tackle this a bit more comprehensively (and I mean a BIT) this weekend. Meaning, when I've had a few moments away from Palin-mania at work, home, e-mail... my own blog...

For now I will sort of break ground for the post. No, it's not that dramatic. But I will be attempting to tackle about 500 years of history, 100 years of civil rights movements, 40 years of land-rights legislation and about a gabillion studies and government documents (rough estimation) without breaking a longest post ever record.

And unless someone out there much more connected than I grants me a big tip, I will not be breaking "Palin scandals" or "uncovering the dirty truth." But I will show you the facts, as I have experienced them and know them to be, about what Palin has - and hasn't - done for the Native people of this state. It will be a support for why I know she is not the woman for the job of "President in Waiting."

I must preface this by saying I am proud of the Native people of Alaska. We have accomplished much, and have given much. I hate the reports and news bits with the tragic statistics and horrible picture painted of gaunt Eskimos barely scratching out civility in the un-plumbed tundra. The Native people of Alaska - nearly 20% of the Alaskan population:

• Have fought in the wars of America at the highest rate per capita of any ethnic group. I blogged about Native patriotism here before.
  
• Have, despite the mostly negative reports, been entering college and getting degrees more now. The Native student rate of increase in the math and sciences field is much higher than the American average. I also posted about Native education before.
  
• Contribute some of the most beautiful artwork I have ever seen. By this, I mean both traditional and contemporary, and I mean art that is both visually appealing and emotionally impacting.
  
• Have done an impossible amount in the past decade to preserve languages, educate the youth, develop curriculum, fund studies and participate in the worldwide educational process.
  
• (Plus, the Yup'ik and/or Inupiaq people invented the Ulu, which, believe me, is about the best tool ever. Really. Coming from a pizza-lover, this thing is ingenius.

But we also have great challenges, challenges that we are facing, but seem impossible in themselves sometimes:

• Record sexual abuse, domestic violence, neglect, child abuse - you name the abuse, we have the highest percentage per capita. I mean highest. In the nation.
  
• Highest rates of about a dozen different kinds of cancer, including colon cancer.
  
• Have the highest rates of accidental deaths, suicides and FASD births in the nation.
  
• One of the more chilling statistics from the Alaska Native Commission: ...death from suicide of an Alaska Native occurred once every 10 days, on average, during the 1980s, and preliminary figures from 1990-1993 indicate that the Alaska Native suicide rate is continuing to climb.
  
• Since it's an "old" statistic, surely things have improved? Last year's Anchorage Daily News article: Despite two decades of effort by state and community leaders, Alaska Natives continue to kill themselves at alarming rates, a new study reports. In fact, they seem to be committing suicide as often as they did in the late 1980s, when Native leadership, state officials and others acknowledged the crisis and vowed to solve the problem.

The rate is about five times the national average.

These are some of the problems, and these are just some of the social issues facing Alaska Native people. I didn't mention the education, the poverty levels, the health access, the death of cultural and linguistic values.

I encourage you to get something of a fuller picture by at least skimming the Alaska Natives Commission Report. It's a monstrous document, but if you would like to really get a snapshot of what Gov. Palin has not deigned to help, it's all there. Gov. Palin has, in fact, only done what she can to move us backwards in this upward battle.

In this report, the very first recommendation given, under "Meeting Basic Social Needs" addresses exactly the question of "what can Sarah do about it?"

Recommendation
1. The federal and state governments should implement policies — in the form of appropriate legislation, if needed, regulations and operating procedures — that give maximum local powers and jurisdiction to tribes and tribal courts in the areas of alcohol importation and control, community and domestic relations, and law enforcement.

This is just one recommendation of many. And to those who would say that "but that's just Alaska, she's running for VP of the country," I ask you if you would rather she implemented this policy of ignorance on an entire nation of people?

This is not the front-page stuff, the scandals, the "Oh no she didn't!" shockers. It is simply how she runs our state, and why I don't want her a heart attack away from running this country.

I will be posting more this weekend on the issues raised here - please stay tuned.

Two reasons, on 9/11, to remain partisan

With about an hour left until it is September 11 once again, and trying to come out of the political freak-out that's happening on all sides right now, my parents reminded me of two of the main reasons why this election is so important. They are both very directly related to Alaska Native culture, issues, and people. They are both very directly related to the huge issues happening in American right now.

They are both my cousins.

The oldest of these cousins is trying to figure out all he needs to take care of before he heads off on his third tour in Iraq with the Marines. He will leave his young son once again to fight a war I am still grasping at straws to understand - or at least understand its justification. Why are we still in Iraq, and why does my cousin have to go again?

I grew up with this cousin, and at one time we (my older sister, cousin and I) believed all of us were brother and sisters. We sat in front of my grandparents door, announcing "He's our brother!" and "We're his sisters!" to all who entered. I remember being particularly elated that he, the "cool" cousin that could lip-synch George Michael songs, and a whole year older, would finally be living with us, not just spending the night.

I also remember being sorely disappointed that we were a bit confused.

The other cousin is much younger than I. I "babysat" him occasionally, and he quickly became a "favorite" cousin of mine when he asked me, in all seriousness, if I knew everything.

He graduates from basic training tomorrow, September 11, and will be heading to Iraq soon after that with the Army. At some level, it is harder for me to imagine this cousin in Iraq. My older cousin, after all, had a bit of "hero" status growing up, being "so much" older than I. He was always tough, always stuck up for (if he wasn't the one teasing) the other cousins.

But my younger cousin - he's so young! It was only about two seconds ago he was playing with my brother in my grandparents yard. Why on Earth does this young man need to go and risk his life for a war we shouldn't be in?

For that matter, why are we arguing about lipstick while this is still going on?

My point is not to make victims out of my two, strong Alaska Native cousins. They are anything but victims. They entered into service willingly, and I think very bravely. But how can we, as a country, take their gift lightly, or pettily?

I may have been one to take this less seriously, if it had not been for the events of seven years ago. September 11 changed the view of many, and I was certainly one of them. On September 10, just a year out of high school, I thought the military was a big waste of money. Just a few hours into September 11, I saw how very wrong I was.

But this is not a reason to use our military - not an impartial "force", but real men and women - recklessly. It was JFK, after all, who cautioned us both on restraint, and the need to act if neccessary during the Cuban Missile Crisis:

"We will not prematurely or unnecessarily risk the costs of worldwide nuclear war in which even the fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth; but neither will we shrink from that risk at any time it must be faced."

My point is this - on the eve of September 11, I cannot remain "partisan." What we have before us is too important, is too close to what I care about to pretend that I can ever support something I fundamentally believe to be heading us even further down a path in which more lives are recklessly lost, more lives are sunk into poverty, more lives are not seen as lives, but as numbers. Or worse yet, not seen at all.

For Alaska Native and American Indian people, not being seen at all can be an even more poignantly painful reality of generations past - with a fear of generations to come. Not being seen by the government, not being remembered by politicians, not viewed as important enough to bother with - this policy of ignorance has hurt far more than outright hate or physical injury ever has, or ever will. When I think about what I want for the future, I care about the economy and whether or not I will have a job in a few years. I care about education, and health care, and subsistence and other Native issues.

But if I ever find myself slipping into the ridiculousness of lipstick arguments and who is wearing what - and I have certainly been guilty of it all too frequently - it takes two things to remind me of what is really so important about this election.

They are both my cousins.

I see them for the brave and precious men that they are, strong Native men with a heroic heritage, and an honorable present. I will do everything I can to elect the man that opens his eyes and sees them too, and will do everything he can for their future.

Obama and McCain on Native Issues

I recieved several e-mails in the last 24 hours that struck me as ironically timed.

The first, an e-mail from the McCain camp, announcing:

We are in the process of forming Alaska's grassroots efforts in all of our
communities and neighborhoods to spread the word for the McCain/Palin
ticket.

Well, welcome to the Alaskan race... about a year late, and two months from the general election. McCain, for some reason, discovered Alaska is one of the 50 states he wants to be president of at the eleventh hour.

The second was a document on Obama's stand on Alaska Native issues. I don't mean American Indian/Alaska Native issues - I mean Alaska Native. He's already had a Native American issues page (below) on the books for quite some time. Most importantly for Alaskans, his campaign has been plugging away in Alaska, opening office after office in some of the bigger towns, and traveling to the furthest reaches.

From the opening:

There is no one‐size‐fits‐all solution to issues of importance to Alaska Native peoples and rural communities. Barack Obama will work to ensure that the
unique concerns of Alaska Natives are recognized and respected at the federal
level.

In this Alaska Native issue "fact sheet", he addresses issues that are both general, and yet important to Alaska Native people (reforming No Child Left Behind, veteran's affairs, economy,) specific to Native people in the U.S. (sovereignty, Indian Health Care Reauthorization Act, Native languages), and specific to Alaska Native people (gas pipeline, climate change in Alaska, subsistence in Alaska). From the subsistence section:

Barack Obama supports federal subsistence protections for Alaska Native communities. He will oppose efforts to reduce protections for this sustainable lifestyle. Barack Obama respects the constitutional right of Alaskans and all Americans to keep and bear arms. He recognizes that guns are important tools and an essential part of the Alaska way of life.

Through consultation, campaign time and basic common sense, Barack Obama has already begun to dig into the issues around Alaska, and Alaska Native issues.

After 44 years in Alaska, and marrying an Alaska Native man, Sarah Palin has yet to form any sort of opinion or plan, though in her campaign for governor, we did discover she "treasured" Alaska Native cultures. And while John McCain has only recently discovered Alaska voters matter, I can only imagine it will be too much to hope he will discover there are Alaska Native people that come with it.

Obama sent out this video for Alaskans, in which he addresses specific energy issues in Alaska, including Rural crisis. Although heartening, it is dismal to think out governor still has not addressed this. Well - she did line-item veto that energy overage funding in rural boroughs, so she does know the crisis exists...

I think I've reached a new level of frustration with the whole election today - that Ms. Palin is being heralded in the media and by Alaskans as a champion of Alaska, yet a man who has not yet been here (keeping our fingers crossed!) has been working harder to get to know Alaskan and Alaska Native issues, and beginning plans for them, than her. McCain is a non-equation for Alaska, and his running-mate won't pony up on Alaska Native issues - or much of any Alaska issues, really, except the high-profile ones.

The fourth e-mail I received was a forward from Grassroots Science. It was addressing some of the differences in the Obama and McCain approach to American Indian policies. It seemed to sum it up well:

"I think how we're going to see that an Obama administration really carries out some of the promises they were making during the campaign is through his appointments," said Laura Harris, a member of the Comanche Tribe of Oklahoma and the executive director of Americans for Indian Opportunity, based in Albuquerque...

...I've not heard or read any direct promises that McCain has made to Indians during his campaign, so there really won't be anything to hold him to if elected. So I'm wondering what's worse — to be promised and let down, or never been promised at all?"

I'm going to hold onto a promise and a plan.


Barack Obama's Principles for Stronger Tribal Communities

John McCain on Native American Policy