Where I
reside now in Alaska is like a lot of Alaska places: there is diversity represented by a strong
Asian presence, a strong Alaska Native presence, an African American presence, a
Latino presence, and the ubiquitous Anglo presence of course.
In Southeast
Alaska the Norwegian connection to fishing is a subtext you commonly run
across, especially in the bars.
I am one of
the few die hard Bernie Sanders supporters out here in “the valley”. That’s Preconventional Bernie mind you: my “A Future to Believe In” poster sits
defiantly in my small apartment window.
My faded “Bernie 2016” bumper sticker on the dashboard facing out of the
windshield of my truck.
A
progressive among conservatives and Donald Trump supporters.
I’m not the
only one.
Interestingly,
Alaska Natives are typically republican and conservative. I’d imagine many Native Alaskans support Mrs.
Clinton in the 2016 national election.
It’s ironic
at first glance that Native Alaskans embrace American conservatism, which is associated
with a strong “law and order” and self-reliance as well as religious righteousness. Several significant negative events in Native
Alaskan post western exposure history are a direct result of western law and order
practices, and religion: The great deaths;
boarding houses; missionaries. Maybe
ANCSA was the game changer…that which continued exploitation by minority.
ANCSA, the
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, was passed in 1971 under republican
president Nixon. And Native Alaskans,
led by many great leaders including Willie Hensley were able to get a reparations
and claims package from the US government:
land; and money in the form of established native owned and operated corporations
which pay dividends to shareholders to this day. The corporations were supposed to be open to public
trading twenty years after the corporations were established in 1971; before
that the shares were limited to Native Alaskan’s born on or before Dec. 18, 1971.
But savvy Native Alaskans somehow managed to keep the shares Native. And the corporate dividend checks are a boon
to Alaska Natives who were original recipients, or who have been grandfathered
in. While ANCSA didn’t provide business
managers or startup capital at the time, many Alaska Natives thought it was the
best deal they were going to get at the time:
it gave $962B (1971 dollars) to Native Alaskans, created 229 village
corporations and 13 regional corporations; but also lost Native Alaskan claim
to 300m acres of land, though they can still use the land…
Therefore, Native
Alaskan interests are closely tied to corporate interests in natural resources
and fisheries. Corporate interests in US
politics are closely tied to conservative, republican interests, which Mrs.
Clinton makes no qualms abut representing.
If they had
won claim to the land they would actually own the oil…
Anyway.
Classically
in the United States Anglos treat minorities terribly: Asians, Native Americans; African
Americans. But they have the weight of
the US government with them, which is a traditionally Anglo institution. Kind of like journalism.
Anglos were
once a minority in Alaska, described by one government agent in the 1860’s as “Their
whole life is made up of fraud, deceit, lying, and thieving, and selling liquor
to the Indians which they manufacture themselves” (Lundberg, 2016)
Minority Anglos
in Alaska sold liquor and tainted liquor to Alaska Natives, poisoned them with typhoid,
bombarded them with warships because they could. And they came for the gold. And they came to get away. And they came and came.
At least
under the Organic Act Alaska came under the control of the US Federal
government, which gave fairness a better chance. But you have to understand, the US government
is in favor of economic development and profit, which are engines of Anglo
civilization. And the officials
appointed to govern the Alaska territory were no less corrupt then the one’s
mentioned above (Lundberg, 2016).
Flash
forward to 2016 and I a f progressive in the valley of the Matanuska-Susitna
glacier.
Sarah Palin
was once mayor of the town I live in.
She is now a caricature of a bible waiving “god and guns” conservative,
and you know what? That really sells out
here.
A common
site on the Palmer-Wasilla highway is a truck that has a large American flag on
one side of its bed, and a large confederate flag on the other waiving
furiously in the wind as the truck goes to and fro. Near as I can tell there are three trucks
that waive flags like that: one has the confederate/American
tandem; one has a flag that says “Don’t tread on me”; one just has an American
flag.
And the
ubiquitous Donald Trump bumper sticker, more and more visible as we approach
election day, 2016.
I’ve lived
here six months now. And I’m sure there
are wonderful people here, as everywhere.
Nor does it mean if someone has a confederate flag or Donald Trump
sticker that they are somehow worse than me.
I’m no rose;
my shit stinks too.
Still, in
this mix, when I go to a mechanic and he feels the need to tell me how Obama
needs to be impeached, or I see someone with a megaphone and a placard saying
the same on a corner in Palmer I’m wary.
Between that, the confederate flag, and the Donald Trump imagery I don’t
feel that people who hold these ideals dear are going to be concerned how their
actions affect others, especially minorities and those who have been historically
negatively affected by the Anglo system.
What really gave me a moment of pause
and got me to writing is this: the man practicing
his right to carry a sidearm coming from the liquor store with his case of
beer.
He was a
large sized Caucasian with a red hat.
His holster prominent on his hip, hand cannon in place. He roamed through the store, I didn’t follow
him. In fact, really didn’t want to see
a large white guy with weapon prominently displayed as I looked for my collard
greens (the liquor store is attached to the main store). I suppose it would have been easier if he
were a uniformed law enforcement authority…
I purchased
my goods, and there he was as I walked the lot to my car, in all his glory,
case of beer in hand, strolling to his car with his side arm.
I thought of
the NRA saying that if more people were armed there would be less mass
shootings in schools and such, though they don’t advocate for firearms where
people drink certainly (Burke, 2016).
I thought of
the worldwide epidemic of killing of which the US is a prominent player.
I thought of
the prominent role guns have in popular moves since the seventies (Actually the
gun was a star in westerns for a time.
But then, probably with Clint Eastwood, a former western star, they made
a “crossover” to mainstream movies as a prominent character); before this they
were a sign of danger and bad guys in most mainstream movies.
But I
digress…
Again: am I righteous because I am a person of
color? No. Because I acknowledge man’s cruelly to man am
I somehow not a part of it? No.
I am only
your humble, progressive narrator. A
product of the times in Alaska.
Burke, C. (2016, June 19). NRA's LaPierre: Trump
wrong; sholdn't ahve firearms in bars. Retrieved from NewsMaxc:
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/nra-wayne-lapierre-vulnerabilities-trump/2016/06/19/id/734586/
Lundberg, M. (2016, September 18). The 1884 Alaska
Organic Act. Retrieved from ExploreNorth: An Explorers Guide to the North:
http://explorenorth.com/library/yafeatures/bl-Alaska1884.htm
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