Native Movement Blog
AK’s Voting Options for COVID-19 Safety
According to the CDC, “elections with only in-person voting on a single day are higher risk for COVID-19 spread because there will be larger crowds and longer wait times.” Although COVID-19 transmission is on the rise in Alaska, absentee ballots, early voting, and special needs ballots are voting options offered by the state of Alaska for state and federal elections that can reduce the risk of COVID-19 spread. Voting is important and necessary political action for many Alaskans, and by using all the options available to us we can keep each other safe.
Read through to explore the voting options available to you.
Absentee Ballots
Alaska offers three kinds of absentee ballots: by-mail, by-fax, and online delivery (email). No justification is required to apply for any kind of absentee ballot: any registered voter may apply. You must sign in the presence of a witness (anyone over 18 years old) for any form of absentee ballot.
By-mail Absentee Ballots
In order to apply for an absentee ballot online, visit https://absenteeballotapplication.alaska.gov/ where you can apply with DMV validation. To apply you will need your name, date of birth, the last four numbers of your Social Security, and your Alaska driver’s license or state ID number. You can also download a PDF form, fill it out, and sign it with a handwritten signature, and then mail, email, or fax it Alaska’s Division of Elections. If you do not have access to a computer contact the Division of Elections at 907-465-4611 or 1-866-952-8683 to request a paper application to be delivered by mail. Absentee ballots are mailed 45 days before election day for certain groups such as active duty military, and 25 days before election day for everyone else.
The deadlines for by-mail absentee ballot applications are:
Saturday, August 8th, for the August 18th primary elections.
Saturday, September 26th, for the October 6th REAA elections.
Saturday, October 24th, for the November 3rd general elections.
By-mail absentee ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day. Learn more about by-mail absentee voting here: https://www.elections.alaska.gov/Core/votingbymail.php.
Electronic Transmission Absentee Ballots
Electronic transmission absentee ballots applications are available 15 days before the date of each Election Day. Alaska offers two electronic transmission ballot options: fax and online delivery (email). Electronic transmission ballots are delivered 24 to 48 hours after your application is received. Electronic transmission absentee ballots must be submitted before 5:00 PM on the day before Election Day.
In order to vote by fax, you must have access to a fax machine. To apply for a by-fax absentee ballot or to learn more visit this website: https://www.elections.alaska.gov/Core/votingbyfax.php.
In order to vote an online delivery ballot you must have access to a computer, a printer, and an email account. To apply for an online delivery absentee ballot or to learn more visit this website: https://www.elections.alaska.gov/Core/votingbyonline.php.
Electronic transmission absentee ballot applications are available at 8:00 AM on:
Monday August 3rd, for the August 18th primary elections.
Monday, October 19th, for the November 3rd general elections.
Note: Electronic transmission is not available for REAA elections.
Early and Absentee In-Person Voting
Early voting and absentee in-person voting begins fifteen days prior to the date of each election. Early and absentee in-person locations and times are posted 40 days prior to each Election Day. When early voting, your eligibility is verified by an election official on the spot, is similar to voting on Election Day. When voting absentee in-person, your eligibility to vote is verified after voting by a bipartisan review board. Early voting is available in Juneau, Soldotna, Anchorage, Wasilla, Fairbanks, and Nome. To find early and absentee-person voting locations in your city or town, visit this page on the State of Alaska’s Division of Elections website: https://www.elections.alaska.gov/Core/AIPEVEvents.php.
Early and absentee in-person voting begins:
Monday, August 3rd, for the August 18th primary elections.
Monday, September 21 for the October 6th REAA elections (absentee in-person only).
Monday, October 19th, for the November 3rd general elections.
Special needs ballots
If you are unable to vote in-person because of age, illness, or disability you have the option of voting a special needs ballot. Special need voting is available as soon as early and absentee in-person voting is available. Learn more about special needs ballots here: https://www.elections.alaska.gov/Core/specialneedsvoting.php. To vote a special needs ballot:
Select a personal representative who will go to a voting location, either on election day or prior to election day at an early voting location.
Your representative will fill out the step one of the special needs envelope with your name, their information, and their signature.
An election worker will provide your representative with the special needs envelope containing a ballot and secrecy sleeve, and your representative will deliver the ballot to you.
Vote your ballot, place it in the secrecy sleeve, and then secure it in the special needs envelope.
Complete step two of the special needs envelope with your information, and your representative will act as witness to your signature.
Your representative will return it to a voting location before 8:00 PM on Election Day.
Note: Your personal representative cannot be a (1) candidate for office in the election, (2) your employer, (3) an agent of your employer, or (4) an officer or agent of your union.
Untangling Colonization • Virtual Training • July 29
Wednesday, July 29 @ 5PM
Untangling Colonialism
Building a Decolonizing Framework
A decolonizing practice requires recognition of the history of colonization and its current manifestations. This training briefly covers United States Federal Indian Policy carried out dominantly in the lower 48 and its expansion into Alaska policy and the implications on Alaska Native peoples. Additionally, participants will discuss how the history of environmental conservation has mirrored colonial world-views and what possible strategies we can further in order to decolonize conservation. This training delves into the spectrum of decolonizing strategies; from various personal, institutional, and systemic pathways forward.
“As a nonprofit environmental law firm in Alaska, we work with many coalitions and represent diverse interests. Native Movement is a valued partner and the decolonization trainings they provide are essential. Our Board and staff have done at least one of the trainings and it is so helpful for unlearning dominant culture norms and becoming/being aware of unconscious bias. Learning and unlearning with Native Movement is always effective, but especially in our current political culture.” - Vicki Clark, Executive Director, Trustees for Alaska
"The decolonization training helped our group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers and community leaders get centered in the history of colonial relations and decolonial efforts in Alaska. It also helped us experience in a personal way what the impact of colonial processes was on tribes. Several members of our group incorporated aspects of the training into their work with Indigenous youth. I would recommend this training to anyone who is interested in partnering with Indigenous communities and organizations so that they can have a shared understanding of history and its affects on current day relationships." - Noor Johnson, Research Scientist, National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado Boulder
“Native Movement's decolonization workshop had a profound impact on the way I understand the shape of white supremacy and the conservation movement. It offered a powerful way forward toward building up communities and supporting each other on our path of healing and justice. Everyone needs to go…twice!” -Veri di Suvero, Anchorage community organizer
Ban Conversion Therapy in Anchorage
On Tuesday, July 28 the Anchorage Assembly will be taking public testimony on Anchorage Ordinance 2020-65. This ordinance would amend the Municipal Code to ban conversion therapy in the Municipality of Anchorage with a fine of $500 if a facility is found to be providing, applying, or using sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts with a minor. Native Movement supports the ban of conversion therapy.
Written comments can be submitted via email to:
Testimony@anchorageak.gov by 2:00 p.m. on July 28.
In the subject line use: 14.P. Ordinance No. AO 2020-65.
If you'd like to provide testimony via phone:
email Testimony@anchorageak.gov by 2pm on July 28 with your Name, Phone Number, Agenda Item Number/Title for which you wish to provide testimony and Subject Line: Phone Testimony. When the Assembly reaches your agenda item, the Clerk will contact you at the number you have provided. You will have 3 minutes to provide testimony on each item you wish to speak on.
What is conversion therapy?
Conversion Therapy, or "reparative therapy," is any of several dangerous and discredited pseudoscientific practices where therapists attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Treatment relies on and amplifies the youths already present shame and may include physically painful stimuli to associate their identity with the negative stimuli. Every major medical and mental health association in the United States, Canada, and countries of the European Union, as well as in many other countries, have condemned the practice of “conversion therapy.”
The practice has been denounced by the American Psychological Association since 1998 and reiterated and expanded on their statement in 2013: The American Psychiatric Association does not believe that same-sex orientation should or needs to be changed, and efforts to do so represent a significant risk of harm by subjecting individuals to these forms of treatment.
The colonizing history of psychiatric providers treating LGBTQ2S+ people as “abnormal” hinged on the notion that sexuality was something which could, and should, be changed. The idea of queer and gender expansive experiences as disorders that could be “treated” was then exported throughout the world from the 19th century on through oppressive institutions. Indigenous cultures around the world, including Alaska Native and Native Americans, recognize genders beyond the Male-Female binary. Indigenous Peoples who transcend the binary have traditionally served important roles in our communities. Conversion therapy instills feelings of rejection, disappointment and depression. It fractures healthy relationships and feeds shame.
Let's protect our LGBTQ2S+ youth in Anchorage and preserve the health of our whole community by supporting AO 2020-65.
SILA Response to AK Congressional Delegation on the Reality of Racism
Author: Siqiñiq Maupin
Co-founder of Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic
(907)-884-1859 • inupiaq@silainuat.org siqiniq@nativemovement.org
Recently the Alaska Congressional delegation, Don Young, Dan Sullivan, and Lisa Murkoski, shamefully attempted to utilize this moment of racial spotlight to benefit their own profit interests, by implying that global banks' decisions to divest from the fossil fuel industry in Alaska is racially fueled. Banks around the world are divesting from activities that contribute to climate change AND they are listening to Indigenous Peoples calling for the protection of our ways of life. Both Gwich’in and Iñupiat Peoples have made official resolutions to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, therefore divesting from oil and gas development in the Refuge is answering the calls of Indigenous Peoples, it is the right thing to do.
Today we are in a revolution. The world is finally waking up to the long fought battle against racism. Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities have been subjected to subtle and violent racism since the onset of colonialism that has been both systemic and very very personal. Yet, in the last few weeks we are seeing the possibility of real change. We are seeing Justice demanded and taken.
While Arctic Slope Regional Corporation supports drilling in the Arctic Refuge, they are not a tribal entity nor do they require or practice consensus from their Iñupiat shareholders. Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA) is an Iñupiat organization, and while we respect the complex relationship of regional corporations and our Native peoples of the North Slope, we also recognize that regional corporations, by definition of law are not tribal entities and do not meet federal tribal consultation standards/requirements. Alaska Native corporations are beholden to shareholders (who may or may not be tribal members), they are not necessarily accountable to tribal membership. When Alaska’s congressional delegation sides with the corporations rather than the Alaska Native nations it is for blatant interest in oil and gas profits, not people and definitely not for racial equity.
For decades, Gwich’in and Iñupiat peoples have spoken, rallied, petitioned, and pleaded for recognition of Indigenous rights to food security and our long practiced ways of life. SILA stands united with our Gwich’in neighbors in the call to protect the Porcupine Caribou herd whose birthing grounds are on the coastal plain of what is now known as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We stand united with Black, Indigenous, and peoples of color globally in our demands to address climate change which is creating a continuous crisis in so many of our communities right now. SILA stands united with Black, brown, and Indigenous lives that are threatened daily by systemic racism. This systemic violence has been perpetuated by elected leadership who would manipulate our suffering for their profit.
By calling for a federal investigation of the banks who have taken a stand to support Indigenous Peoples rights, the Alaska congressional delegation -- Senators Murkowski, Sullivan, and Representative Young -- have shamefully declared, once again, that they side with corporate profits rather than racial equity.
The Kohtr’elneyh Workbook: A Visioning Guide for Families
This downloadable and printable workbook produced by Native Movement and in collaboration with the Alaska Just Transition Collective has been structured around the principles necessary for a Just Transition, as adapted from Movement Generation and Indigenous Environmental Network, and features coloring pages by artists Siqiniq Maupin, Apay’uq Moore, Jessica Thornton, Nabi Qureshi and Naaweiyaa Tagaban. Their artwork is then followed by descriptions and prompts designed to spark your own imagination!
Pride is celebration. Pride is also revolution.
Written by Ruth Dan and Edited by Ruth Miller • ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN OLBRYSH
In the wake of George Floyd’s killing by Derek Chauvin and the Minneapolis Police Department, it is all the more important to remember that Pride is the celebration and commemoration of Black and brown lgbtq+ protest against police violence ignited by the Stonewall riots in 1969.
In June 1969, the most vulnerable members of the lgbtq+ community led a series of clashes with the New York City Police Department, beginning at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. The street kids and the Black and brown gay youth led the front lines. The riots ignited the gay pride movement and ushered in a new era of visibility, freedom, and organizing for the lgbtq+ community. Today, Pride occurs in June to commemorate those historical riots. But Pride also celebrates the decades of lgbtq+ organizing it sparked in the aftermath. One estimate put the number of lgbtq+ groups at the time of the Stonewall Riots at 50–60, but two years later there were at least 2500 lgbtq+ advocacy groups active in the country. Radical organizations like s.t.a.r., founded by Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, provided support and housing to lgbtq+ youth and sex workers.
Building on this legacy of the Stonewall Riots, Native American and Indigenous communities have developed the two spirit movement, resonant of diverse Indigenous non-binary gender roles. Two spirit was first adopted at the international gathering of gay and lesbian Natives in 1990 to challenge colonially-created derogatory term berdache. A dynamic and relatively new movement, two spirit encompasses Indigenous systems of gender and sexuality that exist outside and independent from the lgbtq+ system.
Alaska Natives have been a part of these revolutionary traditions since the beginning. Anguksuar, also known by his English name Richard LaFortune, is a Yup’ik activist, author, and community organizer. Anguksuar was adopted from his home village early in his childhood by a Moravian family and was raised largely in the Lower 48. After college, he began a path of environmental and anti-war activism in the 1970s after the Three Mile nuclear disaster. He eventually became the executive director of Honor the Earth, a Native environmental advocacy organization dedicated to a Just Transition. Eventually he settled in Minneapolis, becoming part of the city’s diverse Native community. After attending a meeting hosted by the first Native lgbtq+ organization in the U.S., the Gay American Indians, in San Francisco, Anguksuar returned to Minneapolis and held a meeting of lgbtq+ Natives there. This meeting was the first of many, eventually becoming the International Two Spirit Gathering after the innovations of the 1990 gathering in Winnipeg.
At the time, few lgbtq+ spaces recognized the unique needs of Native lgbtq+ and two spirit people. Describing the need for a space specifically for Native lgbtq+ and two spirit people, Anguksuar said, “We didn’t have a lot of places to meet and socialize except with the mainstream lgbt community, which was in bars, and those aren’t a good place for us.”(1) Unlike many other lgbtq+ oriented events, Anguksuar said the International Two Spirit gathering was “an expression of culture, not sexual identity or gender politics […] It’s a place to heal and a chance to see the community grow.”(2) In 2005 he founded the Two Spirit Press Room (or 2spr) in Minneapolis, “a glbt Indigenous Media and cultural literacy project,” which became one of the few organizations in the U.S. doing lgbtq+ and two spirit education and advocacy.(3)
Because of the groundwork laid by Black, Native, and brown lgbtq+ leaders our lgbtq+ community enjoys the freedoms that we do. Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and Richard LaFortune used their time, energy, and power to establish community and organization for generations of Black, Native, and brown lgbtq+ communities to gather, heal, and thrive. Native Movement continues in the legacy of Pride and the Stonewall Riots with our work on two spirit and lgbtq+ issues, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives, gender justice, Indigenous feminisms, and police violence.
Quoted in “Sacred Rights of the International Two Spirit Gathering,” UTNE Reader, 2009
Quoted in Queer Twin Cities, 154
Quoted in Queer Twin Cities.
Open Letter to our Supporters
Get in this work with us! If you want to help, then help us tear down the prevalent culture of white-supremacy and colonialism. Black, brown, Indigenous, and queer communities need accomplices in the movement toward collective liberation. Your solidarity has been stated, now get in the trenches with us.
“This country was built on stolen lands, on the backs of stolen people, and deeply entrenched racism has wrought devastation in our Black and Indigenous communities throughout the generations all the way up until today. Racism, in all insidious forms, pervades our systems and society - and it quite literally kills us. Black and Indigenous men, in particular, are disproportionately targeted and harmed by law enforcement. The harm and loss of our precious, beautiful, deeply valuable men - our fathers, uncles, brothers - is and has been in a state of emergency for far too long.” - Joint statement from Native Peoples Action, First Alaskans Institute, and Native Movement, read the full statement HERE.
It should go without saying, but we're gonna say it again: We must ALL work to counter anti-Black actions and sentiments within all communities. We are stronger together. We are in this together. Our Indigenous liberation is tied to Black liberation; it is tied to the liberation of people of color, and the liberation of our two-spirit and queer relatives.
To our allies: LISTEN. Listen to Black leadership, listen to Indigenous and people of color community leaders, listen to *BIPOC LGBTQ2+ leaders. Seriously. Listen to those who have been voicing the direction and the solutions since the first injustices of colonialism. EDUCATE YOURSELVES. Don’t expect others to educate you. Check out the Jemez Principles, the Defend the Sacred AK principles, our Untangling Colonialism resources, and Remembering Forward -- AK Just Transition, to show up in a good way. Know that you are gonna mess up, be open to learning, be open to getting feedback, be open to deep growth, and keep going.
Now is the time to ORGANIZE! Build People Power by organizing your neighborhood, your work colleagues, your school. Organize toward lasting systemic change based on what BIPOC community leaders have articulated. Call your elected leadership to implement mandatory Anti-Racism and Decolonization Training sessions. Get on the school board, run for city council, help us implement a post-oil economy and protect our water, air, and lives. There are so many ways you can get involved; check out this newsletter and those to follow for more ways to show up, support, and educate yourself. We feel the momentum of these days & the urgency of our steps toward collective liberation. Please don’t stop, ACT UP.
And as we surge forward let us also take a moment to recognize the elders who have broken trail for us all. We want to honor two Alaska Native elders who recently passed -- MaryAnn Warden and Carlos Frank. We would not be where we are today without their leadership.
From Native Movement leadership team,
Enei Begaye (Executive Director), Shawna Larson (Deputy Director),
Aqpik Apok (Gender Justice Director), and Jody Potts (Regional Director)
*BIPOC: Black, Indigenous, People of Color
*LGBTQ2+: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Two-Spirit, plus
Digital Organizer Internship | June - August 2020
Native Movement June - August 2020
Digital Design + Advocacy Internship Opportunity
Digital Organizer Internship
This year our internship opportunity will focus on Digital Organizing! Many people in Alaska live outside major city centers and this time of Covid-19 has underscored the importance of organizing from a distance. Our Digital Organizer Internship aims to support rural/distance community organizing and support the safety of our communities throughout Alaska in this heightened pandemic time.
We are excited to announce that we are able to hire two paid Digital Organizer Interns for three months of full-time, on the job training and development. This internship will support Native Movement narrative strategies through digital communications, graphic design, web design and creative storytelling. Interns will learn tools for advocacy around Indigenous rights, the rights of Mother Earth, Gender Justice, Climate Justice, economic justice, and a variety of other issues Native Movement works on. Interns will work through a variety of online platforms, collaborate with statewide, national, and international activists and organizers, and nurture your communications skills through this 3-month internship.
This will be a fully distance online and phone internship that will demand self-motivation and self-discipline. Interns will be supported by Native Movement communications staff most directly and will have the opportunity to be mentored by or engage with other Native Movement staff and/or leadership, again all from a distance (online). You are not required to have the necessary online tools (laptop, software, internet, etc.) before applying, however that is a major plus, if selected for this internship Native Movement will work with you to achieve the needed technical items.
WHO SHOULD APPLY:
Alaska Native and Native American people with a passion for social and environmental justice.
People who want to be a part of teamwork to build and support grassroots movements for justice.
People with a desire to learn and build new and creative solutions to help shape better communities for all
Self-motivated people who are able to work well independently and within a team.
SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS:
A demonstrated Interest in developing or advancing skill sets with Adobe Creative Suite + Canva, Website Design ( Squarespace, Wordpress ) and other digital advocacy tools.
Values the creative process and enthusiastic for outreach campaigns on social media, e-mail, and beyond ( Facebook + Instagram etc. )
Again, this summer internship position will be carried out fully virtual, fully online, from a distance. Therefore, access to consistent and reliable internet as well as phone accessibility will be needed. If you have a computer, software, and wifi/internet that is a major plus, but Native Movement is committed to supporting equitable access for all and we will work with you if selected to secure internship technical requirements. If computer or internet access are a challenge for you but you are still enthusiastic about applying, please note any connectivity or computer limitations in your application and we will reach out to discuss possible options with you.
POSITION DETAILS:
Full-time, flexible hours. Because of the nature of community organizing staff often work in the evenings and on the weekends, however, not more than 40 hours per week. $15/hour
Because we are adapting to decentralized virtual organizing, Native Movement will do all we can to ensure a healthy, supportive, and fun learning environment for our 2020 Interns, even if we cannot gather together. To make the most of these new restrictions, we particularly encourage rural applicants who are eager to develop their graphic design, web design and other online skill set. Our Communications team will collaborate closely with the Digital Organizers to provide meaningful work opportunities, skills development, and social justice organizing experience.
Experience with social communications platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter are a plus! Experience with design platforms such as the Adobe Creative Apps, Canva, Procreate or other software is not necessary but a plus!
HOW TO APPLY:
E-mail the following to brandon@nativemovement.org
A cover letter or short video telling us why you would like this internship position
Your resume, including 2 references with contact information
1-2 letters of recommendation
For more information email brandon@nativemovement.org
Application Deadline: May 15, 2020
Notification of internship acceptance or declinations will be made as swiftly as possible. We hope to have a start date of June 1st, however we are also open to working with people’s schedules.
NPRA Willow Project Continues During Pandemic Despite Community Call to Pause
Please Register for one of the BLM Virtual Public Hearings on Thursday April 16.
On March 19th, during this unprecedented pandemic, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) opened the commenting period and scheduled "public" hearings through zoom for the Master Willow Project. Below is a letter asking BLM to suspend these processes that was denied on April 9th.
BLM responded with:
"Using virtual meeting technology allows for communities to request meetings at their convenience without concerns for weather or logistical costs creating a more efficient way to provide information and receive feedback with minimal cost to the American taxpayer.
It is also important to maintain a capable and functioning government to the greatest extent possible. In terms of operating during the COVID-19 pandemic, the BLM is working to maintain services to the American people and our stakeholders, consistent with evolving guidance provided by the CDC and state and local and state health authorities.
We believe this course of action is consistent with maintaining a functioning government and the Administration’s call for action aimed at slowing the spread of the disease, particularly in our isolated North Slope communities."
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Stakeholders are the communities and Peoples most impacted by the development, which are the Arctic Slope residents and communities of Nuiqsut, Anaktuvuk Pass, and Ataqsuk.
These are the main concerns in this sham of a process:
-Nuiqsut residents, which are closest to the proposed project, have over half their community members in the high risk category for the COVID-19 as 70% of the population are on medication to support breathing.
-Iñupiaq People have 11% fluency in their language, which is primarily held by people over the age of 50 putting them in high risk during this pandemic.
-Ravn has stopped transporting essential items to the Arctic Slope putting food security, basic human needs, and all shipments in jeopardy. The North Slope Borough is currently working hard to ensure the community has food and basic necessities.
-BLM is required to provide true public engagement yet two of the three communities that are directly impacted by this project do not have high speed internet or good cell reception. These meetings are available to only the privileged that have access to the internet fast enough for a webinar and public comments and/or a cell phone with enough cell reception to be engaged. This will leave out a large portion of the stakeholders and is perpetuating environmental racism.
-ConocoPhillips has accounted for pulling out of the Arctic Slope for the foreseeable future during this pandemic, but BLM is not suspending their project while people are struggling to ensure they have food and a safe place to live.
-To attend the webinar you must register prior to the hearings that will be starting next Thursday, making another roadblock for public engagement.
We are asking for a call to action to let BLM know that this is not a public process. This is taking advantage of Indigenous communities during a time the Arctic Slope is making every effort to ensure the safety of our elders, food and water security for members of all the North Slope communities, how to ship basic needs, and prevent the COVID-19 virus from entering communities without hospitals, ventilators, and life saving resources.
Meet Native Movement's Summer Intern: Birk Albert
To start the week off, we are highlighting Fairbanks Intern, Birk Albert. Birk is one of four interns working at Native Movement this summer and we are happy to have him as part of the team!
The summer interns at Native Movement are passionate about social and environmental justice and are interested in building grassroots organizing and nonprofit management skills. We hope you enjoy reading their blogs as much as we do!
Stay tuned for our last feature, coming later this week.
I’m Birk Albert, named for the birch tree, which provides the warmth needed in Interior Alaska’s winters. Birch is a hardwood which bends to form snowshoes my dad builds as well as sleds and other tools essential for life in the Interior. My Alaskan roots grow deep as my paternal grandparents are Phillip Albert Sr. of Kokrines and Justine Demoski of Nulato. My father, George, is the last active snowshoe maker of our people and a practitioner of all the subsistence skills one needs to survive in the Interior. My mother, Eileen, found her way from the west to live in Alaska almost twenty years and is the reason I exist carrying not just Koyukon Athabascan roots but the complicated legacy of the ‘Mayflower mix.’
I was raised along the Yukon River in Ruby, Alaska until age twelve when my parents decided I would be better prepared for college if I finished my education at a larger public school. I flew alone that first year to Lake Placid, New York. My uncle helped me with my transition to a school three times larger than in my village. I adapted and thrived. I took up soccer, Nordic skiing, track and community involvement with a slideshow about the immoral impacts on rural subsistence lifestyles by climate change. In Ruby, I grew up in a log home with only wood heat and no plumbing. In my new home, I took daily showers and enjoyed life in the Lower 48, although I missed my Alaskan home and family, I trusted I was preparing for my future.
I’m entering my third year at Wells College in Aurora, New York as a history major. This summer I’m back in Alaska to visit my family and work for Native Movement through First Alaskans Institute’s Summer Internship Program. I recently returned from the Society of American Indian Government Professionals conference youth training. In the past, I was lucky to serve as a United National Indian Tribal Youth inc as an Earth Ambassador and a 25 Under 25 honoree. I was also a White House Tribal Nations Conference youth delegate.
I have collected donated books to fill a Ruby Little Free Library which my father built. I hope this new project I created for Fresh Tracks which is a program through the Center for Native American Youth and the Aspen Institute will educate and inspire the youth and elders of Ruby to live in balance. The land where my home village sits was “Tlaa’ologhe’” for thousands of years before it was misnamed by miners for rubies which were never found in our streams. Yet, we had garnets and the riches of our natural food, our lands, waters, and culture to sustain us for millennia. Native peoples traditionally were grounded in reality and many of us still are. We have the obligation to protect what sustains all life even as we interact in the larger world. I’m grateful to be home and assisting in the important work of Native Movement.
Meet Native Movement's Summer Intern: Amaya Shaw
This summer, Native Movement hired four interns who are passionate about social and environmental justice and who want to build grassroots organizing and nonprofit management skills. We are excited to introduce you to a group of highly driven and skilled individuals through blog pieces.
Today, we are highlighting Amaya Shaw, who is working in our Anchorage community organizing space and office. Wondering who the other interns are? Follow our blog, we are looking forward to highlighting two more wonderful individuals!
Shoozhrì’ Amaya Shaw oozhįį. Tseeduu ts’a’ Gwichyaa Zhee gwats’an ihłįį. Shahan Rochelle Adams ts’a’ shahan viyehghan naįį Angela Peter-Mayo ts’à’ Cliff “Tuffy” Adams Jr. goovoozhrì’. My name is Amaya Shaw and I am Gwich’in Athabascan from Beaver and Fort Yukon, in the Northern Interior of Alaska. My mother is Rochelle Adams, and her parents are Angela Peter-Mayo and the late Cliff Adams Jr. My traditional name is Too Aht’sin which means night rain and has the same meaning as my given name Amaya, which comes from the Japanese side of my family.
Currently, I am living in Anchorage since my recent graduation from the Interior Distance Education of Alaska homeschooling program. I have worked with my mother Rochelle Adams on many projects to gain and share knowledge of our traditional arts and language.
As I come from a matriarchal bloodline, I feel right at home with these powerful women running Native Movement. Every day I strive to uphold my traditional values with everything I do, and Native Movement helps me to continue my shared vision of environmental and social justice for our Indigenous peoples and lands. It makes me very happy to see organizations like Native Movement making a change in our communities so gracefully in a direct, positive, and informative way.
Some of my favourite things to do include making digital and traditional arts, learning new languages, gardening, playing with my dogs, and reading/writing poetry. A major interest of mine resides in our traditional medicines and our traditional healing. I love to ask questions and learn more about our many uses for all surrounding resources from my home in the Yukon Flats and our many other regions.
Meet Native Movement's Summer Intern: Rachael Qimalleq Teter
This summer, Native Movement hired four interns who are passionate about social and environmental justice and who want to build grassroots organizing and nonprofit management skills. We are excited to introduce you to a group of highly driven and skilled individuals through blog pieces.
Today, we are highlighting Rachael Qimalleq Teter, who is working in our Fairbanks office. Wondering who the other interns are? Follow our blog! We will be sharing new short introductions written by each intern in the next couple of weeks.
My name is Rachael Qimalleq Teter. I’m Yup’ik from St. Mary’s, Alaska and currently live in Fairbanks, Alaska where I study math at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I’m on my way to becoming a high school teacher. My goal is to be a positive role model for those who are underrepresented in their fields. I hope to be an advocate, to share concerns to politicians and to also efficiently communicate politics to the concerned.
I’m excited to be working alongside and to learn from the strong team of women at Native Movement who are advocating for healthy communities. The values Native Movement was built upon are values I aspire to carry out every day. As a Yup’ik woman in the STEM field, I’m often surrounded by many who don’t share my background or experiences. At Native Movement, I feel a sense of belonging amongst the team. Knowing that we are all working for our people and come from a place of shared experiences is empowering on so many levels.
Apart from school, I’m involved in various organizations dedicated to strengthening our Alaska Native peoples and aim to be a positive role model for future generations. In my spare time, I enjoy beading, dancing, and adventuring. Overall, I hope to continue learning and stay grounded in identity and Indigenous values.
International Women's Day 2019
March 8 is International Women’s Day. This day celebrates the cultural, social, economic, and political achievements of women around the world. According to the United Nations, the first International Women’s Day was observed in the United States on February 28, 1909.
International Women’s Day is about coming together, celebrating the women in our lives—past and present, reflection, advocacy and action—globally and locally.
Native Movement celebrates the women who have helped make this world a better place for everyone. We also recognize the missing and murdered Indigenous women and the missing and murdered transgender women of color and gender nonconforming sisters who have gone too soon. There is a common thread between the two communities and a need to advocate for the safety, strength, and wellness of women, especially the most vulnerable—Indigenous women, transgender women of color and gender nonconforming femmes.
We hope today inspires you to take action to make your community a safer and more welcoming space for Indigenous and transgender women and gender nonconforming femmes every day. We ask that you honor and recognize the missing and murdered Indigenous and transgender women of color and gender nonconforming femmes.
Not sure what you can do? Volunteer or donate to a local nonprofit that supports the women in our lives, speak up against hate and discrimination, vote for local leaders from underrepresented communities, and teach your family to uplift the women around you.
We compiled a short list of Alaska organizations and a few national organizations to consider supporting and connecting with.
· AWARE, https://awareak.org/
· Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center, https://www.aknwrc.org/
· Gender Pioneers, https://genderpioneers.org/
· Identity, https://identityalaska.org/
· Transgender Leadership Alaska, http://www.transleadershipalaska.com/
· Native Peoples Action, https://nativepeoplesaction.org/
· Trans Lifeline, https://www.translifeline.org/
· Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest & Hawai’I,
https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/planned-parenthood-votes-northwest-and-hawaii
#indigenouswomenrise #transisbeautiful #mmiw #stoptransmurders #stoptransphobia
What’s Missing from #MeToo and #TimesUp: One Indigenous Woman’s Perspective
Collaborative artwork by Christi Belcourt and Isaac Murdoch
Written By Princess Daazhraii Johnson
As I have watched the national dialogue unfold around sexual harassment and sexual violence, I can’t help but take notice of the lack of tie in to a much larger picture: namely, how men have abused their power to dominate and inflict violence upon not only women (and women of color in particular), but our Mother Earth. And they absolutely are related.
The roots of colonization and patriarchy in the Americas, included the strategy of stealing lands from Indigenous peoples, inflicting violence and domination over women, and further exploiting those lands for monetary gain. But this is not some distant past — it is happening at an alarming rate today. Both the land, water, and Indigenous women have been ‘othered’ and devalued in our society. Native American women are 2.5 times more likely to experience sexual assault and rape than any other ethnic group and the unsolved cases of Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women (#MMIW) are staggering. Extractive industries play a major role in this violence and I encourage you to visit www.landbodydefense.org for a report and toolkit on how to support these resistance efforts. Another resource on MMIW community-led work is at It Starts With Us.
This patriarchal worldview of how we relate to Mother Earth and to the non-human is so toxic that academics are referring to it as a new epoch — the Anthropocene. Under a patriarchal, colonialist mindset we find ourselves consuming and polluting the natural resources of our Mother Earth at a rate that is exasperating climate change and threatening life on this planet. Yes, TIME. IS. UP. Time is up for unjust patriarchal systems. Period.
It was empowering to see the Time’s Up Movement intentionally elevate the voices of women of color, immigrant women, and lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women at the Golden Globes — including having Suquamish Tribal Member, Calina Lawrence, speak out on MMIW.
The creator of the #MeToo movement, Tarana Burke, had this to say: “Sexual violence knows no race, class or gender, but the response to sexual violence absolutely does,” she told TIME last fall. “Until we change that, any advancement that we make in addressing this issue is going to be scarred by the fact that it wasn’t across the board.”
Let us include the voice of our Mother Earth in this dialogue — because as I write this our oceans and lands are being polluted by oil — look here (if you dare) for the most recent catastrophe in the East China Sea. As we seek social justice we must seek environmental justice. The Trump Administration has opened up places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and all of our coastal communities are once again threatened by offshore oil development.
Business as usual isn’t working for the world, so we must change it all from the ground up. The challenge before us is not insurmountable, but we cannot build movements on superficial or extractive relationships. We must do the hard work of taking into consideration our various backgrounds and experiences and we must educate ourselves as much as possible as we come together to organize and remind ourselves it’s okay to feel uncomfortable and misunderstandings are bound to happen but it is how we react to those challenges that give us the possibility of building greater unity. Ask first how can we be of service? There are so many grassroots organizations that are doing meaningful work and there’s so much we can do — volunteer, uplift marginalized voices, donate our time and/or money to these organizations, and by all means play an active role in creating a better relationship with one another and with all life on Mother Earth!
Artwork by Erin Marie Konsmo