At no time in recent US history have the human rights and civil protections of Alaska Natives and American Indians been so threatened in Alaska. In denying subsistence hunting and fishing priority to Alaska Natives in times of shortage, the State of Alaska seeks to, ultimately, starve residents of Alaska Native villages and communities to death. Natives who do not speak English are forced defend themselves in courts and legal disputes in a language not their own. Racist predators sexually prey on Native women in and around Anchorage, murdering them and, sometimes even displaying their kills to their comrades. Adolescents and young adults use Alaska Natives as targets for drive-by paintball sniping attacks.
The University of Alaska Anchorage touts an increased enrollment of Alaska Native students on the one hand, while the other starves the Native Students Services budget. The sacred clan crests and house names of members of Alaska Native tribes who are also students are misappropriated and then desecrated by faculty of the University of Alaska Anchorage; and the University of Alaska President and the UAA Administration, as well as the College of Arts and Sciences, protect them in the names of "academic freedom" and "free speech." Each day the list of abuses grows.
As a native born Alaskan of Caucasian heritage, I have been witness all my life to the shameful and discriminatory racist treatment of Alaska Natives and American Indians by white Alaskans. To live in honor and honesty, I must speak out forcefully and courageously against the perpetrators of these genocidal outrages. Please make yourself aware of the continuing depredations endured by Alaska Native people and join with me in calling for an immediate end to racism and discrimination of indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities in Alaska and the United States.
I urge you all to speak out fearlessly and unambiguously against this racism, in all its ugly forms.
If you are not outraged, you are not paying attention!
Diane E. Benson, Tlingit Poet and Playwright
Outspoken Advocate for Alaska Native Rights
and target of Anti-Native faculty at UAA.