ALASKA NATIVES COMMISSION
JOINT FEDERAL-STATE COMMISSION
ON
POLICIES AND PROGRAMS AFFECTING
ALASKA NATIVES
4000 Old Seward Highway, Suite 100
Anchorage,
Alaska 99503
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Witness List | Exhibit
List
| PDF Version
General Testimony
(On record)
COMMISSIONER SEBESTA: The last of our
Commission members is on the telephone right now, and she' ll
be right in; but I think
that I would like to call up the last group of people; and
there's no specific area designation for these people. It would
be Robert Silas, Sarah James, Al Ketzler, and Shirley Moses.
If they would come up? And I thank you all for your patience
in this extended hearing. We're, as Commissioners, new at hearings,
and we will try to streamline the way that we run hearings
in the future, so that it will be less of a frustration on
you, and so that there will be more satisfaction and more testimony.
I thank you very much for your patience. Robert Silas, you're
the first on the list, if you would like to present your testimony,
we would..... Introduce yourself, give us a little bit of your
background, and give your testimony.
MR. SILAS: Yes, I'm Robert
Silas. I'm employed by Tanana Chiefs as a Sub-regional Village
Liaison Officer, and my job duties
is to (indiscernible-away from microphone) offices and their
directors. My testimony is on a worst-- case scenario of events
that happen in a village. I come from a village that has high
unemployment rate, alcoholism, an elevated debt rate due to alcoholism,
and pretty much lust lack of jobs in the rural areas, and the
lack of education. In general -- my report is on general issues
in nature. However, I will show how these categories intertwine,
so that each of these six issues that the Government on Commission
all intertwine one way or another -- I think there's seven. But
they all intertwine. The Native people in rural areas face many
daily issues in their lives such as accidental deaths, alcoholism,
boredom, domestic Violence, elderly abuse, lack of education,
low self-esteem, murder, peer pressure, prejudism (ph.), rape,
suicide, and unemployment. And these are just part of a host
of maladies that they suffer in rural areas.
First, I'd like
to try to give you an understanding -- I'd like for you to understand
that most of the people in the rural areas
live a seasonal lifestyle. The majority of the jobs are seasonal.
The few that are permanent year-round, the majority of them are
held by women, so we have a lot of young men and women out there
that are unemployed and have no other resources, other than what
they can get through (indiscernible - away from microphone),
and it's seasonal.
The other issue that's seasonal is subsistence,
Subsistence in the rural areas is a seasonal lifestyle also,
because we are
governed by the state laws and federal laws, as to when we can
hunt, when we can fish, when we can trap; and also, there are
times of the year when we can pick berries, and (indiscernible),
and other natural resources.
Jobs in the rural areas are very
few; and those that are held, a majority are held by women. And
with this kind of a lifestyle
we have in the rural areas, we have people that are bored, have
a low self-esteem, and also have a very possible suicidal tendency;
due to these maladies that they face every day.
Because of the
lack of an education for many of the people in the rural areas,
the job market is very competitive; and the job market being
very competitive, the people in the rural areas have a hard time
getting jobs in their own village. Many of the villages receive
capital improvement project funds for schools, for road improvements,
airport improvements, and just community building improvement.
And a lot of these jobs, if they're awarded by the State to a
contractor, the contractor usually brings his own people in.
Because they look at an application, and they see many gaps in
an employment application; and they figure:
"Well, this person is unreliable."
Not
taking into consideration, that a lot of the people are just
working a seasonal lifestyle, because that's all they can afford
-- or can do because of the competitiveness of the job market.
Economic projects -- developing economic projects
in the villages are usually stores, the power company, motels,
restaurants, service
stations, and/or fuel companies; and a lot of these are held
either by the corporations, held by private citizens. So if a
person was to try to go into economic development into the rural
areas, they'd find that a lot of these are already established,
and they do not-have the resources or the education, or the understanding
of the federal and state laws, would be very hard for them to
obtain an economic development project for their community that's
already there.
In most villages, there is one form of tribal
government, either it's an IRA or a Traditional. And then sometimes
in other cities
and villages, there are two forms of government -- IRA, or a
Traditional, and also a First-or Second-Class City. When these
two different
governments are competing for the same funds or projects under
the auspices of one entity or another, it usually goes to the
City government. And those positions are usually held by non-Native
persons in the community.
So, how are the State of Alaska, in
its reluctance to recognize tribal status, does, indeed, work
with the tribal government? Whenever the Governor lifts a telephone,
or writes one word to a village, he, indeed, recognizes the tribal
governing powers.
In the last 20 or 30 years, the Indian Health
Service has seen a dramatic increase in the service it provides
to the Native
people. However, the Chief Andrew Isaac Health Center, which
serves the Interior, has also seen a dramatic increase, to the
point that it is crowded, there are long waiting periods for
health care to be taken care of; so we are looking at possibly
trying to expand and renovate Chief Andrew Isaac Health Center.
Education is another issue I'd like to kind of
expound on. The majority of the people in the rural areas that
are graduating
from high school, after they do graduate, the majority of young
men stay home, they don’t go on to college; and if they
do go on to college, they either drop out or are dropped out,
because they cannot complete the courses.
If you look at the
statistics today, three to five times more Native women are in
school over the men. In the rural areas,
eight women to one man are employed in the rural areas, so we
do have a high unemployment rate of men in rural areas.
These
all lead back to the fact that young men a pushed in school for
sports and not academics. The women, in turn, are pushed
academically, and not as hard n pots; so we have a lot of young
people our there that are graduating from high school, who can’t
even read up to sixth-grade level, or even do sixth-grade math.
I will now try to attempt to present to this Commission
the average life of a Native male that has graduated in a rural
village.
It starts out in the springtime. They all wait -- if there's
no construction projects foreseen in their villages, they all
look toward fire fighting.
When the fire-fighting season is over with, they look toward
hunting season. And when that's over with, they look toward receiving
their Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend. They fill out applications
for energy assistance; and during the winter, if there is another
hunting season, they'll hunt again. These are all due to the
laws that are laid onto the villages in the rural areas through
state regulations, that they have certain hunting seasons. They
can't hunt anytime they want, so they are stuck with doing nothing
during the off-season hunting times. And during the winter, being
no jobs in the village, other uhan the store clerks, and/or restaurant
cooks, or teacher aides, which are normally, like I said, filled
by women, so we have people -- men that are, after their Permanent
Fund Dividend Checks come in, they kind of have another lull
season until the springtime, when they receive their income tax,
if they are entitled to one. Then they turn around and look again
back to fire fighting, if there are no construction projects
in their areas.
The life of a woman in the rural areas is no
picnic basket either. Their lives are spent in poverty, spousal
abuse, sexual abuse,
rape, single parenting, husbands that have an alcohol problem,
death threats from husbands, boyfriends, relatives, fathers,
uncles, brothers, and even strangers. Should a Native woman live
with a type of person I described in the previous paragraph,
this person would suffer unmercifully under a domination of a
person that has low self-esteem, has no income coming in, so
they're living in a poverty level. And if this case should ever
go to a court, where the relationship is at the end, if a woman
takes it to court, she usually ends up with the children; and
if it doesn't go to a court, and it's settled with a weapon,
ifs usually a woman on the receiving end, receiving possible
physical or possible death due to the breakups.
This is all done
-- a lot of these programs that I've tried to describe here have
been with the attitude that the U.S. Government says:
"We will take care of you. We will provide
(indiscernible). We will do whatever we can to help you to
get -- we'll do it on our terms; and if you don't like it,
then we
will not do those projects in your villages."
And it's time
that we, as village people, are called in any projects that are
planned in our communities; and these meetings that
you're having here today should be held in the villages, so that
you'd hear from the village people their concerns. Not every
one of us that have spoken today can give you the best of an
idea to what's going on in the villages, unless you go out their
yourself. And I did hear a young lady say here today that she'd
have liked to have seen all the Commissioners here; but due to
saving money, they'd only allowed so many to be here. So, when
they do go out to the villages, will they be also taking only
so many again, so that we have a lot of people on this task force
that have probably never been to a village; or, if they have,
have just gone through; have not stopped and taken the time to
listen, or even talk to the people? And we need those issues
addressed.
One social program that I've seen in the villages
that had been a hindrance was the GA -- General Assistance Program
funded through
BIA. The BIA gives people money that are not working to help
subsidize their income, whatever they can to help those people
in rural areas. And the problem with it is that there's people
taking advantage of it. Instead of trying to help them to build
their self-esteem and hold their head high with dignity, we're
giving them another handout for the GA. And I feel that we need
to be starting co looking at getting programs formed from the
village point of view, which is one of the things we worked at
in the community I'm from was the TWEP Program, which is the
Tribal Work Experience Program, where we have people that are
not working, are looking to get some general assistance, that
they do some-"community service work, and that they help
build community buildings, or repair community buildings, work
in the communities to earn this money, rather than just sit home
and get a free check every month. And the only thing that I ask
is that just don't give the money for doing nothing.
If we want
to build our society back up to the point that we are proud of
ourselves, and we are doing something, I ask that
we start working with the villages on village-based ideas, instead
of ideas that were formed out in Washington, D.C., or New York,
or wherever they came from. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SEBESTA: Thank you, Robert. I appreciate your comments, and I do live
in the villages; and I know the problems that you're
talking about; and I very much appreciate the suggestion that
you gave of need for a tribal work program, because I think that's
a very positive suggestion of how to address some of these problems,
and I appreciate that very much. The next one on the list is
Sarah James. Sarah, would you like to introduce yourself, and
share your comments with us?
MS. JAMES: Yes, I just happened
to be in town, and I was called by Father Shiselty (ph.)to be
in here, and it was kind of last
minute; and I will have written reports, and written material
from the organization I represented here. My name is Sarah James,
and I'm from Arctic Village, Alaska; and I'm from a Gwich'in
Nation. I represent Anchorage ANWR Steering Committee. I'm the
Chairperson. I am known as a spokesperson for the Gwich'in Nation.
We're the one that opposing gas and oil development up on Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge. The whole 17 village of the Gwich'in
Nation sign on to go against the development at the porcupine
caribou herd within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, within
the Arctic Coastal Plain. We did that with one voice, and so
far we have a Gwich'in last -- the first one was 1988, second
one was 1990, the last one is 1992 in Villipine (ph.) just recently.
All these three times, the Gwich'in came together to protect
the caribou. They're known as the caribou people. They identify
themself as the porcupine caribou people; and they' re not compromising
in any way, but protect the calving area. The first time they
came together, the elders -- we spoke in our language, in Gwich'in
language, for four days; and make decision to preserve our language,
to make it easier to go back and forth over the border, which
covers northeast Alaska and northwest Canada. We all speak the
same language, same relation -- we're all related; and we depend
on the very porcupine caribou for thousands of year, and we want
to protect that. We want to protect our culture. It's sad for
me to see that unless -- there was no natural resource category.
Without natural resource, each one and every one of us won't
be here today. Clean air, clean water, clean land, clean life.
That have to come first; and we're going to govern ourself.
We need to get that power back to our Indian people. We've done
it before; we're going to do it again.
The government is at that
time of collapsing, because of the deficit. When it do come,
the Indian people are going to survive,
because -- the Alaska Native is going to survive, because we
still have clean water; we still have clean air, clean land.
And we
shouldn't underestimate ourself, because we're pretty unique
in our situation in Alaska, because we do speak our language,
we do hunt and fish. There's no place across the nation where
I speak on behalf of ANWR that I see that. The Indian people
have very limited resource, and very limited cultural. They're
protecting down that way. And we are really fortunate to have
most of it you. And we need to protect that, and Alaska is pretty
good model for the other Indian nations.
I'm also representing
one of five to Western Hemisphere Inter-Continental Indigenous
of 500-Year Resistant, Due to opposing the development,
I have to travel to convince the other states, because it's really
up to the Congress to open up the ANWR. It's not only up to Alaska.
So that means we have to go across the nation to convince these
grassroot people that think like us and knows what we're talking
about. And that's how we defeated energy bill last year, through
grassroot people. And we do have a power as a people yet. We
can't give that up.
Many places I go across the nation, I see
the Indians lost a lot of ties to their culture. The last thing
they're holding
onto is the freedom of religion, and that's being jeopardized
right now, too. If we give up our rights of subsistence, that's
what we're giving up, too; because in the Gwich'in, we say: (spoke
in Gwich'in); that means, a way of life to survive. That's what
subsistence describe to me, and that's how my elders describe
it to me. So that really goes back to our religion.
Across the
nation, I know that Alaska got the highest suicide and alcohol-related
death. It's really sad, because we still have a tie to the land.
We still -- we think and we appreciate that thing -- we lift
that light every
day out
in the village. But then the outside is the one that's telling
us that we don't have it. And looks like the future down the
line, looks like we might lose it to profit-making corporations;
because, in order to be profit-making, you have to be giving
into your resource. And that is happening many places; and I
don’t blame them for doing that, because they're going
to go bankrupt if they don't. But there's other ways. There's
tourism; there's a renewable resource. We’re rich with
resource, Alaska. We're just selling our, and they're selling
back to us at an outrageous price. I still have to pay $25 for
five gallon of gas, with oil in Arctic Village yet. So, that
come to show that we're giving up our rights. So we really need
to come together. And when we first heard this about this Commission
that was going to come about, everybody was excited in Arctic
Village. Everybody was calling me on the phone, say:
"Who are we going to appoint?"
So we all
got together in the Upper Yukon and appointed four names in the
-- it wasn't individual decision; it was everybody's
decision. But none of them got on the Commission. That was kind
of disappointing for us.
On the education, I was on the school
board; I was elected in as a write-in; and it was landslide vote.
The education, I see
one place down in Lower 48 that Indians went back to their way
of teaching; and those kids are getting national level or above.
They're only teaching reading and math. After we fight this ANWR
issue, a lot of our people went -- a lot of young people went
and gob married, so they can support each other. Before that,
they had been living on Welfare, food stamp, any way they can
get a -- that's what happened since then. A lot of our people
sobered up, because they have a reason to sober up.
And this
last gather, we hardly had any money to get people together,
but all of them showed up. That's how proud they feel. So if
we could just make a headway and come together, and with this
kind of support that we get and if it works, I'm just kind
of optimistic about it, because like many people say that they
come
forth and testify on a lot of different things that come up;
and it seems like we never make a headway.
Well, anyway, all
we can do is try again and see if we can get our responsibility
back in our hands, because I don't think it'll
succeed at the rate we're going, at the rate of greed and waste
that's out there, because we still have it, like I say.
Another
way is they can come in is take over our allotment. That's how
they did other places. So you have to think about how we
can protect these allotments. And a lot of things that I see
in the villages, there's no recycle; because the land is still
clean; the water's still clean. Down there -- the toxic has to
be there first before they can get money for it; and that's where
we're at, the rate we're going now. So there is EPA, Environmental
Protection Agency, that we can make use of, if we can be heard
there. I just went to Rio Earth Summit. I just seen -- there
was very few Alaskan, but the people are interested in us-Want
to
sell our resources, put our roads in there, put the cement down.
So we need a better communication system like radio among the
villages. Thank you.
(Applause)
COMMISSIONER SEBESTA: Thank you, Sarah. I think
that I do have some questions for you. I think I better ask Al
Ketzler
to give
his testimony; and then we can. ask questions when we're finished.
MR.KETZLER: All right, thank you. My name is Alfred
Ketzler, Jr. I'm originally from Nenana. I've been living in
Fairbanks
here for the past 12 years or so, and work for the North Star
School District as a schoolteacher; and then, presently, my job
is at Tanana Chiefs in the Natural Resources Department. I work
a lot with natural resource issues; and initially, when I was
told I'd be testifying, that I would be under this Economics;
and when I got here -- or, I guess, when I got the schedule yesterday,
I just see that I was dropped off; which is good, because now
maybe I get to touch on other subjects I want to talk a little
bit. But I won't go into really elaborate as I initially planned,
I know, due to time; but, anyway, my life has been pretty much
involved in Native politics probably since about the day I was
born. My grandfather was very much involved in Indian politics,
as my father; and my heritage runs right down to the Chief Thomas
in Nenana, who was a very famous chief in that area; and I remember
the days in the early Sixties when the Tanana Chiefs first started
organizing in this area. And going back and reflecting in this
30 years of existence, and 20 years of existence of the Native
Land Claims Settlement Act, a lot of the issues are still the
same then as they are now. And, to me, it's kind of saddening
just to see that. A lot of the main concerns of our people are
still the same -- the status of the land, the jobs, the education.
And now we have some new things that weren't really there then.
This disease of alcoholism. It was on a rampage up until -- it
peaked out, I'd say, in the middle Seventies. I'm a Class of
1975, with 18 students; and now half of my classmates are dead,
every one of them from alcoholism, from suicides co
other alcohol-related deaths or drugs. And today, I see the drugs
that are more sophisticated, I guess you'd say, or more chemically
intense, say as crack. They're really affecting our young people;
and it's, as a result, I even see them worse off today than it
was when I was growing up; and I grew up in Nenana with -- and
I can't think of a student really in my class that didn't drink
alcohol, and at a very young age. And so the problems
with the
intensity of drugs, and the high pregnancy rate, and the threat
of AIDS. AIDS seems to be underplayed quite a bit in the Native
community; but, boy, once it catches hold like it has in other
countries, especially some of the African countries where communities
are totally wiped out. I'm talking about a 70,000 population
down to zero; and the dysfunctional sexual behavior among Natives,
or Alaska in general, leads to that -- that leaves a strong possibility
of this happening in Alaska. So I don't want to underplay AIDS
at all.
But, I guess, I might go back a little bit to talking
about governance; and I've spent 15, 16 years in the educational
system of the
United States, was taught that Columbus was a great man, and
he did all these great things; but here in the last five or
so years, we're finding out -- a little bit different stories
are
coming out. The reality has finally come in a flourish after
500 years; and I hope that this Commission, when it finally
makes a report, that I'm hoping that it will say in the front
page
that Alaska Natives want their independence; they want their
sovereignty; they want their own governance; they want their
own court systems; they want
to develop
themselves something similar to what Sarah was talking about
on a spiritual level. We're a spiritual people, and we're so
spiritual that diseases like alcoholism, and drug abuse, and
overeating; and sexaholics; and there's all kinds of different
type of addictions out there in the world, that it's so easy
to fall into, that we as Indian people have lost our spiritual
identity. And a lot to do with that was the encroachment of
the Western culture and stripping of our Native language.
I'm
36 years old, and I can probably only speak about 10 Native
words in my own language; and I can speak more Spanish, and,
to me, that's real sick. And my kids don't speak any Athabascan
language. And I, myself, as other young Native men who --
I'll point out, I'm an alcoholic in recovery, have lost their
identity;
and I'm finally learning about my identity. I want to learn
about my Indian people. I want to preserve my culture. I
see how important
that is. As has been pointed out by Sarah, again, that we
will be here. We will be here 500 years from now; we'll be here
1,000 years from now; just as we've been here for -- it depends
what
anthropologist you talk to, 40,000 years ago or 10,000 years
ago. And my own personal spiritual recog -- identity and
learning
more about other countries that are related to us, say like
for instance, Mexico. I spent a lot of time in Mexico, learning
about the Mayan people, the Aztecs, or what they
call Indios
(ph.) , Children of God, the indigenous people that we need
to develop. And I see that the people in my generation are
finally wising up, growing up, sobering up, whatever; but the
next couple of
groups down
below us, I see a real lot of problems. So, under the governance
part, I see as real important that Alaska Natives have to
be able to have the authority to regulate, to set laws, set
precedence.
It's become to where, nowadays, a Native person living in
a village and trying to live as a traditional person, without
a doubt,
will break some sort of a law, under Fish and Game, or IRS,
or all these different kind of regulatory organizations that
are
totally irrelevant to life. And, I guess, as time goes on
--
and I knew -- know a young man -- older gentleman; and when
I was a
kid -- Charlie Smith -- who used to go out and shoot a duck
out of season just so he could go to jail and have a meal.
Well,
that was kind of a joke; but today it costs $90 a day to
put somebody in jail -- the cost to the state or the federal
government;
but then the ideology of this kind of -- that we're all criminals.
You know, the Indian people are all criminals. You know,
they're savages. I've heard all kinds of different scenarios
of what
we are or whatever; and we need to establish our own laws,
and enforce our own laws; and we need to address this in
a different
way.
I recently had a good friend of mine in Minto commit
suicide here, that just really upset me, because I knew exactly
what
-- it was the way he perceived the process of -- he was
charged with a sexual abuse charge, and he knew exactly what
he had
to go through, through the White Man's courts, the White
Man's law,
the White Man's jails; and he could see no other alternative
but to commit suicide; and that's what these laws are doing
to our people. They're making them commit suicide. They
-- their
hopelessness. I know what hopelessness is. I've seen it,
and I've been in it myself. I'm fortunate that I didn't
get down
m a certain degree of hopelessness, but when you have low
self-esteem; you've been told all your life that you're
a second-class citizen;
and these underlying -- and I find myself looking more
or working more like an Anglo. I didn't get to suffer some of
the other
things that my fellow classmates had to suffer.
But, anyway,
I can't stress the importance of establishing, I guess, sovereignty.
We need sovereignty. This world has
recognized sovereignty, and it's a growing movement;
I know, from European
countries, from Russian, and it's something that Alaska
needs to address. The State of Alaska does not, and probably
will
not
ever, really fully recognize Alaska Natives as a separate
entity. And we need to develop a separate entity from
the federal level,
so that we can start administering our own laws, our
own way of doing things to where we are judged by our peers,
and not
by outsiders who were raised in California, or New York,
or wherever, and think that this is what's good for you.
I know that one law that really affects a lot of
young men is this child enforcement law that passed in 1990.
Child
-- is under
the Family Reform Act, where financial responsibility
is placed on a person who -- mainly males -- who have
had
a child out
of wedlock, or even in wedlock, and through divorce,
or whatever like this; and I have met and I've been
involved in a group
called
-- out of Anchorage -- Alaska Family Reform Association,
or something similar to this to fight some of these
laws, that
-- I forgot
exactly what the percentage of Alaska Native males
that owe money to this federally and state-funded program.
Some
of
these young
men owe up to like sixty or seventy thousand dollars.
An astronomical amount of money that they'll never
be able
to pay; and I've
already known two young individual men who have committed
suicide; and,
basically, I mean that was, to me, one of the contributing
factors that these kind of laws that come in; and that's
one thing that's
hard for Alaska Native people; and White people can't
understand it that we perceive money differently. And
the White Man
system is money, money, money, money; and lawyers,
and things like
this are not a part of our culture. We have a better
-- you know,
money is not our god. That's how I'm going to put it.
Now that's -- and
it's hurting a lot of people, and that needs to be
particularly addressed.
Another issue that you rarely hear about
is the IRS. The last time I talked to the BIA, which has a
list that they
cannot
fund certain villages, we had 16 in our region that
cannot be funded
by any federal or state agency, because they owe
back taxes. And, to me, these villages are, in the last
maybe -- since
the State had all the surplus (indiscernible) money
I which -- that's
how most villages got in trouble, of receiving all
these grants and not reporting taxes and things like
this,
now they're being
penalized. Of course, there ain't no money; and there
won't be any money in these particular communities
until some
of these
problems are remedied; and, unfortunately, this problem
with IRS, not many people want to take on the IRS
-- not Tanana
Chiefs, not Doyon, nobody. And they're a power that
need to be reckoned
with, because they're hurting villages, and they're
hurting the political process of developing a strong
village
council and
economic opportunity for these particular communities.
Moving
to economics and economic conditions in the villages --
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Bear, if we may,
we do have another witness, and we're running way over. Appreciate
it.
MR. KETZLER: Okay. I'll move real --
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Summarize. We know you waited a long time, and we want to hear
you, too. Sorry.
MR. KETZLER: Well, I'll just go to economic
conditions in the villages, I want to point out one thing,
that the major
economic
source in the villages still today is subsistence.
I want to point that out. That is the number
one. It's not fur
trapping; it's not mining; it's not anything.
It's subsistence.
And,
hopefully, and God willing, it will continue
to be so.
Housing conditions. I won't --
just make a couple points on that. The housing conditions
in our
particular region
in Alaska,
we're
ju -- I'll just say statewide Alaska, we
are
6,000 houses short; in Interior of Alaska,
we're 3,000
houses short
from what the
federal government considers adequate housing.
And I, myself, as a housing Comissioner
here, we just
opened some bids
-- just to give you example -- in Anchorage.
An average bid
to build
a house in the village of Anvik or Alakanuk
is reaching almost $200,000 per unit. Now
this is
where we was
talking
about
government layers and bureaucracy, and
things like this, this has to be
addressed -- in a sense of self-help programs,
where we can build our own homes for maybe
-- probably -- well, a home
in Anvik
would bid at $167,000 was the lowest bid,
not counting other things
that need to be done -- the water, and sewer, and things like
this; that there's other methods of dealing with this; and that
-- there again, it's the federal bureaucracy level that demands
that this house has to meet this particular criterias, and meeting
these criterias elevates the cost; and the villagers or the home
owner who has these kind of, what they call super-insulated,
high-efficiency homes, are having a lot of problems, a lot of
physical structural problems. And that's another one issue.
In
closing, I'll cut it short here, Morie, I guess, and through
my experience, and I've been back to Washington, D.C., many times,
and things like this; and every time I go back there, I have
to give an educational process that, yes, that Alaska Natives
live here; that, yes, Alaska is part of the Union of United States.
I had to even say that before. And the one important factor that
needs to be brought out is that -- and I've examined this many,
many times, but it -- and it's part of Alaska Native's problem.
We've done a poor job of educating Congress about who we are
and what we are, and some of the problems. And this is why we're
here today. We're here today because mainly one senator, Senator
Inoyue (ph.) , who came up here to Alaska and seen some of the
problems here. And, believe me, we're no different than the other
problems in other Indian reservations in the Lower 48. In some
ways, we're better off; in some ways, we' re worse off. But,
anyway, this is how the Commission really got its first start.
One of my recommendations is that all of Alaska Native tribal
entities establish -- I don’t care what you call it, embassy
or whatever -- in D.C., to work with the different federal agencies.
There was a report that was just done by the Arizona tribes,
Michael Hughes
(ph.), who used to be assistant for Mike -- for Dr. Brown, of
the Assistant Secretary of BIA there -- he did a report to find
out exactly just what happens to that billion point one dollars
of the BIA; and, based on population, land ownership, and all
this kind of stuff; and, boy, the report was real amazing, and
I plan on getting that report to Michael, so that he can present
it to you, and show you that, just on the federal government
level of one entity, Department of Interior, that the amount
of money that -- where it's placed at, and how grossly underfunded
Alaska is, both on population-wise, health-wise, and -- actually,
health we did pretty well on health. We're about in the middle.
But, and land-wise, and people-wise. But even Navaholand. I thought
all the money went to Navaholand, but it doesn't. It goes to
the tribes in Oregon.
So, anyway; one thing that, under this
kind scenario, we need a educational -- or not particularly educational,
but maybe embassy-type
scenario in Washington, D.C., as to work with all branches of
the government" At Tanana Chiefs, we're finally now developing
a relationship with Farmers Home Administration; we're developing
a relationship with Cooperative Extension Service; we're developing
a relationship with Soil Conservation Service; and they have
all kinds of programs and services that they do not provide the
rural communities; mainly because they don't know about the Native
culture. They don't know how to access, and it's-- there again,
it's another political -- or another educational level on the
state level. For instance, the Farmers Home Administration turns
back more money from Alaska that could be reached in rural communities,
than they spend in the rural communities of Alaska. They turn
back more money. And some of this money is weatherization money.
I mean, amazing. We have about, we figure around the state, of
close to over 10,000 units that need to be weatherized. And they're
turning back weatherization money. And they have been doing that
for over ten years, to this person who's been working that job
here in the state. So, anyway, that all branches of the government
have a responsibility to work with all tribal American Indians,
or Alaska Native people.
And another concern is that Alaska --
and I watched the political process in Washington, D.C. , and
it's real tough to do, but
we still have to do it; but on a Congressional level, we always
need to insist on Alaska set-asides. Alaska -- once it gets into
the main process of the Department of the Interior, Alaska, there
again, always gets hurt. And we need to emphasize special set-asides
just for Alaska Natives to get into the mainstream process.
And,
with that, I suppose I can close here. I'd like to at least I,
myself, travel to the villages quite a bit. I hope to hear
that you as Commissioners are out in the villages. I think that
would be real important: to get another perspective on this;
and, with that, I thank you for this time and opportunity to
speak.
COMMISSIONER SEBESTA: Okay, thank you, Al. Shirley,
would you like to share your comments with us?
MS. MOSES: Okay;
I sat here; not because I really wanted to testify. It's more
a learning experience. I enjoyed listening to everybody;
and I look upon these meetings and hearings as part of my formal
education experience. I learn more here and going to meetings
like this than anything I could learn in my Master's program
in education on campus. This is the real world, and these are
real problems that we're dealing with in education. I'm going
to be presenting a position paper on alternative school board
training to rural Alaska. I see that's a way that I can contribute
to possibly making a positive impact on things that are going
on in rural education; and I won't go into the details of it,
but I'll just tell you briefly why I'm interested in this; and
you can read my paper later, if you're interested.
I'm Shirley
Moses. I'm Inupiat Eskimo, who was raised in Nome and in Tanana.
My parents are Floyd and Martha Wheeler. My older
sister testified this morning. As a child, our parents instilled
in us in part to giving something back to our communities; you
know, sharing and learning from our elders. And I think that's
really something important chat we have to pass on; and I'd encourage
the Commission to invite young people to attend these hearings.
It would bring us a step closer to becoming proactive, instead
of reactive. And I see this time and time again. As we stand
on education and other things, we’re always reacting to
problems. It's about time that we take our Native people; and
especially the youth in our communities, and expose them to problems,
so as they're getting an education, they can realize that these
are problems they are going to have to deal with, and they can
work on getting a solid educational background, so they can deal
with the problems that we're dealing with.
I've been involved
in education for a long time; and it gets old coming to meetings
like this, but it's well worthwhile, because
if we are going to get anywhere in education, we need to make
our thoughts known. We have to tell people that we're not going
to sit back anymore; that we want to take control. And I think
that's really important that you involve the youth.
In 1975,
I obtained a Bachelor's degree in elementary education. It was
exciting to be formally entering the education field at
this time, because our state had just taken a big leap into turning
over local control of rural schools to regional attendance areas.
As then Commissioner of Education, Marshall Lind (ph.), reaffirmed,
the State was decentralizing the governance of operating local
schools from statewide control to local control. It's been 17
years since I became a teacher; and I've since then become a
parent of four children, ranging in high school age to elementary;
and, as a parent, and as a teacher, and as a community person,
and as administrator at times in schools, we see this same problem
over and over again. People say that parents have to take control
of education. A lot of people attend school board meetings. They
want to be involved. A lot of times, they come to roadblocks,
where administrators say:
"You are advisory school board members.
We will listen to your comments, but you're advisory only. "
We
have to get beyond that and take control of our schools. And
I think that we need to -- yes, we do elect do regional school
board and to local school boards, but the training that, they're
given is very watered down, and it's given by the Association
of school Board Presidents, who are ex-administrators and ex-superintendents,
so they're indoctrinated to one point of view. They need to know
both their rights and responsibilities of the positions they
take on as being elected officials. And I think moat would happily
live up to the standards that are set by local people, if they'
re educated to what they're left to. A lot of them, responsibilities
that they're neglecting. It's time that we get independent school
board training for them, so they can do justice to their positions
and do justice to our education for the children.
Teachers are hired to teach in rural Alaska that
don't have the basic background in cross-cultural communication;
and I think that's where we do an injustice to
both the teacher and the children, because these teachers are
brought in from Outside, because they're not given a background
on now to communicate with school year, are making it on a day-to-day
basis, without the help of people. We need to have more ties
to the local community and get that cross-culture communication
going, so we can have effective teachers that don't have to deal
with things.
You know, they might learn about that cross-cultural
things that they need to by the time they leave. You know, we
have a revolving
door -- real high rate of teacher turnover; and we need to slow
that down. We need to give our teachers the background they need;
and we need to support them; but yet, we need the school boards
to support us as parents and as Native teachers also.
I have
a lot of other ideas in curriculum. I won't go into that; but
we need to have relevant curriculum in the schools. That
doesn't mean teaching totally Native culture; but they need to
recognize if kids come in with a unique culture, that they shouldn't
be put down. Their culture should be recognized and celebrated.
They need to have like Alaska history talk, so that people realize
where they're coming from and where they're going. They shouldn't
just be taught foreign history.
We need to get away from the
stereotyping of being looked upon as drunken Natives or slow
learners. This past winter, I was really taken aback when someone
called me, when we were dealing with the University of Alaska
on controversy, that:
"The problem that Natives face at UAF stem
from partying, drug abuse; these kids need to grow up and
pull their weight."
Little did that person know that many Native
students are older adults who have been in the workplace and
have returned to school
to gain the benefit of a University-based education. They're
functioning in many facets of our culture; and want to strengthen
their background of interest, so they can come back to the
community and the people that serve, and work to their full potential.
We need Native leaders that can become mentors
to strengthen the tie between the students, and business, and
educational
community. And I guess I'll stop at that.
I just want you
to know that there are people out in rural Alaska that really
believe in giving the best education possible
for
our students; and that we support the people that are going
to the university, whether they go into education, or Business,
or whatever. And we don't want to be looked upon as being
passed on, or passed through a system. We earn our degrees,
and I
think
that the time has come for people to realize that we don't
have to have people speak for us. Thank you.
(Applause)
COMMISSIONER SEBESTA: It's encouraging to see that
you're a teacher for these years, and I think that that's one
of the
very important
solutions to a lot of the problems that we face. And
I appreciate your comments. I'd ask the Commission members
if they have
any questions for this final group before we conclude?
COMMISSIONER
MASEK: Well, I'd just like to talk with Sheryl [sic] a little
bit about the education. I know
we don't
have a whole
lot of time now; but I'd like to see -- you said
you had a report, or --
MS. MOSES: Sure, I'll -- I had
planned on writing that anyway. It's part of my project.
COMMISSIONER
MASEK: Yes, I would like to -- okay.
COMMISSIONER SEBESTA: I see you have notes there. Are you going to submit those?
MS. MOSES: I tried to get a computer when you were
at lunch, but I didn't have a disk, so I couldn't
get it.
I'll type
it up.
COMMISSIONER SEBESTA: Can you send them
to us?
MS. MOSES: Sure I will.
COMMISSIONER SEBESTA: Yeah,
because I think that -- I notice you said you had ideas
on curriculum,
which
you
didn't
expound upon,
And I think that those things are important,
too.
MS. MOSES: Well, it was -- you know,
I brought that up because of Sarah's
talk
about environmental
education.
I worked this
past year in writing curriculum for
Alaska Native schools, and getting them introduced
to environmental
education.
And that's
going to be piloted this next winter.
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Just to comment. I've worked
with Shirley through some
difficult issues; and
she's always
a true advocate,
and one who has beliefs and follow
through on them. And so she's going
to be a great
addition. I'm
glad to see
she's
back getting
her Master's; but she's dogged in
her determination, and follow through,
which we really need,
She doesn't take
no for an answer.
MS. MOSES: You should
know that (laughing). Well, thank you for your...
COMMISSIONER
SEBESTA: I
guess we're
-- Morie,
why don't
you finish it up?
COMMISSIONER
THOMPSON: Well, thank you for your patience.
I know we
had one
guy here,
other than
the Commissioners.
I'd
like to
note we had Ory Williams(ph.)
with us all day, and we wonder
whether
he's sane
or
not, but
(laughter) we appreciate
him being here. And we also
had the gentleman from Nenana here
all day.
(Off record at 7:35
p.m.]
***END OF PROCEEDINGS***
This document was ocr scanned. We have made every attempt to
keep the online document the same as the original, including
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