Letters to Howard

(An Interpretation of the Alaska Native Land Claims)

by Fred Bigjim and James Ito-Adler
c. 1974

Fred Bigjim asked Alaska Native Knowledge Network to have Sara Harriger's (a college student) paper included with "Letters to Howard"

Forward

The letters in this short collection, Letters to Howard, are signed by Naugga Ciunerput and Wally Morton, two residents of Land’s End Village in the State of Alaska. The actual authors of the letters are Fred Bigjim and James Ito-Adler, who at the time were residents of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and students at Harvard University. As graduate students, they were both Teaching Fellows in an under-graduate course at the university, Social Sciences 152, entitled, "Native Americans in the Contemporary United States."

The idea of writing the letters under the name of Naugga Ciunerput and Wally Morton was not primarily an attempt to deceive people or fool them about the things that were being said. The letters are a very honest attempt to put down on paper certain questions, problems, feelings, and thoughts that we had about the situation of Native people in Alaska today. Fred Bigjim is an Alaskan Eskimo, himself, although he is not quite an "old" man yet. Jim Ito-Adler was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Brazil for two years before returning to study for a Ph.D. in social anthropology. Thus, we were able to speak with our true voices in the letters as we combined our questions and shared our knowledge.

During the semester that we were teaching the course on Native Americans in the contemporary United States, we faced a similar situation over and over again. Students would read a book like Dee Brown’s "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" or Vine Delairea’s "Custer Died for Your Sins," and become outraged at the way Indian tribes were destroyed by the onslaught of "Western Civilization." They would hear Native American speakers denounce the Bureau of Indian Affairs and they would see television coverage of the Wounded Knee occupation at Pine Ridge, South Dakota. The result in many cases would be feelings of guild, shame, and sometimes outrage, but all too soon the moment would pass. And besides, Custer is dead and the U.S. Cavalry no longer charges down on hapless Indian villages. But this passes over the deep-rooted and barely perceived story of the expansion of certain forces in the American way of life that had perhaps greater effects on the Native American way of life than the 7^th Cavalry. The integration of Native resources into the expanding market economy of the late 19^th century meant the loss of their autonomous land base as the treat rights were eroded. The Dawes Severalty Act, sometimes know as the General Allotment Act, did irreparable damage to Native peoples under the guise of helping them to become better farmers and more civilized. The termination phase of Department of Interior might have phased out the BIA and Indian tribes as well under the guise of Indian self-reliance.

When we began to discuss these things in class, most of the students were aroused by the injustices, especially since they were at a distance both in time and space. After all, what happened on the frontier in 1870 was not going to happen in the United States in 1970. After all, the Alaska Natives were going to receive one billion dollars and eighty million - or was it forty million acres in compensation? As we read through the provisions of AN ACT (Public Law 92-203), we began to get a different perception. While it may be true that under the political conditions of the day this was the best settlement that Alaska Natives could have gotten, we decided to look the gift horse in the mouth. The purpose is not to second guess the Native leadership who were faced with the impossible task of representing Alaska’s diverse peoples in the negotiations and drafting of the bill, but rather to attempt to look to the future in an attempt to understand what forces this legislation will set loose in Alaska as far as the Native way of life is concerned.

We found some guidance in the story of the past, in the story of the relationship between Native peoples and the federal government in these United States of America. What is happening to Native people in Alaska is not a new story; it is a new chapter in an old story. Today we have discoveries of oil and an energy crisis; yesterday it was gold, timber, furs, water, and any number of international crises. Only now, as Naugga Ciunerput (Our Destiny) notes, the stakes are higher and the pot is sweeter.

The letters in this collection speak our mind for us. They are written with our voices. They ask the questions that bother us and state the feelings that move us. We do not pretend to have the answers to these serious questions, but we refuse to cover our ignorance in silence. The "experts" can write a complicated legal document like AN ACT, but it is the far simpler and humbler folk who will have to live with the consequences. And who will look to the future for them, their children, and the many generations to come? Will this be a story that started a century ago or will it start in twenty years when a new generation will have to live with today’s decisions?

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
March 30, 1973

Dear Howard:

I have been living in this village for many years all alone except for Mr. Wally Morton, who was an old VISTA volunteer who got lost up here in 1970 and never got evacuated. We didn’t used to have much to do in the evenings until one day when the mail plane dropped a bundle of magazines which all turned out to be the same - AN ACT (Public Law 92-203). Wally read one copy and then told me that it had a lot to do with my life and my future here in Alaska, so we read it together in the evenings to practice our lessons. You see, he is teaching me English and I am teaching him Eskimo, and we use AN ACT as the text. So far it has been pretty one-sided because AN ACT doesn’t have any Eskimo language in it. In fact, as Wally explains what AN ACT says to me, this seems pretty logical, because as far as Alaska natives (that is what we Eskimos, Aleuts, Tlingits, Haidas, Athabaskans, etc., are called in AN ACT) are concerned, it does seem to be pretty one sided. He says that there is a lot of money ($$$$) involved, but then Wally always has been a bit more interested in dollars than in land, water, animals, and such-like. To hear him explain it, they all involve buying, selling and world markets, and I am just an old Eskimo man who does not know much about these complicated things.

But there are a few things that one old man can say to another old man which I’ll try to pass on to you to see what you think. As there were many new and difficult words in AN ACT, we read Section 3 on DEFINITIONS first. The very first word defined in AN ACT is "Secretary," which does not mean a woman who operates a typewriter and makes decisions for the boss in an office, as I had always been told. This "Secretary" is the boss of the Interior Department. I wonder who writes his letters and makes decisions for him like all the other bosses? Anyway, this "Secretary" seems to be extremely important since he is the first person defined in AN ACT and apparently gets to make most of the important decisions. For example, in Section 3 of AN ACT, it says that a Native is someone who has 1/4 Native blood or if not that, then someone who is recognized by other Natives as a Native and who has one parent that is also recognized as a Native. Then it says in Section 3 (b): "Any decision of the Secretary regarding eligibility for enrollment shall be final"; so Wally was wondering if he was a friend of the Secretary could he be enroled as a Native. As for me, I was wondering if the Secretary didn’t like me could he prevent me from being enroled as a Native? Then I got to wondering what about someone with 1/4 Native blood that other Natives did not recognize as a Native. I mean, is Native a Native, or is a Native someone the "Secretary" says is a Native? How much Native blood does the "Secretary" need to be able to decide who is a Native? And who were the Natives who decided that the "Secretary" could decide who Natives were?

This is all very difficult to me, Howard, so I will be writing down some more of the questions about AN ACT that are bothering me and sending them on to you. Many thanks, and I hope all is well with you.

Your Native Friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
April 10, 1973

Dear Howard:

The mail plane finally got through last week, so I am able to get out another letter to you about the problems I am having with the Secretary’s plan, AN ACT, about us Alaska Natives. With the help of my friend Wally Morton, the ex-VISTA- volunteer, I was able to fill out the Native Enrollment Form in time, so I guess that qualifies me as a Native of Alaska. One of the things that I had to do was fill out a family tree which is probably so the Secretary can see if it really has Native roots. It made me sad to do this, because it took me back to the times when we were younger and we saw so many of our friends and relatives dying during the time of sickness. Wally is too young to remember those times when the outsiders brought their sickness and diseases to our villages. Though it makes me sad, it also makes me remember how the survivors opened their hearts and homes to adopt the children who were left without parents. We all knew our responsibility to each other in those times. I wonder how this will appear in the family trees that the Secretary is collecting? Can he build a Native forest out of these paper trees which are taken to represent our lives?

As Wally was helping me, I began to realize that many of my relatives would not be able to fill out these Native Enrollment Forms without help. They are very difficult to under stand even if you speak some English. I see my friend Wally complaining that he needs a Legalese Dictionary to translate the Bureaucratic English in AN ACT which explains all the rules and reasons for these forms. Just imagine the problems of a poor old man like myself and you will see why I worry about those who did not have help before the deadline. Did they become Lost Natives after March 30. 1973, as far an AN ACT is concerned? I guess two years is a long time to some people, but out here in the villages it is a short time in a way of life that has been going on for as long as anyone knows. Wally says that the Secretary refused to extend the enrollment deadline for even 30 days. Did he really think that the month of April was so important to his plans when he made this plan two years ago?

Finally, there is one more thing that has been bothering my about enrollment under AN ACT. What is wrong with all our children and grandchildren who are being born since AN ACT was passed? Are babies born after December 18, 1971, to Natives somehow less Native than those born before this date? On paper they are not Natives as far as AN ACT is concerned. As a family ends when there are no more children to carry on, what happens to a people when they do not claim their descendants? Are we setting brother against brother according to their birth dates?

I am sorry, Howard, for carrying on about these problems because as Wally says - many lawyers must have spent much time and money to settle these questions. But even though this old man may be ignorant, he knows who he is without seeing the papers on the Secretary’s desk and he knows who his people are and how to act towards them. Even though Wally says this is all too late I am comforted by the fact that I am still learning new things every day. It is possible to sleep through the morning but still wake up for the new day.

Your friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
April 17, 1973

Dear Howard:

Something really special happened when the mail plane came through our village last week. There was a letter for me from a young fellow in Anchorage named Joe Ayagtug who is a distant relative of mine. He is the son of my wife’s cousin who used to live in a nearby village. Years ago, when Joe became old enough to be starting school, the people from the Bureau of Indian Affairs came and took him away to be educated in Wrangell. This made his family very sad and also very angry. They were sad because they would miss their son, but they were also mad because their son was taken away against their wishes and without their knowledge. As for little Joe, he never came back to stay for good with his family, because he was too young to know what was really happening. Growing up in an institution, he gradually forgot how life was supposed to be in the village. When he did come back to visit his folks, they did not know his new ways and he was no use at all around the house.

Since his own family died in an accident a few years ago, I guess that makes me one of his closest relatives in the world. In the letter he says that he wants to come back to the village and learn about how things were in the old days. For my part, I want to talk to him about how things are nowadays. I often wonder about all of those children who were taken away from their families to be educated and then took up city ways. Wally has often told me about how exciting those cities are supposed to be, but they don’t sound so good to me. Maybe Joe can tell us about some of the things in AN ACT since he said in the letter that he got a job with one of the Regional Corporations that were created by AN ACT.

Wally and I looked up what it said about Regional Corporations in AN ACT and it set my English lessons back about a week. To begin with, it seemed pretty clear what a Region was even if it wasn’t so clear why they did this in AN ACT, but Wally’s explanation of what a corporation was didn’t make much sense. I know what a company is, or at least I can understand what it does, but he said that a Corporation was a Person under the Law, and that this was an example of a legal fiction. But Wally had already told me a Person was a Human Being, and that fiction was a story that wasn’t true, so you can imagine how confused I was getting. Then I asked him if there was any place in the White Man’s Law for Legal Truth. He didn’t say anything, so I asked him if a person who became a corporation was still considered a human being. Well, he started getting a bit angry and I was getting more confused so I guess we won’t talk about it for awhile till things calm down.

Anyway, maybe when this young fellow from Anchorage gets here, he will be able to explain some more about what AN ACT means for us out here in the villages.

Your friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
April 26, 1973

Dear Howard:

Well, Joe Ayagtug - that Eskimo fellow from the big city I was telling you about - came in on the mail plane this week. We also got a copy of the Tundra Times which had printed the first letter I sent to you. Joe was surprised to see it and he had a lot to say about AN ACT. Wally Morton, my VISTA friend asked him about how the Regional Corporations were doing since in Section (a) (1) (A) it said that $12,500,000 were supposed to go into the Alaska Native Fund during the fiscal year in which AN ACT became effective. Then Wally went on to add that Section 6 (c) said that after the completion of the enrollment all the money in the fund shall be distributed at the end of each three months of the fiscal year among the Regional Corporations.

Joe Ayagtug said that as far as he knew each Regional Corporation had received $500,000 so far from the fund. With 12 Regional Corporations that added up to only $6,000,000, or one-half of the money that should have been in the fund. Wally said that he would like to have six million dollars in the bank earning 6% interest for a few months which sort of made Joe wonder what was going on. Wally also asked Joe if all the regions had the same native populations since the money was supposed to be distributed according to the relative population of natives enrolled. Since Joe did not know how the rest of the money was going to be distributed, I will pass the question on to you, Howard: Will each Regional Corporation get the same amount of the rest of the money or will it depend on the size of their native populations?

But the most serious question that is bothering me is about Section 6 (b). If this is supposed to be a fair and just settlement of the Alaska Native Claims, why is our use of the money restricted by AN ACT? Wally has been telling me for so long how important it is for us traditional Natives to learn how to use the modern legal and political system. This is so we will be able to operate in the dominant White society, as he puts it. Now it says in AN ACT that natives cannot use any of this money to influence the political system. I asked Wally if white corporations can use their money to influence politics and he admitted that oil companies, for example, maintain big lobbies to influence politicians. Joe added that if we wanted to see what money could do in politics, we should see what the newspapers in the lower forty-eight are reporting about Washington these days.

But why did they put this section in AN ACT? Were they so afraid that we Natives might learn how to use their system for ourselves? It isn’t fair to tell a person to learn how to do something and then deny them the right to do it. Well, Howard, to me this settlement seems to be less fair and just the more I read it, but then I am just an old man in a small village.

Your friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
May 4, 1973

Dear Mr. Rock:

Since Naugga Ciunerpat and Joe Ayagtug have gone off together on a hunting trip, I have decided to write the letter to you this week. This will give me a chance to let you know what has been going on out here, especially with regard to the letters you have been receiving.

I am the one who has actually been writing the letters, although they are basically Naugga Ciunerput’s ideas and thoughts. He is still unsure of his English, and doesn’t know how to write yet, so he tells me what to say in the letters and I fix up the grammar, spelling and punctuation. At first I disagreed with him about some of the things he wanted to write or at least I didn’t understand what he was trying to communicate. But since I began to read the Native Claims Settlement Act, I am beginning to see the light.

When I first came to Alaska as a VISTA volunteer I thought that I would be helping the noble but backward natives into economic development and social progress. The thing I though was necessary was a change in traditional attitudes and the adoption of new technology and modern market methods. When they resisted, I thought they were just being stubborn or lazy; instead of change they wanted to talk about history, law and politics.

As I worked with a group of native fishermen in a program of community development, I slowly began to realize that the poverty of the village was not so much due to the native psychology as to the activities of certain private corporations in the region. The people worked hard, but they ended up further in debt to the owners of the fishing equipment and the company store. But you don’t learn about this in the books we used in training.

When the Alaska Native Claims Act was passed, my parents wrote me from home asking if I would be coming back early now that all of the Eskimos were going to be millionaires! Well, I don’t exactly see it that way, especially since I have begun to read the provisions of AN ACT with Naugga. For example, my father is a member of a conservation group which is opposed to the building of the oil pipeline. He doesn’t realize that for the Alaska natives to oppose the pipeline, which they probably would if they had a free choice, they would lose one-half their settlement. Divide and conquer still seems to be a good colonial strategy.

Probably when I leave Alaska I will apply to go to law school in order to learn some useful skills to deal with these problems. One small example was when Joe and I were discussion the federal regulations on "modern and urban" villages. He was upset because so many villages were going to be denied the benefits of AN ACT when I pointed out that they also had to have a majority of non-Natives according to Section 11 (b) (2), since it says and rather than or. Later that week, we got a copy of the Tundra Times, where it said that there was a long meeting to resolve this when someone finally decided to call up a lawyer in Washington to pass judgement on it. It would appear that if the natives don’t read AN ACT, no one will, since the Interior Department will just issue any regulations they want.

Next week I hope that Naugga and Joe will be back to continue the correspondence.

Sincerely yours,
Walter M. Morton

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
May 10, 1973

Dear Howard:

A am sorry that I missed a week in writing to you, but it appears that my friend, Wally Morton, wrote to you explaining the situation. Well, he is still here putting my words and thoughts down on paper. Joe Ayagtug and I took a week’[s trip into the territory surrounding our village to see how the land selection will work here. We covered our traditional hunting and fishing grounds where our people have lived for centuries. Although everyone knew the area, we never put up markers, fences or boundaries because there were enough resources for everyone to survive.

What we found was large areas that had been marked off by others, especially the Federal Government. Some of it is in national parks, wildlife refuges, bird sanctuaries; while other areas are held by the State of Alaska and private corporations. That means that the land available to us to choose is smaller because of all of these others who are outsiders as far as we natives are concerned. They have taken this land without our participation or permission. How then can this be a "fair and just" settlement if that land was taken from us without our knowledge and is not going to be included in the selection process? What will become of the villages in these areas? Who is this wildlife being reserved for? Wally says that maybe we natives should apply to the Federal Government for protection as an "endangered species."

Joe Ayagtug said that, according to AN ACT, our land choice will have to be compact and contiguous. Did this apply to the government and the private corporations when they took all that land? Because we are a small village we have rights to about 69,120 acres. Apparently 23,040 acres will be the square section around the village itself. Since we are located on a river we would like to choose land along the river, but Joe says this would not be compact and also AN ACT limits the village’s selection in regards to waterways. He also said that our village would not receive subsurface rights, in other words any valuable minerals in the ground, because these would belong to the Regional Corporation. This I cannot understand. Why can’t the Village Corporation have the subsurface rights to the land that they receive? How did they make a decision like this?

Well, Howard, I have so many questions about how this land selection is going to work that I’ll probably have to send in another letter when we begin to see what happens out here.

Your friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

 

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
May 15, 1973

Dear Howard:

I am sending this letter out with Joe Ayagtug, who is returning to Anchorage this week. When he left he was very worried about how the land selection is going to work in our village. Before he left, he pointed out that about half of the available period for land selection is over since it says in Section 12 (a) (1) of AN ACT that we have until December 18, 1974, or three years. With so little time and such complicated rules, how can we be expected to do such a thing, when, as Joe said, the State of Alaska has had thirteen years to select the land that was to be taken from us by the Statehood Act?

It seems a little odd to me that the land surveys will come after the land selection. How will we know if we are selecting too little land or too much land until it is surveyed? I also wonder how long it will take for the survey to be done and will any Natives be trained to do this work? In the past, they never let us Natives do the simplest things for ourselves and now they give us a task which is so complicated. Is this one more example of a fair and just settlement? It seems that we village people are the last to find out about these things and are expected to be the first to accomplish them.

Another thing that has been bothering me, Howard, is the division between surface and subsurface rights in the land. If the Regional Corporations are getting subsurface rights in the Village land, why can’t the Village get subsurface rights in the wildlife refuges, for example? Wally says that it would destroy the purpose of them, but then what will mining and drilling do to life in the small villages? Maybe they are afraid that if there are rich minerals underneath the ground, there may be rich Natives above it.

All of this is very confusing to an old man, so maybe some of your readers who live in villages could write and tell me how they are handling the problem of land selection where they live.

Your friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Section 12 (a) (1) During a period of three years from the date of enactment of this Act, the

Village Corporation for each Native village identified pursuant to section 11 shall select, in accordance with rules established by the Secretary, all of the township or townships in which any part of the village is located, plus an area that will make the total selection equal to the acreage to which the village is entitled under section 14. The selection shall be made from lands withdrawn by subsection 11 (a): Provided, That no Village Corporation may select more than 69,120 acres from lands withdrawn by subsection 11 (a) (2), and not more than 69,120 acres from the National Wildlife Refuge System, and not more than 69,120 acres in a National Forest: Provided further, That when a Village Corporation selects the surface estate to lands within the National Wildlife Refuge System or Naval Petroleum Reserve Numbered 4, the Regional Corporation for that region may select the sub-surface estate in an equal acreage from other lands withdrawn by subsection 11 (a) within the region, if possible.

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
May 20. 1973

Dear Howard:

Recently a funny thing happened out here that I thought might interest you. A fellow, who said he was from New York City, came through our village and tried to sell me a set of the New American World Encyclopedias. At least I thing=k that was what he said they were called. He said they were a real bargain at only $500, and that if I wanted, I could buy them on the installment plan for the low, low cost of $12.50 a week for 12 months! He told us that he was selling them to help us newly-rich natives make our way in the modern world.

Just for fun, Wally and I added up the weekly payments which came out to be $600 and not $500 as he said. That didn’t seem to bother him, because he said that Time is Money and it was easy to earn $100 if you had $500 for a whole year. He went on to ask me if all us Natives weren’t millionaires anyway. It seems that his company in New York read about AN ACT in the Wall street Journal and the rest was simple arithmetic. With only about 60,000 Natives in Alaska and according to Section (6) (a) (1) (A), a first fiscal year payment of $12,500,000, this should be enough money for each family to get a brand new refrigerator and a set of the New American World Encyclopedias!

I told him that I hadn’t seen a penny so far, and Wally suggested that he go call on the officials in the Regional Corporation, who seem to be doing quite well. His reasoning was that if they spent $500 on a set of encyclopedias, they could look up some of the things that they have been hiring consultants to find out for them.

The salesman didn’t seem to be discouraged by all this, for he set out right away for the next village. He said that he had to keep ahead of the competition who would soon be flocking up here to get their share of this Native "gold mine," as he called it. It seems that more and more people are thinking that all of the Alaska Natives are instant millionaires, when really we are still as poor as we ever were. But they all want to hit paydirt in this imaginary Native gold mine.

I just hope that this doesn’t make things worse than they already are.

Your friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
May 25, 1973

Dear Howard:

The other night when we were reading the opening sections of AN ACT, where it has the Statement of Policy, we came across Section 2 (b) where it says that the settlement should be accomplished without establishing any racially defined institutions, rights, privileges or obligations. Then in Section 2 (c), after saying that the Alaska Natives shall not lose any rights as citizens of the United States, it goes on to say that the Secretary is supposed to make a study of all the Federal programs primarily designed to benefit Native people and to report back to Congress by December 18, 1974. I wonder if this is being done now, by the Secretary?

Wally and I have been worrying more and more about people’s attitudes towards Natives ever since that traveling encyclopedia salesman passed through here last week. It seems that they think we are all millionaires and will no longer be able to rely on government aid and assistance any more. If that article in your paper about "modern and urban" standards for Native villages is any indication, they may no longer be able to rely on government aid and assistance any more. If that article in your paper about "modern and urban" standards for Native villages is any indication, they may try and hold even the little help we did get against us. Do you think that the Secretary might close down all of the federal services to Native people like the B.I.A. schools, the Public Health hospitals, Manpower Training centers, and other programs like that?

The question, I guess, is are these racially defined institutions, rights, privileges, or obligations that AN ACT is talking about? Wally says that if the Federal government doesn’t fund these programs, it’s a very slim chance that the State of Alaska will pick them up, considering how most people up here feel about AN ACT and the Native Claims. This claim money won’t go very far if it has to cover all of these services.

Besides, it seems to me that this money is for the land they have take from us and it doesn’t terminate all of the other relationships that we have with the Federal government. Considering all they are getting, they aren’t losing anything on this deal! Finally, if this study of Federal services to the Alaska Natives is being made, how many Natives are involved in it to see that our interests are going to be protected?

Your friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Section 2. Congress finds and declares that --

(b)

the settlement should be accomplished rapidly, with certainty, in conformity with the real economic and social needs of Natives, without litigation, with maximum participation by Natives in decisions affecting their rights and property, without establishing any permanent racially defined institutions, rights, privileges, or obligations, without creating a reservations system or lengthy wardship or trusteeship, and without adding to the categories of property and institutions enjoying special tax privileges or to the legislation establishing special relationships between the United States Government and the State of Alaska;

(c)

no provision of this Act shall replace or diminish any right, privilege or obligation of Natives as citizens of the United States or Alaska, or relieve, or replace or diminish any obligation of the United States or of the State of Alaska to protect and promote the rights or welfare of the Natives as citizens of the United States or of Alaska; the Secretary is authorized and directed, together with other appropriate agencies of the United States Government, to make a study of all Federal programs primarilydesigned to benefit Native people and to report back to the Congress of these programs within three years of the date of enactment of this Act.

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
July 10, 1973

Dear Howard:

Hello my old friend! I am sorry for not writing to you for so long, but with the break-up and the nice spring weather, I was so involved in our village activities that I didn’t have time to write. Springtime is so beautiful here in the village when our land comes back to life with so many flowers, birds, green plants and animals. Even the people feel more alive when we can take part in all of this activity on the tundra just as our fathers have done for generations. It never fails to excite us even though it happens every year. No Native is so ole that there isn’t a thrill when spring comes to the tundra.

Do you think that the people who wrote AN ACT have the same feelings? Can they understand the power of these simple pleasures or do they only see the land as something to be measured in terms of profits and losses? This seems to be a vision of Alaska that makes lots of dollars and no sense to the people who live here, especially the Natives.

The reason I bring this up is that last week we had a visit from some of the Land Use Planning Commissioners here in our village. They said that they were doing their duties under Section 17 of AN ACT and they wanted to know our thoughts about what to do with 80,000,000 acres of public land in Alaska. They were in a bit of a hurry, so they didn’t even spend a full day here. I guess that if I got $100 a day, I wouldn’t spend too much time in any one place either, but the problems they are dealing with are so big that it was hard to know what is best for Alaska Natives. Besides, we are mostly worried about the land near our village. Actually, there should be no question about what to do with these 80 million acres - this land was Native land before the government got it and it would be only right that the Natives should get it back now.

Wally, my ex-VISTA friend, says that the Land Use Planning Commission seems like a bureaucratic boondoggle to him - or a blunder at best. To me it seems like a waste of money, especially since I understand that there is only one Native Commissioner out of ten and very few Natives on the staff. How come I never seem to hear about it when they are passing out the $100 a day jobs?

Well, I still have lots more work to do here in the village since I am not old enough to "retire" and not do anything if I want to eat.

Your friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Section 17 (a) (1) There is hereby established the Joint Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission for Alaska. The Planning Commission shall be composed of ten members . .

Information,
availability.

(b)	Each department, agency and instrumentality of the executive branch of the Federal Government, including independent agencies, is authorized and directed to furnish to the Commission, upon request made by a co-chairman, such information as the Commission deems necessary to carry out its functions under this section.
(7)	The Planning Commission shall --

72 Stat. 339.48
USC prec. 21
note.

(a)	undertake a process of land-use planning, including the identification of and the making of recommendations concerning areas planned and best suited for permanent reservation in Federal ownership as parks, game refuges and other public uses, areas of Federal and State lands to be made available for disposal, and uses to be made of lands remaining in Federal and State ownership;
(b)	make recommendations with respect to proposed land selections by the State under the Alaska Statehood Act and by Village and Regional Corporations under this Act;
(c)	be available to advise upon and assist in the development and review of land-use plans for lands selected by the Native Village and Regional Corporations under this Act and by the State under the Alaska Statehood Act;
(d)	review existing withdrawals of Federal public lands and recommend to the President of the United States such additions to or modifications of withdrawals as are deemed desirable;
(e)	establish procedures, including public hearings, for obtaining public views on the land-use planning programs of the State and Federal Governments for lands under their administration;
(f)	establish a committee of land-use advisers to the Commission, made up of representatives of commercial and industrial land users in Alaska, recreational land users, wilderness users, environmental groups, Alaska Natives and other citizens;
(g)	make recommendations to the President of the United States and the Governor of Alaska as to programs and budgets of the Federal and State agencies responsible for the administration of Federal and State lands;
(h)	make recommendations from time to time to the President of the United States, Congress and the Governor and legislature of the State as to changes in laws, policies and programs that the Planning Commission determines are necessary or desirable;
(i)	make recommendations to insure that economic growth and development is orderly, planned and compatible with State and national environmental objectives, the public interest in the public lands, parks, forests and wildlife refuges in Alaska, and the economic and social well-being of the Native people and other residents of Alaska;
(j)	make recommendations to improve coordination and consultation between the State and Federal Governments in making resource allocation and land use decisions; and
(k)	make recommendations on ways to avoid conflict between the State and the Native people in the selection of public lands.

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
July 15, 1973

Dear Howard:

Recently we have been having a real argument here in the village about just what the Regional Corporations can do with the money they have received so far from the government. Our corporation received $500,000 as far as we know, and we have been hearing talk that they want to invest it in real estate and in a building in the city, with loans and mortgages from the banks. Now this may only be a rumor, but sometimes this is the only way people in the villages can find out what is going on.

Now my friend Wally Morton has been trying to explain to me what a corporation is and how it works. He has told me about the stockholders, the board of directors and the managers. This all fits perfectly well with the description of the Regional Corporations that my wife’s cousin’s son, Joe Ayagtug, was giving us during his visit here a couple of months ago. It seems to me that if the stockholders elect a Board of Directors who hire a Manager, then until you know who the stockholders are the corporation can’t do much of anything at all.

Also in AN ACT, there are several sections telling how the money from the government is going to be divided up between the Village Corporations and the Regional Corporations according to the Native Enrollment in each region (Section 7, Section 8). If this is true, then how can the Regional Corporation make commitments to spend money when they don’t even know yet who the enrolled Natives are in the region, because this means that they don’t know who the stockholders are and they don’t know how much money they are going to receive.

I hope that some of your readers can explain these confusion things to an old man in a village who can only spend his own money when he has it in his own pocket.

Your friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Section 7 (a) For purposes of this Act, the State of Alaska shall be divided by the Secretary within one year after date of enactment of this Act into twelve geographic regions, with each region composed as far as practicable of Natives having a common heritage and sharing common interests. In the absence of good cause shown to the contrary, such regions shall approximate the areas covered by the operations of the following existing Native associations:

(1)	Arctic Slope Native Association (Barrow, Point Hope);
(2)	Bering Straits Association (Seward Peninsula, Unalakleet, Saint Lawrence Island);
(3)	Northwest Alaska Native Association (Kotzebue);
(4)	Association of Village Council Presidents (southwest coast, all villages on the Lower Yukon River and the Lower Kuskokwim River);
(5)	Tanana Chief's Conference (Koyukuk, Middle and Upper Yukon Rivers, Upper Kuskokwim River);
(6)	Cook Inlet Association (Kenai, Tyonek, Eklutna, Iliamna);
(7)	Bristol Bay Native Association (Dillingham, Upper Alaska Peninsula);
(8)	Aleut League (Aleutian Islands, Pribilof Islands and that part of the Alaska Peninsula which is in the Aleut League);
(9)	Chugach Native Association (Cordova, Tatitlek, Port Graham, English Bay, Valdez and Seward);
(10)	Tlingit-Haida Central Council (southeastern Alaska, including Metlakatla);
(11)	Kodiak Area Native Association (all villages on and around Kodiak Island), and
(12)	Copper River Native Association (Copper Center, Glennallen, Chitina, Mentasta).

Any dispute over the boundaries of a region or regions shall be resolved by a board of arbitrators consisting of one person selected by each of the Native associations involved, and an additional one or two persons, whichever is needed to make an odd number of arbitrators, such additional person or persons to be selected by the arbitrators selected by the Native associations involved.

(b)	The Secretary may, on request made within one year of the date of enactment of this Act, by representative and responsible leaders of the Native associations listed in subsection (a), merge two or more of the twelve regions: Provided, That the twelve regions may not be reduced to less than seven, and there may be no fewer than seven Regional Corporations.
(c)	If a majority of all eligible Natives eighteen years of age or older who are not permanent residents of Alaska elect, pursuant to subsection 5 (c), to be enrolled in a thirteenth region for Natives who are non-residents of Alaska, the Secretary shall establish such a region for the benefit of the Natives who elected to be enrolled therein, and they may establish a Regional Corporation pursuant to this Act.
(d)	Five incorporators within each region, named by the Native association in the region, shall incorporate under the laws of Alaska a Regional Corporation to conduct business for profit, which shall be eligible for the benefits of this Act so long as it is organized and functions in accordance with this Act. The articles of incorporation shall include provisions necessary to carry out the terms of this Act.
(e)	The original articles of incorporation and bylaws shall be approved by the Secretary before they are filed, and they shall be submitted for approval within eighteen months after the date of enactment of this Act. The articles of incorporation may not be amended during the Regional Corporation's first five years without the approval of the Secretary. The Secretary may withhold approval under this section if in his judgement inequities among Native individuals or groups of Native individuals would be created.
(f)	The management of the Regional Corporation shall be vested in a board of directors, all of whom, with the exception of the initial board shall be stockholders over the age of eighteen. The number, terms and method of election of members of the board of directors shall be fixed in the articles of incorporation or bylaws of the Regional Corporation.
(g)	The Regional Corporation shall be authorized to issue such number of shares of common stock, divided into such classes of shares as may be specified in the articles of incorporation to reflect the provisions of this Act, as may be needed to issue one hundred shares of stock to each Native enrolled in the region pursuant to Section 5.
(H)	(1) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, stock is issued pursuant to subsection (g) shall carry a right to vote in elections for the board of directors and on such other questions as properly may be presented to stockholders, shall permit the holder to receive dividends or other distributions from the Regional Corporation, and shall vest in the\ holder all rights of a stockholder in a business corporation organized under the laws of the State of Alaska, except that for a period of twenty years after the date of enactment of this Act the stock, inchoate rights thereto, and any dividends paid or distributions made with respect thereto may not be sold, pledged, subjected to a lien or judgement execution, assigned in present or in future, or otherwise alienated: Provided, That such limitation shall not apply to transfers of stock pursuant to a court decree of separation, divorce or child support. (2) Upon the death of any stockholder, ownership of such stock shall be transferred in accordance with his last will and testament or under the applicable laws of intestacy, except that (A) during the twenty-year period after the date of enactment of this Act such stock shall carry voting rights only if the holder thereof through inheritance also is a Native, and (B), in the event the deceased stockholder fails to dispose of his stock by will and has no heirs under the applicable laws of intestacy, such stock shall escheat to the Regional Corporation. (3) On January 1 of the twenty-first year after the year in which this Act is enacted, all stock previously issued shall be deemed to be canceled and shares of stock of the appropriate class shall be issued without restrictions required by this Act to each stockholder share for share.
(I)	Seventy per centum of all revenues received by each Regional Corporation from the timber resources and subsurface estate patented to it pursuant to this Act shall be divided annually by the Regional Corporation among all twelve Regional Corporations organized pursuant to this section according to the number of Natives enrolled in each region pursuant to section 5. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to the thirteenth Regional Corporation if organized pursuant to subsection ( c) hereof.
(j)	During the five years following the enactment of this Act, not less than 10% of all corporate funds received by each of the twelve Regional Corporations under subsection (I) (revenues from the timber resources and subsurface estate patented to it pursuant to this Act), and all other net income, shall be distributed among the stockholders of the twelve Regional Corporations. Not less than 45% of funds from such sources during the first five-year period, and 50% thereafter, shall be distributed among the Village Corporations in the region and the class of stockholders who are not residents of those villages, as provided in subsection to it. In the case of the thirteenth Regional Corporation, if organized, not less than 50% of all corporate funds received under section 6 shall be distributed to the stockholders.
(k)	Funds distributed among the Village Corporations shall be divided among them according to the ratio that the number of shares of stock registered on the books of the Regional Corporation in the names of residents of each village bears to the number of shares of stock registered in the names of residents in all villages.
(l)	Funds distributed to a Village Corporation may be withheld until the village has submitted a plan for the use of the money that is satisfactory to the Regional Corporation. The Regional Corporation may require a village plan to provide for joint ventures with other villages, and for joint financing of projects undertaken by the Regional Corporation that will benefit the region generally. In the event of disagreement over the provisions of the plan, the issues in disagreement shall be submitted to arbitration, as shall be provided for in the articles of incorporation of the Regional Corporation.
(m)	When funds are distributed among Village Corporations in a region, an amount computed as follows shall be distributed as dividends to the class of stockholders who are not residents of those villages: The amount distributed as dividends shall bear the same ratio to the amount distributed among the Village Corporations that the number of shares of stock registered on the books of the Regional Corporation in the names of non-residents of villages bears to the number of shares of stock register in the names of village residents: Provided, That an equitable portion of the amount distributed as dividends may be withheld and combined with Village Corporation funds to finance projects that will benefit the region generally.
(n)	The Regional Corporation may undertake on behalf of one or more of the Village Corporations in the region any project authorized and financed by them.
(o)	The accounts of the Regional Corporation shall be audited annually in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards by independent certified public accountants or independent licensed public accountants, certified or licensed by a regulatory authority of the State or the United States. The audits shall be conducted at the place or places where the accounts of the Regional Corporation are normally kept. All books, accounts, financial records, reports, files, and other papers, things, or property belonging to or in use by the Regional Corporation and necessary to facilitate the audits shall be available to the person or persons conducting the audits; and full facilities for verifying transactions with the balances or securities held by depositories, fiscal agent and custodians shall be afforded to such person or persons. Each audit report or a fair and reasonably detailed summary thereof shall be transmitted to each stockholder, to the Secretary of the Interior and to the Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
(p)	In the event of any conflict between the provisions of this section and the laws of the State of Alaska, the provisions of this section shall prevail.
(q)	Two or more Regional Corporations may contract with the same business management group for investment services and advice regarding the investment of corporate funds.

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
July 23, 1973

Dear Howard:

I have been thinking about the last letter I wrote to you about the corporations and what they can or should do according to AN ACT. Talking with my friend Wally Morton about these kinds of things like stockholder’s rights, the responsibility of the board of directors, and corporation charters has been very interesting for me. Even though I am an old man, I am still very curious and like to know how new things work. But what troubles me is the fact that I don’t seem to have much of a choice about the whole process. I have to learn about corporations out of self-defense, not because I am necessarily interested in them.

I asked Wally if it was better to be a resident in a village or a stockholder in a village corporation. He said it was a silly question because I could be both and if I didn’t want to be a stockholder, I didn’t have to enroll at a Native. I had to remind him, and myself too, that I was a Native, regardless of whether I had enrolled or not. But then we both began to realize that maybe this was not going to be quite so true in the future. After all, in 20 years, anyone will be able to buy stock and become a shareholder in these "Native" corporations, while "Natives" being born in the next 20 years aren't Natives according to AN ACT. But all of these benefits that we Natives are supposed to be getting by being allowed to enroll ourselves as stockholders in Native corporations are based on the taking of what was ours originally. It belonged to all of us and all of our children and it was worth far more than all of these dollars we are supposed to receive.

You see what is bothering me, Howard. I have never been a person who has been afraid of progress, even though many times I prefer the traditional ways of our fathers. To me every change must be checked to see if it will be better or worse than what it is to replace. Change is not always progress. AN ACT is bringing many changes to our way of life, and I fear that not all of them will be helpful for our people. The sad part is that we had a better chance to deal with mechanical things like airplanes and snow machines, than with the changes that this piece of paper, AN ACT, is bringing so quickly to our villages. It is almost like a disease that will pass over us for 20 years and leave no living Natives in its wake.

Your friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
July 30, 1973

Dear Howard:

There were some people here in the village who heard about the last letter I wrote to the Tundra Times. They were upset because I had written that AN ACT was like a disease that would leave no living Natives in 20 years. Some people got mad because they think that the money we are to get will be helpful to our people. Other people just didn’t understand what was troubling me so much. Now I can see that many things that I had written about in earlier letters were adding up for me to say that in the last letter.

My youngest daughter had a baby girl last week, and we all realized that, unlike her older brother, who is three years old, she will never be enrolled as a Native in Alaska. By the time she grows up and has her own family, anybody will be able to buy and sell Native land, anybody will be a stockholder in the Native Corporations, and brother will be set against brother according to which was enrolled. Wally pointed out that I had always said that I was a Native whether I was enrolled or not--and that is true. But I realized that, while 20 years may be a long time in the life of one person, it is nothing in the life of a people. I thought about my children and my grandchildren and their children. What does 20 years mean to them before they are born, before they can know the land and way of life of their parents?

To be honest, I don’t know what our life will be like when we have corporations in every village and our land taxed and sold. But I am afraid we will lose whatever control over our lives that we ever had. Will our children have to go to the city to make money so that they can eventually come back to their grandparent’s land some day like rich tourists? Will they too complain of the crowded cities and cry when they have to return?

These questions bother me because every time a child is stolen from us to be educated, we are made to feel as nothing. Our children are treated as orphans because their parent’s way of life is being destroyed. Why should this be so? I am an old man, Howard, but my vision is set on the future as well as the past. Sometimes I wonder what will become of our people if they want dollars more than their own land and they forget their children.

Your friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
August 6, 1973

Dear Mr. Rock:

I have been following this last series of letters from Naugga Ciunerput to the Tundra Times with great interest. For an old man, it constantly amazes me how he is always thinking about these serious problems and he is never afraid to consider new evidence and new possibilities. One of the news items that has caught our attention is the Energy Crisis in the Lower 48 and the gasoline shortage.

In the Tundra Times it says that many Natives are in favor of the Alaska Oil Pipeline and that Native leaders have gone to Washington to lobby for the Pipeline Construction Bill in Congress. It is interesting that both the Pipeline Bill and AN ACT are specifically aimed against judicial review and litigation under law. Perhaps "justice" is not what the government is seeking in these cases, but rather "expediency" and getting on with "economic development."

If you remember, I wrote in an earlier letter that my father was a member of a conservative group that opposed the construction of an Alaskan pipeline. I had told him that this stand was anti-Native because half of their land settlement depended on oil revenues from this pipeline. Well, he has been sending me some newspaper clippings on the so-called Energy Crisis in the United States. It seems that there is no shortage of refining capacity or crude oil supplies in Europe, for example, by American-owned companies that are rationing supplies in the U.S. They have been increasing their capacity overseas much faster than in the U.S.A. Then they advertize for more consumption in Europe, while blaming the gasoline shortage in the U.S. on the "wasteful" driving habits of the average citizen. My father says that if you watch T.V. commercials, you would think that oil companies invented Ecology and were now going to teach everyone how to drive.

These same oil companies are charting the economic development and social progress of Alaska right now. Maybe we should ask the people of the North Slope Borough what kind of neighbors the wealthy oil companies really are.

It is very hard for me to be against the Alaska Oil Pipeline when I realize that the Native Land Claim Settlement is so dependent on the oil revenue money. But when I read about the situation in other oil-producing areas of the world, a 2% royalty on oil with a $500 million dollar upper limit seems to be a bad joke played on Native people. They will be pumping out oil for many years after the money for the Natives has dried up, and the pipeline will be the only monument.

Sincerely,
Wally Morton

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
August 15, 1973

Dear Howard:

Do you remember when I told you that I was trying to learn how to speak the English language correctly with Wally Morton, my ex-VISTA friend for a teacher? Well, last night I almost gave up the whole thing. We had a fellow from Anchorage out here in the village, who was a consultant to the Regional Corporation. He was trying to explain to us villagers how corporations were set up.

Now I thought that I knew a little bit about the subject since Wally had explained to me about shareholders, stocks, and the Board of Directors, but that turned out not event to be the half of it. This fellow told us so much about economics and law that my head is still spinning. There was stuff about business cycles, fiscal policy, profit ledgers, double-entry accounting, equity, liability, auditing, initial investment and principal. I always though that the principal was the fellow in the B.I.A. schools that whipped the students who had no interest in their work, but it turns out that the principal is the money that earns you interest if you give it to somebody else to use. Apparently, from the way he put it, you don’t even have to do any work if you have this principal.

He then tried to explain inflation to us which really got me confused. The Federal government is supposed to print up the money in Washington, D.C. If they make too many dollars, then each one can buy a little less and in order to stay where you were, you have to be earning more. To stay still, you have to go faster I guess. Personally, I never did like money very much anyway. In the old days we just bartered and traded for what we needed, but nowadays we seem to be needing so many more things--including money. I wonder if this is also inflation.

We were also told about marginal utility curves for supply and demand, and the fellow kept talking about guns and butter. To decide which to buy, he said we would compare the utility of an additional unit of butter with an additional unit of guns. Well, if we lose our hunting and trapping rights as well as our land and we cant’f fish anymore, neither guns or butter will be much use. He sort of got angry with me and said I didn’t really understand what "utility" meant. With all his talk about "guns and butter," he didn’t know what a winter in the village meant either.

This could go on and on, Howard, but it just worries me when I realize how little we are prepared for the age of corporations which is dawning in our villages. According to AN ACT, Section 8 (a), the villages won’t even get the land they stand on if they aren’t organized into a corporation. So you can see how this worries an old man.

Your friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Section 8 (a) The Native residents of each Native village entitled to receive lands and benefits under this Act shall organize as a business for profit or non-profit corporation under the laws of the State before the Native village may receive patent to lands or benefits under this Act except as otherwise provided.

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
August 23, 1973

Dear Howard:

We are still trying to figure out how AN ACT is going to affect the way we do things in the village. Wally and I were reading Section 21 of AN ACT, where it talks about taxation. Apparently as long as we don’t do anything with our land, we will pay no taxes. This is for 20 years from the passage of AN ACT, or until 1991. If the land is developed, leased, or in any way makes any rent, royalty, revenue, profit or proceeds, it will be taxed according to Section 21 (e). I guess that means if any Natives make any money with one hand, they will turn right around and pay it back out with the other hand.

The people from the Regional Corporation told us that our village had a choice between a profit corporation and a non-profit corporation. We are still waiting to find out exactly what the difference is, but it will probably have something to do with taxation. I wonder if there is such a thing as non-profit Natives and profit Natives? Personally, I don’t want any substantial revenues, I just want subsistence hunting and fishing and no taxes. But by December 18, 1991, the taxes will start on the land even for this non-profit Native, if he should live so long.

But why taxation anyway? The answer, as Wally points out, is in Section 2 (c) of AN ACT. The Secretary is supposed to be making a study of all federal services to Native people in Alaska. If he reads Section 2 (b) of AN ACT, the Secretary will probably say in his report that there are not supposed to be any permanent racially defined institutions, rights, privileges or obligations so federal services will be phased out now that Natives are such wealthy citizens of the United States. We will be told that if we want these health, education and welfare services, we should provide them ourselves. That is supposed to be self-determination.

The irony of this whole thing, Howard, is that in the past we were able to provide for ourselves. But our land has been taken, the fish and game destroyed, our children stolen from us, and our culture put on display for the tourists and museum. AN ACT will not bring true self-determination, it is really one more step in the plan for termination of the Native way of life in Alaska It makes me sad and angry just to think about these things.

Your friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Section 21 (a)	Revenues originating from the Alaska Native Fund shall not be subject to any form of Federal, State or local taxation at the time of receipt by a Regional Corporation, Village Corporation or individual Native through dividend distributions or in any other manner. This exemption shall not apply to income from the investment of such revenues.
(b)	The receipt of shares of stock in the Regional or Village Corporations by or on behalf of any Native shall not be subject to any form of Federal, State or local taxation.
(c)	The receipt of land or any interest therein pursuant to this Act or of cash in order to equalize the values of properties exchanged pursuant to subsection 22 (f) shall not be subject to any form of Federal, State or local taxation. The basis for computing gain or loss on subsequent sale or other disposition of such land or interest in land for purposes of any Federal, State or local tax imposed on or measured by income shall be the fair value of such land or interest in land at the time of receipt.
(d)	Real property interests conveyed, pursuant to this Act, to a Native individual, Native group, or Village or Regional Corporation which are not developed or leased to third parties, shall be exempt from State and local real property taxes for a period of twenty years after the date of enactment of this Act: Provided, that municipal taxes, local real property taxes or local assessments may be imposed upon leased or developed real property within the jurisdiction of any governmental unit under the laws of the State: Provided further, That easements, rights-of-way, leaseholds, and similar interests in such real property may be taxed in accordance with State or local law. All rents, royalties, profits and other revenues or proceeds derived from such property interests shall be taxable to the same extent as such revenues or proceeds are taxable when received by a non-Native individual or corporation.
(e)	Real property interests conveyed pursuant to this Act to a Native individual, Native group, or Village or Regional Corporation shall, so long as the fee therein remains not subject to State or local taxes on real estate, continue to be regarded as public lands for the purpose of computing the Federal share of any highway project pursuant to title 23 of the United States Code, as amended and supplemented, for the purpose of the Johnson-O'Malley Act of April 16, 1934, as amended (25 U.S.C. 452), and for the purpose of Public Laws 815 and 874, 81st Congress (64 Stat. 967,100), and so long as there are also no substantialrevenues from such lands, continue to receive forest fire protection services from the United States at no cost.

 

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
August 30, 1973

Dear Howard:

I have been thinking a lot recently about the problems of leadership in the village. I have been trying to compare what is happening today with the way things used to be in years gone by. Everybody who comes to talk with us tells us that we need to develop leadership, but nobody wants to know about the leadership we used to have and even the leadership we have today.

When Wally Morton, my ex-VISTA friend, first came to the village, he set about to find out who the chief was. It took him a while to realize that traditional Natives didn’t have hereditary chiefs, but when there was a problem everybody knew just where to turn for help. The leaders were the respected men in the villages who knew how to do the necessary things for us to survive and get along. They were the people who knew how to deal with the forces of nature and the relationships between the Native people in the villages.

Nowadays, the leaders seem to be the people who can best deal with the white world with its government bureaucracies, school officials, courts and armies. They have to be better at hunting dollars than fish and game. They have to bridge the gap between the white world and the Native way of life. The danger is that they may fall into the gap between them or end up representing the white world in the Native village rather than representing the Native villages in the white world. It is not always the fault of the leaders, it just seems like that is what is happening.

We don’t want to become better white men or beat them at their own game. We just want a chance to develop our traditional values into a satisfying way of life that we can understand. AN ACT is forcing us into new ways of organizing ourselves and doing things before we really understand what is happening. Even when the Natives were able to get together, AN ACT split us up into 12 regions and limited our ability to act as a united group. As I see it, AN ACT could split the Native peoples even more, set region against region, village against village and as we said in an early letter, set brother against brother according to which was registered as a NATIVE. AN ACT is based on competition; the Native way is based on cooperation.

I read in the Tundra Times that you were ill. Well, Howard, we all hope you are feeling better soon.

Your friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
September 7, 1973

Dear Howard,

Last week we had a visitor here in the village from a University in California. He was a pleasant fellow named Seth McGraffee, who said that he was an anthropologist. He was real interested in Native culture and customs and wanted to talk to some of the older people in the village. Well, I told him a couple of old stories and a few tall tales and darned if he didn’t write them all down in a notebook. At first he said that he was doing a little summer research, but by the second day he said that it was going to be a thesis. By the third day, he was going to write a book about our village and by the time he was ready to leave it was going to be a movie film too. These young people sure do have a lot of big ideas when they first set foot here in these "primitive" villages.

He seemed a bit disappointed that we had snow machines, outboard motors, and rifles, but it was certainly nice that he was interested in the way we Native people used to live our lives. We did have some serious conversations about the problem of passing on our Native heritage to the younger generation, but he didn’t really seem to understand all of the pressures on our younger people. They see an entire world beyond their grasp, while this young fellow Seth has the resources to travel freely between these worlds. This means that he can be interested in Native culture this week and be back in California next week. Maybe if our young people had this freedom they would see how empty that world is if what Seth told us was true.

I asked Seth if he had read AN ACT yet, and was surprised when he said no he hadn’t. The three of us, Wally, Seth, and me got to talking about AN ACT and how it was going to affect Native life in Alaska. We asked him how the research he was doing was going to help Native people deal with these problems. At first, he said that it would be necessary to preserve as much of Native culture as possible before it disappears. While this is a noble goal, it still misses the main problem. We are the Native people. What we do is the Native culture. How are we going to react to these changes? We can’t always go back to the past, but we can and must have a voice in our future.

I asked Seth if anthropologists knew what the difference was between a village, a corporation and a village corporation? Could he tell us what the difference would be in our lives if we had a profit or a non-profit village corporation? What would be the best set of by-laws to maintain, not preserve, Native values? We don’t want a dead culture in a museum, we want a live culture here in Alaska. Maybe he should go and talk to some of the older men in Washington to find out what they had in mind when they wrote AN ACT. That is the kind of research we Natives really need.

Your friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
September 15, 1997

Dear Howard:

Some of the people here in the village who have been reading the letters in the Tundra Times think that some part of them are too strong or negative. They think that because I am an old man I live too much in the past. These same people think that Wally Morton, my ex-VISTA friend, is too young and idealistic, so his judgement cannot be trusted. But I believe that we are just being realistic about what is happening to Native people in Alaska.

If you remember, AN ACT (Public Law 92-203) says in the beginning that "there is an immediate need for a fair and just settlement of all claims by Natives and Native Groups of Alaska"-- Section 2 (a). In the first place, the need for a "fair and Just" settlement is not only immediate now, it has been for some time. Where was the Congress before there was an oil strike and an energy crisis? The Natives and Native Groups have had the same needs and claims for some time.

In the first letter that I wrote to you, Howard, the problem about the power of the Secretary to make decisions was bothering me. All of the power in one set of hands is not always the best way to make sure that a decision is fair and just. Wally says that an agreement with all of the discretionary poser on one side is a pretty one-sided agreement. The Secretary even had the power to decide who was a Native if he chose to do so!

When we look at what has happened since AN ACT was passed, we can see more clearly what these discretionary decisions mean. The Secretary decided not to extend the enrollment for one month, not even thirty days. The Secretary was going to disqualify most of the larger Native villages as "modern and urban" until Native complaints finally led to the Secretary’s lawyers reading the provisions of AN ACT. The Horton ruling on land allotments changed the eligibility requirements for Alaska Natives to claim allotments. Three out of the eight villages left off the Secretary’s list of Native villages just happen to be on the pipeline corridor.

In every case, Native people and Native groups spend their time, energy and money to deal with problems caused by decisions made under the Secretary’s discretionary power. The provisions of AN ACT leave so much up to the Secretary to decide that we never know what will go wrong next. Is this what is meant by a fair and just settlement? As far as this old man is concerned, it is not really so for Native people.

Your friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
September 23, 1973

Dear Howard:

On the very first page of AN ACT (Public Law 92-203), there is a series of statements which is the Declaration of Policy by the U.S. Congress with regard to Alaska Natives. In Section 2 (b), It says the following things:

"(b) the settlement should be accomplished rapidly, with certainty, in conformity with the real economic and social needs of Natives, without litigation, with maximum participation by Natives in decisions affecting their rights and property, without establishing any permanent racially defined institutions, rights, privileges, or obligations, without creating a reservation system or lengthy wardship or trusteeship, and without adding to the categories of property and institutions enjoying special tax privileges or to the legislation establishing special relationships between the United States Government and the State of Alaska;"

Wally Morton, my ex-VISTA friend, says that if you leave out the section on Native participation, you have an excellent history of what the Congress wishes it had never done with Native people in the lower 48. If they had a magic want, they would probably do away with treaties, reservations, wardship, trusteeship and maybe even Indian tribes in general. He says that this process used to be called termination, but now they sometimes call it self-determination.

I figure that they might just leave out the Native participation and let the Secretary determine what are the "real economic and social needs" of Alaska Natives. In AN ACT, the very next part says the following things--Section 2 (c):

"(c) no provision of this ACT shall replace or diminish any right, privilege or obligation of Natives as citizens of the United States or of the State of Alaska to protect and promote the rights or welfare of Natives as citizens of the United States or of Alaska; the Secretary is authorized and directed, together with other appropriate agencies of the United States Government, to make a study of all Federal programs primarily designed to benefit Native people and report back to the Congress with his recommendations for the future management and operation of these programs within three years of the date of enactment of this ACT;"

This is exactly where the danger is for Native people. What is the relationship between Native rights and Citizen rights? Will we lose our Native rights based on our historical relationship with the Federal Government which goes back before Alaska was even a State in order to get citizenship rights which were granted by the Federal Government to Indian people in 1924?

Every Native complaint against the operations and procedures of the Bureau of Indian Affairs can be used as a reason to undercut these programs instead of improving the services. Wally says that the Federal Government terminated the Menominee tribe in Wisconsin by bargaining with them over a claims settlement that they had been awarded. If they wanted the money they had to give up their special relationship as an Indian tribe to the Federal Government. It turned out to be such a bad bargain that ever since they have been trying to change back to their original status. The Menominee had valuable timber that many people wanted. What do Alaska Natives have that everyone wants? With oil, the stakes were higher so the pot was made a little sweeter.

We have seen how some of the Secretary’s decisions have worked out for Native people in Alaska. Let us now wait and see what the recommendations of the Secretary’s study are and how they are carried out. Maybe my fears are groundless, but even an old man can tell which way the wind is blowing when a storm is coming.

Your friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
October 30, 1973

Dear Howard:

Well, Wally and I have been very busy trying to prepare for the coming winter months. The work is hard and requires much physical endurance, but it is also rewarding to know one has done a good day’s work. Wally and I can see the results of our work and will benefit for in later. When the wind is blowing, it is 40 degrees below, etc. Wally and I will be sitting in our warm cabin enjoying the warmth of our work.

Sometimes I wonder if the people who are working in the Regional offices or B.I.A. offices making good money think as we do after they have done a day’s work. Hopefully, we will benefit later from the work they are doing now.

As you probably know, Howard, in December they’re having a convention in Anchorage and at the same time money authorized under Section 6 (a) will be released to the Natives.

Over 130 million dollars will be available for distribution to the regional corporations. That is a lot of money, Howard. I am used to dealing in a few cents and an occasional dollar, and I know many of my Native friends can say the same. What is going to happen to our way of life once we begin to receive lumps of money in these amounts? Will the poor remain poor and the new well-to-do become more comfortable in the life style they are fast embracing?

Wally said the great White leader from Washington will also certify the Alaska Native Enrollment, complying with Section 5 of AN ACT. This is sad because after that is done, all Natives enrolled will have a number and all Natives that are not enrolled will be left out in the cold. It will be a sad day for the Native people when the Secretary types and signs his name to that enrollment document.

As for this old man, I think tomorrow I will take Wally and show him the beauty that covers this land and at the same time try not to foresee what activity will disrupt my village’s peaceful, sleepy atmosphere, before winter sets in. Take care, old friend.

Your Native friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Section 5 (a) The Secretary shall prepare within two years from the date of enactment of this Act a roll of all Natives who were born on or before, and who are living on, the date of enactment of this Act. Any decision of the Secretary regarding eligibility for enrollment shall be final.

(b) The roll prepared by the Secretary shall show for each Native, among other things, the region and the village or other place in which he resided on the date of the 1970 census enumeration, and he shall be enrolled according to such residence. Except as provided in subsection ( c), a Native eligible for enrollment who is not, when the roll is prepared, a permanent resident of one of the twelve regions established pursuant to subsection 7 (a) shall be enrolled by the Secretary in one of the twelve regions, giving priority in the following order to --

(1) The region where the Native resided on the 1970 census date if he had resided there without interruption for two or more years;

(2) the region where the Native previously resided for an aggregate of ten years or more;

(3) the region where the Native was born; and

(4) the region from which an ancestor of the Native came: The Secretary may enroll a Native in a different region when necessary to avoid enrolling members of the same family in different regions or otherwise avoid hardship.

(c) A Native eligible for enrollment who is eighteen years of age or older and is not a permanent resident of one of the twelve regions may, on the date he files an application for enrollment, elect to be enrolled in a thirteenth region for Natives who are non-residents of Alaska, if such region is established pursuant to sub-section 7 (c). If such region is not established, he shall be enrolled as provided in subsection (b). His election shall apply to all dependent members of his household who are less than eighteen years of age, but shall not affect the enrollment of anyone else.

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
November 7, 1973

Dear Howard,

An old friend of mine stopped by and spent a few days with Wally and me last week. Charlie has a trap line up river and comes down for a visit every freeze-up to gather his supplies for the winter and also catch up on all the news.

Charlie, Wally, and I were looking at the October 24 issue of the Tundra Times and were especially interested in the article concerning a special Handbook that has been prepared to help Native people understand the "Corporation game." As you know, Howard, in AN ACT, we have to form corporations as stated in Sections 7 and 8.

Charlie was confused about what the handbook said about a corporation being like a motor. He said that there are many different parts in a motor and when they all work together, they can do things that no single part could do by itself. I thought that corporations are made up of people. Or are they? Wally said of course corporations are made up of people. But then does it mean that people who operate the corporations and people who are served by a corporation must act as though they are "parts of a motor"?

It all makes me wonder if we shouldn’t at least begin to listen to those persons who have been trying to warn us Natives about the great danger--"the dehumanizing effects"--of trying to follow the White man’s ways . . . . Maybe the description of the White man’s culture as a "machine civilization" is right after all. And we should think about that. Is it a way of life in which the machine rules and men have to adjust and conform to its needs and demands? Do we really want that?

Charlie, Wally and I talked about what the White man’s machine-motorized civilization has done to the world: destroyed the beautiful land, poisoned the air and waters, and killed off so much of the wildlife (our brothers)--not to mention the way the White man’s machines have killed so many millions of people in their crazy wars.

I guess in a motorized civilization, men become like machines--not like feeling human beings. Howard, I’m getting worried. I don’t want the Natives to be part of or even served by "Something like a motor."

Your Native friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
November 14, 1973

Dear Howard:

The other day Wally (ex-VISTA friend) and I were discussing Section 7 (I) which reads:

"Seventy per centum of all revenues received by each regional corporation from the timber resources and subsurface estate patented to it pursuant to this Act shall be divided annually by the regional corporations among all twelve regional corporations organized pursuant to this section according to the number of Natives enrolled in each region pursuant to Section 5."

Wally was wondering if this section also involves the exploration part of obtaining the subsurface riches. He said that if a region spent two million dollars trying to extract their subsurface riches, how much of that will they be able to write off on the 30%--70% distribution? Should all the regions pay for their exploration work? I asked Wally what "subsurface" means, and he thought it was anything below the surface. Howard, do you know what "subsurface" means? Wally and I are a little confused right now. We are wondering if gravel was a subsurface particle or a surface particle.

As you probably know, a lot of money has been made from the sale of gravel. In fact, all around our village there are good gravel pits. Will our village be able to claim gravel as a surface estate, or will the regional corporation say that it is a subsurface particle?

As for this old man, I can see many problems that will arise from Section 7 (i). I only hope our people will solve these problems so that those who should benefit (village people) have the final voice.

Your Native friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

Land’s End Village
State of Alaska
November 26, 1973

Dear Howard:

A friend of mine left off some old copies of the Anchorage Daily Times, which told about the Secretary of Interior, Rogers C.B. Morton and his fantastic Six Day/3,000 Mile "Visit to Alaska" this past summer. It is certainly interesting to read old newspapers when you know what has really happened since then. One of the things that caught my eye was the following paragraph in an article about the Secretary’s visit to Valdez:

The secretary said the building of the pipeline was analogous to the construction of the pyramids of Egypt in that it is the most expensive and extensive man-made venture to date in history. - Anchorage Daily Times, August 20, 1973 (page 2)

Well, I asked my friend Wally about the Egyptian pyramids--who built them and why? He said that they were built by Egyptian Kings with slave labor for religious purposes like preserving the royal bodies as mummies. Maybe the Pipeline is being built by the Government for the religious purpose of preserving the American economy, but now they won’t need slaves since there are so many unemployed people.

When I read that passage to Wally, he just laughed and asked me if the pipeline would be visible from the Moon. He said that the Brazilian government is building a 3,000 mile highway through the Amazon jungle which they claim will be one of the only man-made objects visible from the Moon. Wally also pointed out that the astronauts in the space satellite could see a big cloud of pollution from the Black Mesa power plant at Four Corners in the American southwest.

Wally said that the Brazilians claim they are opening the last frontier and integrating the Natives into the national society (and killing the rest). The Anchorage Daily Times said that Secretary Morton is visiting the last frontier and we can all see how Natives have been integrated into the American Way of Life. First they take our land, water, game and fish--then our children- and if there is anything left they will build a museum or make a movie to preserve it. Well, Howard, I guess we will have our monument if they have a nice big oil spill. Maybe they will be able to see it all the way from the Moon or if there is enough oil, maybe even from the top of one of the new office buildings in Anchorage.

Your Native friend,
Naugga Ciunerput

APPENDIX
Corporate Leadership and Management
of the
Twelve Regional Corporations
1974

ALEUT CORPORATION 425 G. St.. Suite 840 Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 274-1506 Corporate Staff Carl E. Moses, President William Childs, general manager Lillie H. McGarvey, secretary-treasurer Larry Merculieff, director, land development George Pletnikoff, assistant director of land department John Gundersen, business investment analyst Avis Toberer, Comptroller Aleut League Staff Michael Swetzof, President Lillie H. McGarvey, secretary-treasurer Vera Skaflestad, director, education department Anthony Philemonoff, coordinator, Indian education program Janet Malone, contract administrator Attorneys J. Anthony "Tony" Smith of Kay, Miller, Libbey, Kelly, Christie and Fuld of Anchorage Wald, Harkrader and Ross of Washington, D.C. Auditors Coopers & Lybrand, C.P.A.'s	AHTNA INCORPORATED P.O. Box 823 Copper Center, AK 99513 Phone: 822-3476 Corporate Staff Dean Olson, executive director Herbert Snelcer, deputy director Nicholas Jackson, finance manager Board Officers Robert Marshall, president Christine Yazzie, vice-president Marsha Major, secretary Attorney Robert Goldberg, Anchorage Consultants Arctic Environmental Information and Data Center, University of Alaska	ARCTIC SLOPE REGIONAL CORPORATION Box 566 Barrow, AK 99723 Phone: 852-6930 Corporate Staff Joseph Upicksoun, president Larry Dinneen, executive vice-president Jacob Adams, land director Elijah Rock, assistant land director Oliver Leavitt, treasurer Kazasji Dadachanji, comptroller Dave Fauske, grant and training coordinator Jack Frantz, fuel allocation supervisor Nelson Ahvakana, corporate secretary Sue Zienke, assistant corporate secretary Ed Hopson, housing Board Officers Joseph Upicksoun, president, chairman of the board Edward Hopson, Sr., 1st vice-president Jacob Adams, 2nd vice-president Nelson Ahvakana, secretary Oliver Leavitt, treasurer Attorneys Davis, Wright, Todd, Riese and Jones, of Seattle Merdes, Schrebel & DeLisio, Fairbanks Uriel Dutton of Fulbright, Crooker & Javorski, oil and gas attorneys of Houston, Texas Consultants Arctic Environmental Information & Data Center, University of Alaska Price Waterhouse & Co., Seattle, financial consultants Thomas Kelly, oil and gas consultant Subsidiaries Inupiop Builders (non-union housing contractor) Tundra Tour, Inc. (tourism) Eskimos, Inc. (sub-contractor, construction, union)
BERING STRAITS NATIVE CORPORATION P.O. Box 1008 Nome, AK 99762 Phone: 443-5252 Corporate Staff Gary Langley, Sr., executive vice-president George Walters, vice-president Cliff Weyiouanna, assistant vice president, village affairs Richard Atuk, assistant vice-president, land use planning JoAnn Kost, acting controller Robert Fagerstrom, personnel & training officer Diane Tweet, land use planning specialist Sharon Nagozruk, research specialist Board Officers Jerome Trigg, Sr., president Martin Olson, 1st vice-president Steve Dickson, 2nd vice-president Charles Fagerstrom, treasurer Henry Ahgupak, secretary Attorneys Jon Larson, Nome Barry Jackson, Fairbanks John Hendrickson, Anchorage Consultants Carolyn Stevens, geologist George Bell, management consultant Ron Trevithick, Touche-Ross, Anchorage	BRISTOL BAY NATIVE CORPORATION, INC. P.O. Box 237 Dillingham, AK 99576 Phone: 842-3230 426 Eagle Street Room D Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 277-9511 Corporate Staff Nels A. Anderson, Jr., executive director Ted Angasan, deputy director H. Noble Dick, controller Wilson Jerue, accountant William P. Johnson, land planner Robert Clark, program planner Board Officers Harvey Samuelson, president Donald Neilson, vice-president Allen Aspelund, secretary Boris Kosbruk, treasurer Attorneys William Bailey of Croft, Bailey, Guetschow & Bankston, Anchorage	CHUGACH NATIVES, INC. 912 E. 15th Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 274-4558 Corporate Staff Cecil Barnes, president Richard Jensen, administrative director James LaBelle, deputy director Richard Nelson, job recruiter Board Officers Cecil Barnes, president Walter Meganach, 1st vice-president Bud Johnson, 2nd vice-president Betty Ditman, secretary Frank Siemion, treasurer Attorneys Clark Gruening, Stanley McCutcheon, Anchorage Consultants Touche Ross & Company
CALISTA CORPORATION 516 Denali Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 279-5516 Kuskokwin Office Bldg. Bethel, AK 99559 Phone: 543-2191 Corporate Staff Robert Schenker, general manager Lou Lively, land planning specialist Nelson Angapak, land planning assistant Alice Wells, accountant Glen Fredericks, area office manager, Sleetmute Owen Lewis, area office manager, Bethel Board Officers	COOK INLET REGION, INC. 1211 West 27th Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 274-8638 Corporate Staff Ralph A. (Andy) Johnson, president Larry Oskolkoff, land manager Richard DeWeil, director. planning and training Andy Kamkoff, village coordinator Doreen Lowe, administrative assistant Board Officers John Colberg, Jr., chairman of the board Ralph A. (Andy) Johnson, president Robert W. Rude, 1st vice-president Agnes Brown, 2nd vice-president Gosta Dagg, 3rd vice-president Charles Akers, treasurer Jim Vollentine, secretary Attorneys Allen McGrath, Anchorage Edward Weinberg of Duncan, Brown, Weirman & Palmer Washington, D.C. Consultants Resource Associates of Alaska, Inc., land consultants, Fairbanks	DOYON, LTD. 527 3rd Avenue Fairbanks, AK 99701 Phone: 452-4755 or 452-5756 Corporate Staff John Sackett, president Margie Bauman, administrative assistant Sam Kito, executive vice-president James Immel, vice-president of finance Robert Jenks, director of lands Bill Timme, general counsel Richard Frank, director of sub-regional offices Ted Charles, subregional officer, Tok Jonathan Soloman, subregional officer, Ft. Yukon Ernest Holmberg, subregional officer, McGrath Board Officers John Sackett, president Wally Peters, vice-president Lucy Carlo, secretary Mike Harper, treasurer Attorneys Bill Timme - on staff Art Lazarus, Washington, D.C. Consultant Marvin Andreson, geologist
KONIAG, INC. REGIONAL CORPORATION, INC. Box 746 Kodiak, AK 99615 Phone: 486-4147 Corporate Staff Jack Wick president Harry Carter, assistant administrator Melvin Reft, assistant administrative assistant Karl Armstrong, land department Allen Panamaroff, stock registrar Betty Wallin, office manager Board Officers Jack Wick, president Harry Carter, vice-president Karl Armstrong, secretary Perry R. Eaton, treasurer Attorneys Roy Madsen, Kodiak Edward Weinberg of Duncan, Brown, Weinman & Palmer, Washington, D.C. Auditors Coopers & Lynbrand, CPA's Consultant Barry Fink of Wyman, Bautzer, Rothman & Kuchel, Washington, D.C.	NANA REGIONAL CORPORATION, INC. Box 49 Kotzebue, AK 99752 Phone: 442-3261 Corporate Staff John Schaeffer, executive Director James Regg, deputy director Rachael Craig, administrative assistant Willie Goodwin, Jr., director, division of lands R. Robert Sam, director, finance & accounting Board Officers Robert Newlin, president Vincent Schuerch, 1st vice-president Grant Ballot, 2nd vice-president Tommy Sheldon, Sr., secretary Roland Booth, treasurer Attorneys Ely, Guess & Rudd, Anchorage Wilson, Craig & Barker, Washington, D.C. Consultants Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. accountants Robert M. Meith, land consultant, Fairfax, VA	SEALASKA CORPORATION 127 South Franklin Juneau, AK 99801 Phone: 586-1512 Corporate Staff John Borbridge, president George See, assistant to president Roger Allington, land and engineering office Richard Stitt, community assistance officer Marge Gamble, office manager Board Officers John Borbridge, chairman of the board George See, secretary Attorneys Weissbrodt & Weissbrodt, Washington, D.C. Arnold & Porter, Washington, D.C. Consultants McGaughan & Johnson, engineering & planning, Washington, D.C. Wilsey & Ham, land consultants, San Francisco, CA Ernst & Ernst, CPA's, accounting consultants Chase Manhattan, financial consultants, New York William A. Eastman & Associates, forestry consultants Bank of America, stockholders' services