All posts in the topic No Subject

Jun 29 18:59 UTC

This is a rather long post that was forwarded to the forum through a moderated
member.

When the steering committee is established and a formal charter is put in place
to better define the scope of what topics are applicable to the forum. And
certainly local issues, local people are impacted by national issues. Perhaps
just the link to an article like this could be included with comments by the
forum member about why he/she thinks it is pertinent to us all.

In the meantime as we're waiting for the official launch here's what was
submitted to post to keep the gears turning.

Daniel

Subject: An Alaskan Native speaks out on Palin, Oil and Alaska
September 11, 2008 at 01:34:57
An Alaska Native speaks out on Palin, Oil, and Alaska
By Evon Peter
               My name is Evon Peter; I am a former Chief of the Neetsaii
Gwichin tribe from Arctic Village , Alaska and the current Executive Director
of Native Movement. My organization provides culturally based leadership
development through offices in Alaska and Arizona . My wife, who is Navajo, and
I have been based out of Flagstaff, Arizona for the past few years, although I
travel home to Alaska in support of our initiatives there as well. It is
interesting to me that my wife and I find ourselves as Indigenous people from
the two states where McCain and Palin originate in their leadership.
               I am writing this letter to raise awareness about the ongoing
colonization and violation of human rights being carried out against Alaska
Native peoples in the name of unsustainable progress, with a particular emphas
is on the role of Sarah Palin and the Republican leadership. My hope is that it
helps to elevate truth about the nature of Alaskan politics in relation to
Alaska Native peoples and that it lays a framework for our path to justice.
              Ever since the Russian claim to Alaska and the subsequent sale to
the United States through the Treaty of Cession in 1867, the attitude and
treatment towards Alaska Native peoples has been fairly consistent. We were
initially referred to as less than human uncivilized tribes, so we were
excluded from any dialogues and decisions regarding our lands, lives, and
status. The dominating attitude within the Unites States at the time was called
Manifest Destiny; that God had given Americans this great land to take from the
Indians because they were non-Christian and incapable of self-government. Over
the years since that time, this framework for relating to Alaska Native peoples
has become entrenched in the United States legislative and legal systems in an
on going direct violation of our human rights.
              What does this mean? Allow me to share an analogy. If a group of
people were to arrive in your city and tell you their people had made laws,
among which were:
               What were once your home and land now belong to them (although
you could live in the garage or backyard)
              Forced you to send your children to boarding schools to learn
their language and be acculturated into their ways with leaders who touted Kill
the American, save the man (based on the original statement made by US Captain
Richard H. Pratt in regards to Native American education Kill the Indian, save
the man.)
               Supported missionaries and government agents to forcefully (for
example, with poisons placed on the tongues of your children and withheld
vaccines) convince you that your Jesus, Buddha, Torah, or Mohammed was actually
an agent of evil and that salvation in the afterlife could only be found
through believing otherwise
               Made it illegal for you to co ntinue to do your job to support
your family, except under strict oversight and through extensive regulation
               Made it illegal for you to own any land or run a business as an
individual and did not allow you to participate in any form of their
government, which controlled your life (voting or otherwise)

               How would this make you feel? What if you also knew that if you
were to retaliate, that you would be swiftly killed or incarcerated? How long
do you think it would take for you to forget or would you be sure to share this
history with your children with the hope that justice could one day prevail for
your descendents? And most importantly to our conversation, how American does
this sound to you?
               To put this into perspective, my grandfather who helped to raise
me in Arctic Village was born in 1904, just thirty-seven years after the United
States laid claim to Alaska . If my grandfather had unjustly stolen your
grandfathers home and I was still living in the house and watching you live
outdoors, would you feel a change was in order? Congress unilaterally passed
most of the major US legislation that affect our people in my grandfathers
lifetime. There has never been a Treaty between Alaska Native Peoples and the
United States over these injustices. Each time that Alaska Native people stand
up for our rights, the US responds with token shifts in its laws and policies
to appease the building discontent, yet avoiding the underlying injustice that
I believe can be resolved if leadership in the United States would be willing
to acknowledge the underlying injustice of its control over Alaska Native
peoples, our lands, and our ways of life.
               United States legal history in relation to Alaska Natives has
been based on one major platform - minimize the potential for Alaska Native
people to regain control of their lives, lands, and resources and maximize
benefit to the Unites States government and its corporations. While the rest of
the wor ld, fo llowing World War II, was seeking to return African and European
Nations to their rightful owners, the United States pushed in the opposite
direction by pulling the then Territory of Alaska out of the United Nations
dialogues and pushing for Statehood into the Union. Why is it that Alaska
Native Nations are still perceived as being incapable of governing our own
lands, lives, and resources differently than African, Asian, and European
nations?
               Let me get specific about what is at stake and how this relates
to Palin and the Republican leadership in Alaska and across this country. To
this day, Alaska Native peoples are among the only Indigenous peoples in all of
North America whose Indigenous Hunting and Fishing Rights have been
extinguished by federal legislation and yet we are the most dependent people on
this way of life. Most of our villages have no roads that connect them to
cities; many live with poverty level incomes, and all rely to varying degrees
on traditional hunti ng, fishing, and harvesting for survival. This has become
known as the debate on Alaska Native Subsistence.
               As Alaska Governor, Palin has continued the path of her
predecessor Frank Murkowski in challenging attempts by Alaska Native people to
regain their human right to their traditional way of life through subsistence.
               The same piece of unilateral federal legislation, known as the
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971, that extinguished our
hunting and fishing rights, also extinguished all federal Alaska Native land
claims and my Tribes reservation status. In the continental United States ,
this sort of legislation is referred to as termination legislation because it
takes the rights of self-government away from Tribes. It is based in the same
age-old idea that we are not capable of governing our people, lands, and
resources. To justify these terminations, ANCSA also created Alaska Native led
for-profit corporations (which were provided the rema ining lands not taken by
the government and a one time payment the equivalent of about 1/20th of the
annual profits made by corporations in Alaska each year) with a mission of
exploiting the land in partnership with the US government and outside
corporations. It was a brilliant piece of legislation for the legal termina
 tion and cultural assimilation of Alaska Natives under the guise of progress.
               Since the passage of ANCSA, political leaders in Alaska , with a
few exceptions, have maintained that, as stated by indicted Senator Ted
Stevens, Tribes have never existed in Alaska . They maintain this position out
of fear that the real injustice being carried out upon Alaska Natives may break
into mainstream awareness and lead to a re-opening of due treaty dialogues
between Alaska Native leaders and the federal government. At the same time the
federal government chose to list Alaska Native tribes in the list of federally
recognized tribes in 1993. Governor Palin maintains that trib es wer e
federally recognized but that they do not have the same rights as the tribes in
the continental United States to sovereignty and self-governance, even to the
extent of legally challenging our Tribes rights pursuant to the Indian Child
Welfare Act. What good are governments that cant make decisions concerning
their own land and people?
               The colonial mentality in and towards Alaska is to exploit the
land and resources for profits and power, at the expense of Alaska Native
people. Governor Palin reflects this attitude and perspective in her words and
leadership. She comes from an area within Alaska that was settled by relocated
agricultural families from the continental United States in the second half of
the last century. It is striking that a leader from that particular area feels
she has a right, considering all of the injustices to Alaska Native people, to
offer Alaskan oil and resources in an attempt to solve the national energy
crisis at the Republican Convention. Palin also chose not to mention the
connection between oil development and global warming, which is wreaking havoc
on Alaska Native villages, forcing some to begin the process of relocation at a
cost sure to reach into the hundreds of millions.
               Our tribes depend on healthy and abundant land and animals for
our survival. For example, my people depend on the Porcupine Caribou herd,
which migrates into the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
each spring to birth their young. Any disruption and contamination will
directly impact the health and capacity for my people to continue to live in a
homeland we have been blessed to live in for over 10,000 years. This is the
sacrifice Palin offered to the nation. The worst part of it is that there are
viable alternatives to addressing the energy crisis in the United States , yet
Palin chooses options that very well may result in the extinguishment of some
of the last remaining intact ecosystems and original cultures in al l of N orth
America . Palin is also promoting off shore oil drilling and increased mining
in sensitive areas of Alaska , all of which would have a lifespan of far fewer
years than my grandfather walked on this earth and which would not even make a
smidgen of an impact on national consumption rates or longer term
sustainability. McCain was once a champion of protecting the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge and it is sad to see, that with Palin on board, he is no longer
vocal and perhaps even giving up on what he believes in to satisfy Palins
position.
               While I have much more to say, this is my current offering to
elevate the conversation about what is at stake in Alaska and for Alaska Native
peoples. Please share this offering with others and help us to make this an
election that brings out honest dialogue. We have an opportunity to bring
lasting change, but only if we can be open to hearing the truth about our
situations and facing the challenges that arise.
              Many thanks to all t hose who are taking stands for a just and
sustainable future for all of our future generations.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/An-Alaska-Native-speaks-ou-by-Evon-Peter-080910-216.html<http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/An-Alaska-Native-speaks-ou-by-Evon-Peter-080910-216.html>