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Peter: Alaska 101 for presidential candidates

By Evon Peter

Story Published: Oct 2, 2008

Story Updated: Oct 3, 2008

McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin for his vice presidential running mate has opened a political window into Alaska. The world is peeking through in hopes of discovering sordid information about Palin’s life. A close look reveals approximately 130,000 Alaska Native people facing ongoing violations of their fundamental human rights. Politically speaking, this image – one that Republicans and Democrats alike fail to acknowledge – may snowball into a series of events reminiscent of India’s liberation from the British.

There is a powerful and well-informed movement building among Alaska Native peoples to address root causes of the cultural, spiritual, social, political and economic challenges people are facing. It is a movement of healing, awareness, truth and action.

We must look within history to uncover the solutions. In 1867, the United States paid Russia pennies on the acre for Alaska through the Treaty of Cession. Russia did not have dominion over Alaska. At best, Russia had claim to a few trading posts and some land on the Aleutian Islands. In the Treaty of Cession, Alaska Native peoples were referred to as the “uncivilized tribes,” a title given to those excluded from decisions regarding their lands, lives and resources.

In addition to deeming Natives “uncivilized,” the United States sent military convoys throughout Alaska and determined that Native peoples “posed no military threat.” These determinations furthered the U.S. agenda of resource exploitation and cultural genocide. My wise grandfather, who helped raise me as a child in northern Alaska, was born in 1904 into an “uncivilized” status. He was not a U.S. citizen, he could not vote, and he had to endure business signs that read “no dogs, no Natives.” This diminishment of Alaska Native status enabled the United States’ unjust and illegitimate claim to control Alaska’s land and vast resources.

In 1924, my grandfather became a U.S. citizen. In 1943, my tribe became one of the few federally recognized American Indian reservations in Alaska through the Indian Reorganization Act. The government quickly disallowed other Alaska Native peoples from following suit, realizing they would lose claim to most of Alaska if the process were allowed to continue.

World War II opened peoples’ eyes to the horrendous nature of genocide. Subsequently, the “United Nations Charter” established a list and framework for the decolonization of non-self-governing territories. African and disenfranchised European nations were excited to begin the process of reclaiming their right to nationhood and self-governance. The United States voluntarily added the territory of Alaska to this list, an acknowledgment that it did not hold legitimate control over Alaska Native lands and lives.

Alaska Native peoples went from traditional societies, rooted in practices of sharing, equity, humility, celebration, stewardship of land, and tribal self-governance, to shareholders of state chartered regional corporations.

However, in 1959 the United States violated its agreement pursuant to the United Nations Charter and ushered Alaska into statehood, less than 20 years after the non-Native population surpassed that of Alaska Natives. The government and colonists were interested in securing access to oil, gold, timber and salmon, among other natural resources. Alaska was also in a militarily strategic position in relation to the USSR and Asia.

Still, the United States had not established legitimate dominion over Alaska and there was growing pressure from industry to exploit oil on the North Slope. The government and oil industry needed a solution that would prevent Alaska Native lawsuits over the unjust taking of lands and resources. In 1971, the U.S. Congress enacted the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. It was the greatest legislative theft of American Indian lands since the Dawes Act of 1887. The Dawes Act resulted in the loss of approximately 90 million acres of Indian treaty lands in the continental United States.

ANCSA was not a treaty settlement with Alaska Native peoples – it was a unilateral congressional act. It extinguished all federal Alaska Native land claims, resulting in the theft of approximately 321 million acres of land, three and a half times the amount of land stolen pursuant the Dawes Act. In addition, ANCSA extinguished all but one Indian reservation and all indigenous hunting and fishing rights.

ANCSA provided a corridor for the trans-Alaska pipeline. The oil industry, state of Alaska and federal government have benefited more than $100 billion. On the other hand, Alaska Native tribal governments were undermined as ANCSA established 13 regional, for-profit, Native-led corporations. The Alaska Native corporations were provided lands not taken and a one-time payment, equivalent to approximately 1/20th the annual profits made from Alaskan resources in one year. Alaska Native peoples went from traditional societies, rooted in practices of sharing, equity, humility, celebration, stewardship of land and tribal self-governance, to shareholders of state-chartered regional corporations.

As a former chief, I have experienced the direct correlation between this history of colonization and the overwhelming challenges Alaska Native peoples are encountering today. As Alaska Native peoples, we are among the only indigenous peoples whose traditional hunting and fishing rights have been federally extinguished and we are the most dependent on this way of life. We have among the highest rates of suicide and are among the most economically impoverished in all of the United States. Our traditional leadership systems and rights to self-governance at a tribal level have been undermined and fragmented. The result of these human rights violations has been devastating.

Simultaneously, I am confident that a just and equitable resolution can be reached between Alaska Native peoples and the federal government. It is a pivotal time to enter treaty negotiations with the federal government to address the atrocities of a past rooted in blatant injustice, manipulation, exploitation and cultural genocide. We now have a deepening holistic knowledge of the past and its impact on our present situation. With this knowledge, humanity must work to confront injustices and heal dysfunction within all aspects of our lives.

Evon Peter is a former chief of the Neetsaii Gwich’in from northeastern Alaska and the current executive director of Native Movement.

View Oldest Comments First

Thursday, Oct 16 at 10:42 AM Aleutian Dweller wrote ...

The damage done by invaders from all nations, to Alaska Natives, has fertilized, watered and allowed these same invaders; though they call themselves 'Alaskan', to make sure 'unresolved historical grief' is continued in Native lives. There will be unforgivable acts of sexual abuse of minors as long as alcoholism is not heeded as the greatest poison to Tribes. Please, forget Palin, who pays little to no attention to this dis-ease, as she promtes the destruction of this lovely state, to drill!

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Thursday, Oct 9 at 12:41 AM Morgan Howard wrote ...

In the recent “Alaska Business Monthly” list of top 49 Alaskan-owned companies, two-thirds are Alaska Native, including eight out of the top ten. This includes revenues from timber, oil, gas and mining industries. Economic strength provides Alaska Native Corporations the ability to make significant positive changes for their tribal shareholders. They are major stakeholders in Alaska and relevant players in today’s world.

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Monday, Oct 6 at 8:37 AM Grame wrote ...

Your Alaska 101 to Presidential Canidates could and should expand to American Indian 101 to Presidental Canidates! This movement to address root causes of the cultural, spiritual, social, political and economic challenges faced by all Indian people should spread. We all need healing, awareness truth and action now! We have a voice and we should use it in a positive manner for the benefit of us all! Thanks for your wise words!

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Saturday, Oct 4 at 6:21 PM Kiatcha Nyquist wrote ...

Very well written comments and educational as well. I am a native corporation shareholder and I get about $5000 a year from my corporation. Sounds small in comparison to what really belongs to natives if you ask me. Those corporations are native run and they do good with what they have been given but the prevailing attitude of most whites in Alaska is that natives are stupid and cannot manage business well so they need to be managed by white people. Resentment is huge when the dividends come out

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Friday, Oct 3 at 12:27 PM sandra beasley unenrolled cherokee African American White wrote ...

simply brilliant and very educational! wa'do thank you in cherokee Evon.

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Friday, Oct 3 at 10:52 AM Oyegi Thamu wrote ...

Excellant commentary! We are indeed foturnate to have your insight and your leadership. You are an excellant role model for our youth as well as for our Tribal leaders. Keep it up.

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Friday, Oct 3 at 5:56 AM Moral_dk wrote ...

I've yet to read it myself but have heard that the treaty of cession only sold the trading rights to the area discriminate as Alaska rather than conveying a legitimate title to the land.

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Thursday, Oct 2 at 5:01 PM Ernie T wrote ...

Your information of how the Alaskan Natives were treated and the lands that they lived on for centuries were taken away is very well explained. I feel for the Natives there, as I too am a Native American, and as history has proven, our government has "slipped" concerning our curltural rights. I stand with the Natives of Alaska, and pray that others can see what the governor has done to the villages there in Alaska Thank you

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Thursday, Oct 2 at 3:59 PM Ivotz wrote ...

I'm still waiting for someone to explain what the alternative was to ANCSA. Someone tell me how, after we'd fallen as hard as we had to the scurrilous and wrong campaigns of the missionaries and government (working hand-in-hand), canneries, miners, loggers and other resource-extractors, we were going to resist the oil-driven onslaught and wind up with something better than ANCSA. What EXACTLY was the alternative and how were we going to enact it? Needless to say...Go Obama!!!

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Thursday, Oct 2 at 1:59 PM Lee wrote ...

That's a very well versed column you wrote. Very informative for people that don't know what the Native Alaskan's have had to overcome and continue to overcome. Thank you!

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