Black-Inuk woman traces history of Black settlers in the North in pursuit of answers to racial divisions today

Jaelyn Jarrett believes Black and white settlers had very different experiences in the North

Samuel Wat  · CBC News  · May 1 

Jaelyn Jarrett and her aunt Leah Ford. Jarrett, a woman originally from Nain, N.L., has Inuit and Guyanese roots. She's embarking on a journey to trace the history of Black settlers in the North. (Submitted by Jaelyn Jarrett)

Jaelyn Jarrett remembers moving from Nain, N.L., to Ontario as an eight-year-old when she started being called a ‘Puatugi’.

“I didn't really understand what that term meant at the time, but I knew people would reference my hair, and so I figured that it meant black,” she said.

After conversations with her grandmother, Jarrett discovered that word meant Portuguese. She wondered why she — a Black-Inuk woman with Guyanese roots — was being referred to as Portuguese.

That memory led the Carleton University master’s student on a journey to trace the origin of the word, where she came across Canadian historian Kenn Harper’s Names We Call Each Other. 

The book explains many of the whalers in the Arctic were Black men from Cape Verde — islands located off the west coast of Africa once colonized by Portugal. 

Many Cape Verdeans emigrated to the United States starting in the 1800s, particularly to coastal towns with thriving whaling ports like New Bedford, Massachusetts. From there, some Cape Verdean men joined whaling ships travelling to the Hudson’s Bay and Cumberland Sound. 

A photo by Captain George Comer, estimated between 1897 and 1899, showing the crew on deck of a whaling schooner. Brass Lopes is believed to be in the far right of this photograph. (Mystic Seaport Museum)

Those Black whalers were then referred to by Inuit as ‘Puatugi’, which was adapted from the word Portuguese to flow better in Inuktitut. 

While Black whalers did head North for economic pursuits, Jarrett believes those men had very different experiences than their white counterparts. 

"They were able to get opportunities to come to the North and make money, but they were still under the confines of racism and colonialism," she said. 

She thinks many people don't realize that part of Nunavut’s history, which she believes could offer answers to the racial divide that exists to this day.

Rescue and recovery efforts underway as remnants of Typhoon Halong hit western Alaska

 READ:  https://alaskabeacon.com/briefs/rescue-and-recovery-efforts-underway-as-remnants-of-typhoon-halong-hit-western-alaska/

Rescue and recovery efforts began Sunday in western Alaska as a major storm caused by remnants of Typhoon Halong hit coastal communities with massive storm surge, flooding and hurricane-force winds up to 100 mph.
The storm bore down on the lower Kuskokwim River delta region early Sunday morning with the most significant damage reported in Kipnuk, Kwigillingok, and Napakiak.
The U.S. Coast Guard and Alaska Air National Guard, and Alaska Army National Guard dispatched rescue aircraft to conduct search and rescue efforts, and begin delivering needed supplies.
“Search and rescue is the priority at this time,” said division spokesperson Jeremy Zidek by email. He said rescue teams searched the multiple homes that were torn up and floating in nearby waters.
On Sunday, the Alaska State Troopers reported at least 18 people were rescued in Kwigillingok and at least 16 people were rescued in Kipnuk.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy extended a disaster declaration first issued on Oct. 8 to coordinate disaster response and recovery resources for communities in the Yupitt, Pribilof Island and Lower Kuskokwim Regional Education Attendance Areas.
“Every effort will be made to help those hit by this storm. Help is on the way,” Dunleavy said.
Representatives of coastal villages reported on an afternoon call hosted by the nonprofit Association of Village Council Presidents that residents were sheltering in place, many in local schools, and were assessing the damage.
The storm caused major erosion, damaging boardwalks, roads and bridges. It sank boats and damaged homes with high winds. Some homes were blown off foundations and turned over. Some communities reported power outages and a loss of cell service, and were relying on backup generators and Starlink satellites for wifi connection.

Winds gusted up to 100 miles per hour in Tooksook Bay, 91 mph in St George Island, and up to 76 mph in Bethel and St Mary’s, according to the National Weather Service Alaska Region.

Native America Calling:

FBI Director Patel Commits to Working with Senator Murkowski on MMIW

Washington, DC – During a U.S. Senate Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee hearing this week, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) secured commitments from the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to work with her on critical public safety issues for Alaska.  As Alaska struggles with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls cases and fentanyl-related deaths, Director Kash Patel pledged to make Alaska a priority as the Bureau addresses these life-and-death matters.   READ:  https://alaska-native-news.com/murkowski-working-with-fbi-director-to-address-mmiwg-and-fentanyl-in-alaska/78708/

 

Bethel's tribe repatriates remains of four Yupiit ancestors

KYUK | By Evan Erickson  January 14, 2025 

Evan Erickson KYUK | A wooden cross with the words "Four Yupiit Ancestors" marks the spot where the remains of four Yup'ik inhabitants taken from the region in 1907 were buried in November 2024 after being returned to the Orutsararmiut Traditional Native Council.

At the Bethel Memorial Cemetery at the edge of the tundra, a large wooden cross protruding from a single gravesite bears only the words “Four Yupiit Ancestors.”

In November 2024, the partial remains of four Yup’ik inhabitants of the Bethel area were finally laid to rest by Bethel’s tribe, the Orutsararmiut Traditional Native Council (ONC).  They’d been stored at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum) for more than a century.

The repatriation is the product of a yearslong process under the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The law has facilitated the transfer of the remains of tens of thousands of Native Americans stored in museum collections and laboratories back to federally recognized tribes since its passage in 1990.

Nevertheless, hundreds of thousands of remains and sacred objects still remain in the possession of museums, universities, and federal agencies across the United States.

At the request of ONC in November 2024, the City of Bethel agreed to dig a gravesite for the remains at the Bethel Memorial Cemetery.  In a meeting of the Bethel City Council shortly after the burial, Bethel City Clerk Kevin Morgan shared an email sent to the city by the tribe describing the remains.

"It was an adult male, the cranium and mandible, mandible of a female, mandible and part of the skull of a female, and the cranium and cranial bones of … about a 15-year-old female," Morgan said.

Notice of the ancestral remains as required under NAGRA was first made by the National Park Service in late 2022, though it is unclear when Bethel’s tribe received the remains.  ONC did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Little is known about the four recently buried Yupiit ancestors, but according to the federal register, the remains were removed from a site near Bethel in September 1907 as part of a Western Alaska expedition led by Penn Museum’s general curator of American archaeology, George Byron Gordon.

That same year, Gordon collected and removed hundreds of cultural items from the region as part of a canoe expedition of the Kuskokwim River that brought the anthropologist to Bethel.

According to The Repatriation Database, a project by nonprofit investigative journalism organization ProPublica, the remains of at least one person of interest to Bethel’s tribe are still being held by the Alaska State Medical Examiner's Office, but have not been made available for repatriation.

The Penn Museum did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the history of the remains while in the museum’s possession.

SOURCE:  https://www.kyuk.org/arts-culture-community-features/2025-01-14/bethels-tribe-repatriates-remains-of-four-yupiit-ancestors

ALASKA missing persons report go back to 1960 #MMIP

 

September 27, 2023 National Native News

Cases in new AK missing persons report go back to 1960

A first-of-its-kind report on missing persons in Alaska, which maps out hundreds of cases going back to 1960, has been released by state's Department of Public Safety and the Anchorage Police Department, as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

The State Department of Public Safety and the Anchorage Police Department collaborated to collect this data.

Austin McDaniel, a spokesman for the Public Safety Department, says the report maps out hundreds of cases going back to 1960.

“We think this is a good first effort, and we’re definitely interested in adding additional data points.”

McDaniel says the work, which is an outgrowth of Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK)’s People First Initiative, will be updated every quarter and can be found online.

In the last quarter, from April to June, 200 Alaska Native or American Indian people went missing in the state. Most of those have been found, except for 25.

The database has an important new feature.

It categorizes the circumstances surrounding the disappearances, identifying those which are suspicious.

As director of the Data for Indigenous Justice group, Charlene Apok welcomes the new report and says it’s what advocates for missing Indigenous people have been asking for – for years.

She worked on an earlier attempt to track their numbers.

“Sadly, I think what this really illustrates is a systemic issue of violence that’s being perpetrated in our community in the state of Alaska. And that should raise flags and alarms, and really start igniting justice.”

Apok hopes the database will continue to improve and provide more information about those missing, including their hometowns and Native cultural identities, so they become more than just points of data, but reminders of loved ones, lost to their families.

my screenshot from the new report👆

 

 **Maybe this TV show helped?👇👇

only one season, sadly

 

Yesterday I watched the last two episodes of Alaska Daily who had made a similar map and report... Devastating to watch... Trace

Indigenous Mom Whose Daughter Was Murdered Granted Custody of 4-Year-Old Granddaughter for Second Time

Arlene Ballot and granddaughter Chanel. Photo:

www.CommunityX.com

Despite being granted custody again, Arlene Ballot was ordered to wait until July 31 to begin a three-week transition of custody

By Susan Young

July 25, 2023|  PEOPLE MAGAZINE

As Arlene Ballot prepares to finally pick up her murdered daughter’s child from the couple who have had her for most of her 4 years of life, she can be forgiven for being cautiously optimistic about actually bringing Chanel home.

The July 17 decision to award Ballot custody is the second time the Selawik Tribal Court in Alaska has ordered Chanel, an indigenous child, to be returned to her grandmother.  Nikki Richman, who is not related to Chanel, gained temporary custody through the child’s father, Eric Rustad, who murdered Chanel’s mother Kristen Huntington in January 2020.

"This is three years too long. They shouldn't be allowed to keep dragging it on, abusing the court system to keep this child from her grandmother," Antonia Commack, Huntington’s friend since childhood who is also involved in the legal battle, tells PEOPLE. "I knew in my heart that being quiet was wrong and it was time to speak up."

And a recent Supreme Court decision might add some extra weight going forward.

The week before the latest Selawik Tribal Court ruling, The Supreme Court upheld the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which says the first priority is to put the child in the care of a member of their extended family. If that is not possible, the child should be placed with a member of their tribe. The third option is to look for "other Indian families." Only after those three options have been exhausted will they be eligible to be placed with a non-Native family. 

In their December ruling, the Selawik Tribal Court found tribal elder Ballot able to meet the child’s needs and, in addition, "can better connect her to her Native culture." 

KEEP READING

Alaska Tribal Child Welfare Compact: NEW LAW #ICWA

Alaska State Law Codifies Child Welfare Protections for Indigenous Families

By Nancy Marie Spears

A new state law that took effect August 5 in Alaska aims to “address and improve deep structural inequities” in the state’s child welfare system — protecting residents should broader federal protections be overturned by a pending Supreme Court case.

Specifically, HB 184 solidifies the state’s intergovernmental relationship with the tribes and codifies the protections of the Indian Child Welfare Act, the 1978 federal law providing Indigenous communities enhanced protections from foster care separation. The law known as ICWA faces a Nov. 9 challenge before the nation’s highest court.  

But the Alaska Tribal Child Welfare Compact will protect Alaska Native families, even when there are shifts in state administrations. It became law earlier this month without the sitting governor’s formal approval, following a bill signed by Alaska’s former Gov. Bill Walker, an independent, Department of Health and Social Services Commissioner Valerie Nurr’araaluk Davidson, and 18 tribal co-signers representing 161 federally-recognized tribes. 

The Act ensures that tribes and tribal organizations can utilize foster care prevention programs that integrate the traditional, cultural beliefs of Indigenous communities in Alaska, paving the way for a more relevant and culturally appropriate child welfare system in the state. According to an Alaska House Coalition press release, signatories are now empowered “to provide quality children and family services as close to home as possible. The model is lauded nationally and has been replicated in other states.

“Children are the most vulnerable members of our communities; protecting them and helping them to thrive is the most important work we can do,” Association of Village Council Presidents CEO Vivian Korthuis stated in the press release. “We all have the responsibility to take care of all our children. Tribes have the same goal as the State — better outcomes for Alaskan children, and as partners we can transform child welfare together.”

The makes Alaska one of many states now finding ways to protect state residents in the event that the landmark ICWA law is struck down by the Supreme Court. To date California, Oregon, Washington, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Oklahoma have similar local laws in place. 

States are either strengthening their versions of the federal law, or are entering into government-to-government agreements — like this recent Alaska legislation —between state child welfare agencies and one or more tribes.

“Tribal compacting is the way out of Alaska’s child welfare crisis,” said Alaska Federation of Natives Executive Vice President and General Counsel Nicole Borromeo. 

The landmark state-tribal compact Borromeo helped facilitate began in 2017, “to address and improve deep structural inequities in Alaska’s child welfare system,” according to the press statement.

State leaders also praised the agreement. “The Tribal Child Welfare Compact is an excellent example of the State capitalizing on the excellent work of Alaska Tribes and working together to improve the way we are meeting the needs of Alaska families,” stated Rep. Tiffany Zulkosky (D), who served as prime sponsor of HB 184. “Healthy communities begin with healthy families. When our children succeed, so does Alaska.”

 

NEWS:

8/4/2022

Supreme Court Set to Consider Fate Of Indian Child Welfare Act in November

The Supreme Court will begin to hear oral arguments in a case that challenges the federal Indian Child Welfare Act in November.

 

US churches and traumatic legacy of Native American schools

 (excerpt)

U.S. Catholic and Protestant denominations operated more than 150 boarding schools between the 19th and 20th centuries. Some U.S. churches have been reckoning with this activity for years through ceremonies, apologies and archival investigations, while others are just getting started. Some advocates say churches have more work to do in opening their archives, educating the public about what was done in the name of their faith and helping former students and their relatives tell their stories of family trauma.

“We all need to work together on this,” said the Rev. Bradley Hauff, a Minnesota-based Episcopal priest and missioner for Indigenous Ministries with the Episcopal Church. “What’s happening in Canada, that’s a wakeup call to us,” said Hauff, who is enrolled with the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

KEEP READING

This photo made available by the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia shows students at a Presbyterian boarding school in Sitka, Alaska in the summer of 1883. U.S. Catholic and Protestant denominations operated more than 150 boarding schools between the 19th and 20th centuries. Native American and Alaskan Native children were regularly severed from their tribal families, customs, language and religion and brought to the schools in a push to assimilate and Christianize them. (AP)

Federal ICWA lawsuit remains a case to watch despite split decision in 5th Circuit Court of Appeals

 LISTEN

 

A lawsuit challenging the Indian Child Welfare Act received a split decision in federal appeals court on April 6, 2021. The law, the lawsuit and the split resulted in a 300-plus-page decision that confounded experts and lay people alike. The decision won’t impact Alaska directly. But legal experts  say Alaska should still keep an eye on the case.

The Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA, basically provides Tribes with an opportunity to intervene when state child welfare and adoption agencies consider whether or not to remove a Native child from a home. The children can be enrolled citizens of the Tribe or be eligible for membership status. 

Lawsuit seeks more protections | Newsy Video on #ICWA and AFCARS

August 27, 2020

A lawsuit filed in federal court aims to stop the rollback of rules that monitor American Indian and Alaska Native children foster care.

"I was 12 years-old and there was reoccurring abuse in my house, as well as neglect that resulted in us being taken away," said 22-year-old Natilia Edwards of Anchorage, Alaska.
Edwards and her four sisters, all Alaskan Natives, were placed in foster care outside of their tribal community.

"So, I was in care for a total of seven years and then I was in a total of 14 different placements," said Edwards.

Modern day treaty could help make Alaska a model for state-tribal child welfare partnership

House Bill 221 is "long overdue," according to Rep. Tiffany Zulkusky, Yup'ik, (D) Bethel, chair of the House Committee on Native Affairs.

by Joaqlin Estus

Tribes say an end to hostilities with the state of Alaska is long overdue.

A bill that would require state acknowledgement of federally-recognized tribes had its second hearing Tuesday and was approved and moved out of the Alaska House Special Committee on Tribal Affairs.
At the hearing questions were raised and addressed about the impact of the legislation on state jurisdiction and sovereignty.

Two witnesses gave legislators a look at what could be a national model for a state-tribal partnership, in 2017 the state of Alaska and a dozen tribes signed an Alaska Tribal Child Welfare Compact.

Nicole Borromeo, Athabascan, general counsel for the Alaska Federation of Natives, said a compact is like a modern-day treaty. "[This one] specifically defines the services and supports that are going to be carried out by our tribes and tribal organizations on behalf of the state as well as the funding streams required," she said.

“I want to call the committee’s attention to the fact that this is the first ever compact that has been negotiated at the state level. And that is something for all of us to be proud of,” Borromeo said. “We [Alaskans] tend to be at the top of the list of undesirables and at the bottom of the good list. In this case we are truly breaking ground and we're on the cutting edge of law and policy. It's just something that all Alaskans should know about and be able to celebrate.”

Francine Eddy Jones, director of tribal family and youth services, Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. (Photo courtesy of Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska)

Francine Eddy Jones, Tlingit, is director of tribal family and youth services at the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.
🔻

‘Share Your OCS Story’ | First Meeting held in Wasilla #ICWA

• BY MARY LOCKMAN
• Jan 27, 2017

WASILLA — The first of a handful of “Share Your OCS Story” meetings hosted by Alaska House Representative Tammie Wilson, of North Pole, was held at the Mat-Su Legislative Offices in Wasilla on Saturday.

Wilson said the six meetings, which are being held throughout the state, are a way of documenting people’s experiences with the Alaska Office of Children’s Services (OCS) for the Alaska State Legislature and the Governor’s office.

Wilson said the meetings are follow-ups on previous work her office has done in trying to address what some see as systemic problems with OCS. She said her office had previously documented more than 100 cases with gaps in proper documentation that occurred during family reunification efforts.

“I started this panel, I figure the best way to go is I ask parents if they want a public setting to be able to share their stories,” Wilson said, “That way we could then share with the legislature and governor and anyone else who could help us get this straightened out.”

Wilson said she’s concerned that family reunification efforts fall short, especially when compared to foster and adoption efforts, once children are in the system.

Twenty-two people showed up at the Saturday meeting, and shared stories of following case plans and doing everything necessary to get their kids back, only to have items indefinitely added to their case plans before they could see their children again. Others said they were shuttled through a revolving door of high-turnover caseworkers, who missed doing their part to provide needed pieces for reunification.

Former state legislator Lynn Gattis of Wasilla also testified at the meeting.

“I as a legislator, I got call after call after call,” Gattis said. “They don’t’ know where else to go. They call us. They cry. Many times I’ve had grandparents who wanted to be involved, where they weren’t being challenged. And no one called them back.”

Wilson said she understands it can be difficult for people to come forward and talk about their experiences with OCS; some might be afraid that speaking out could affect their own cases, and for others, it may just be difficult to speak about something painful in a public forum.

But she hopes the meetings across the state will shed some light on the experiences that Alaskans have had with the office, and that documenting what works and what doesn’t might lead to solutions.

One of those solutions may already be forthcoming.

Currently, Alaska Native children have stronger protections in place that prevent them from being adopted out to non-family members when a safe home with a relative is available. Those laws also require consultation with tribes.

That’s because they have federal protections under the Indian Child Welfare Act.

Wilson said she thinks all Alaskan families should have more the more stringent protections required by ICWA, with family members such as grandparents having to be consulted before a child is fostered or adopted outside of the family.

To that end, she said, she’s co-sponsored House Bill 10, short title, “Child In Need of Aid/Protection; Duties.”

Gabrielle LeDoux of Anchorage and George Rauscher of Sutton are co-sponsors on the bill.

“What it does, is change everything to the ICWA standard,” Wilson said. “They have to have active participation, make sure the parents do have the resources necessary to get children back, and a higher standard making sure the family is contacted in putting them in a home with the family.”

The Office of Children’s Services did not immediately return comment for this story.

A “Share Your OCS Story” meeting was held in Juneau on Thursday, and another is scheduled to be held in Kenai on Saturday. For more information about the meetings, call Rep. Wilson’s office at 907-465-4797.

#ICWA Alaska: cheaper, better for family to keep children (updated)

North Pole Rep. continues to press for OCS reform

By Dan Bross, KUAC - Fairbanks - January 18, 2017

Rep. Tammie Wilson, R-North Pole, addresses the Alaska House of Representatives, April 8, 2015. She is calling for an investigation into the Office of Children’s Services. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)

State Representative Tammie Wilson of North Pole continues to press for reform of the State Office of Children’s Services. Wilson cited a 30 percent growth in the number of reportedly endangered kids being removed from parents in recent years, and some constituents unhappy with how the system has treated them.

Wilson wants the Office of Children’s Services to refocus on parental treatment and assistance, instead of removing kids from homes. Wilson has resubmitted a bill that would adopt a uniform standard for when and how children can be removed, based on federal law.

”And that would be the Indian Child Welfare Act,” Wilson said.

Wilson said the federal ICWA standard, which currently only applies to Alaska Native and American Indian children, is a better formula for addressing parental behavior, and keeping kids home or with extended family.

”It also doesn’t allow as much hearsay as it does now,” Wilson said. “You actually have to have proof that something is happening within the family unit. And it also encourages more of keeping  the child in the home and putting the resources there – working with the parents versus taking the children out. ICWA is largely known as the gold standard when it comes to best practices.”

Alaska OCS Director Christy Lawton said the department is officially neutral on Wilson’s bill, but acknowledged that ICWA policy mandates beneficial services.

”We have to demonstrate that we’ve provided active efforts to prevent removal or active efforts to promote reunification,” Lawton said.

That means actually taking family members to substance abuse treatment, counseling or other help, not just recommending they get it. Lawton said it would be great to do that for all families, but notes ICWA was established to address systematic racism.

”It’s almost as if you’re saying that ICWA isn’t really needed anymore because the playing field is level, which unfortunately is still not the case in Alaska, or in many other parts of the country,” Lawton said.

Lawton also pointed to potential loss of federal support for cases involving Alaska Native families, funds contingent on meeting strict ICWA requirements the financially strapped state may struggle to achieve if applied in all child welfare cases. Representative Wilson maintained the state has enough money and just needs to do a better job.

"My aspect is if we weren’t taking children that we should not be taking, we would be able to use the resources into families that really do need those resources,” Wilson said. “Cause, it’s much cheaper and it’s better for the family to be able to keep the children in the home. And then if you need the parents to do certain types of classes, then you have those worked out at the same time”

Wilson’s take is based on case records obtained through constituents critical of OCS practices.
Wilson is awaiting response from the State Department of Law on a request for a grand jury investigation of OCS, and is holding three public hearings on the agency in coming weeks. OCS Director Lawton said she’ll continue to work with Wilson to improve agency practices.

UPDATE Submitted by mbowen on 01/20/2017

The state office of children's services is being investigated.
State Representative Tammie Wilson said last week that she had requested a grand jury investigation, but had heard nothing back from the state.
The Department of Law now says that recommendations from a grand jury have been unsealed, and will be looked at by the Alaska citizen review panel and the state ombudsman.
The Citizen Review Panel meets four times a year, and its next meeting is in March.
Representative Wilson, who started the process that led to the investigation, has also introduced legislation concerning the office of children's services: "We have draft legislation to see what's going on with OCS by bringing the standards up. We have the Indian Child Welfare Act right now for Native children, not for those other children. We've got to make sure that the higher standards are for everyone. The facts are [that] we're taking more children out of the homes, and parents never get their children back. That's just wrong."

Walker signs two bills into law

Gov. Bill Walker signed HB 200 on Tuesday morning at the offices of Bristol Bay Native Corporation in Anchorage.

Walker signs two bills into law

JUNEAU EMPIRE

Gov. Bill Walker has signed into law bills intended to help foster youths and ease adoption in Alaska.
Among other elements, House Bill 200 implements portions of the Indian Child Welfare Act that ease the adoption process for tribal members adopting a child of the same tribe. The bill also allows up to four legal proceedings involved in adoption cases to be combined under the purview of one judge.
House Bill 27, sponsored by Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage, is a foster care reform bill that requires the state Office of Children’s Services to make greater efforts to work with tribal and Alaska Native organizations, and perform more in-depth searches to determine whether a relative may be able to care for a child.
Children may stay in the foster care system through age 21 (instead of 18) in order to avoid homelessness, according to one provision in the bill.
The bill calls for children to stay in their current schools (if possible), and it states that one of the duties of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services is to recruit foster parents and adoptive parents.
Walker added both bills to the agenda of the first special session when they failed to pass the Legislature in regular session.
The signing of HB 200 took place at the Anchorage offices of Bristol Bay Native Corporation, while the signing of HB 27 took place at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Language has power: “Education is the means whereby a culture perpetuates itself and transfers itself to the young"

Can teaching Native languages improve graduation rates in Alaska? https://t.co/NP3TycleBe #AlaskaNative #IndigenousLanguages

— Kaleimamoowahinekapu (@candacekgalla) May 6, 2016

The University of Alaska Southeast graduated its first Alaska Native Languages and Studies majors in 2014. (Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO)

Many of Alaska’s rural schools are not working. Low student performance and high teacher turnover are just two of more obvious indicators of problems in these mostly Native school districts. Those working in the schools say it’s time for radical changes.

Paul Berg has taught in Alaska for more than 40 years — 10 of them in villages.

“You want to see racism go to a village school,” said Berg. “You’ll see Outside, usually Anglo teachers have the best jobs, the most pay. Vast majority of administrators will be Anglo. It is not working. The statistics and the data are very clear. ”

Berg, now 70, teaches high school students during the summer and works as a cross-cultural specialist for the Goldbelt Heritage Foundation. He, among other educators meeting this month at the University of Alaska’s Natives Studies Conference, describes schools as colonial forces not that much different from the boarding schools of years ago that punished Native children for speaking their languages.

“Education is the means whereby a culture perpetuates itself and transfers itself to the young. Public education has taken this away from the Yupik, the Inupiat, the Aleut and others and given basically middle-class America to these people,” said Berg. “As to the degree that they wish that… that should be their choice but they should have the inalienable undeniable right to transfer the culture and the language to their children. It’s called the right of culture sovereignty and English-speaking nations are among the last on earth to recognize it.

Xh’unei Lance Twitchell addresses a crowd at the 2014 Alaska Federation of Natives Convention. At the event, Gov. Sean Parnell signed HB 216, a bill making Alaska’s Native languages official state languages. (Photo by Jennifer Canfield/KTOO)

“My prayer is that Tlingit is going to live forever because we want our little babies to be talking,” said Xh’unei Lance Twitchell.

Keep Reading

Athabascan Adoptee Welcomed Home

By Mary St. Martin-Charles

I’ve always dreamt in Indian.  Vivid, lucid, in color and shaded with symbols.  One evening night quest, my body was carried in a stream.  The water above and below me flowed horizontally from my head toward my toes.  However, my body was carried in a current of its own and moving me ahead.  As I approached a steep hill, I began to struggle.  My brief panic subsided when I chose not to lose my strength fighting the elements I could not control. I reached deep in cool water with both hands.  Waiting below were fish who sucked on my fingers and pulled me the rest of the way home.  I think I am a Salmon.  Instinctively, I was called home.

In the year of 2014 I located my cousins and my Koyukon Athabascan tribe.  I was welcomed with tears.  Even first cousin Barb felt like she needed to have a baby shower.  When my tax return came in February 2015, the first thing I did was make reservations from Los Angeles to Fairbanks, Alaska and a second reservation with a bush plane to fly me to the Village of Koyukuk, AK.  The Native Village of Koyukuk lies where the Koyukuk river meets the Yukon.  About 300 miles from Fairbanks. No running water to the cabins. No roads in and out.

I landed in Fairbanks at 12 a.m. The summer sun still shown during mid-July midnight.  I was met   with an aunt and several cousins.  As I came down the escalator from the terminal, I was welcomed with Athabascan singing, tears and hugs.  My first cousin LaVern opened her house to me and organized a family reunion for the next evening; Barb took the day off work to spend with me.  I had my first ever family reunion with people related to me, my first native food and first stories of my father's life.

A day later LaVerne flew with me into Koyukuk, where my father lived and died on the river.  I cannot begin to explain my emotions at this time.  I cried real tears.  Tears I could not control.  I had emotions and questions overcoming my sense of self.  Anxiety set in.  I began to ask myself… am I crazy?  What the hell am I doing flying over 2k miles and into the interior of Alaska on a bush plane to meet people and see a way of life that my DNA says I am half of?  I am nuts?

I was crying inside the plane before I even exited.  My heart beating fast and I could feel it.  I could see my first cousin Marylin.  I could see Marilyn was just as scared as I was.  I could see people arriving to meet the plane on their quads and in trucks.  Even the unleashed dogs came to welcome.

Lump in my throat, crying and shaking I got out of the plane.  I embraced Marilyn first.  Then the rest of the group.  One by one they hugged me, introduced themselves and welcomed me "home."

They held a huge banner which read “Welcome” and once again I was serenaded with beautiful voices singing in Athabascan.

The next few days were life-changing for me.  Another reunion dinner was held.  I ate more Native food including moose, beaver, salmon and muktuk (whale blubber).  After dinner an Elder presented me with an Indian name that Marilyn chose for me.  I still could not believe my ears when people welcomed me "home."

During my stay, I got to see cuzns LaVern and Peter catch Salmon on the Yukon. While seining, I was reminded of my dream.  I thank the spirit of the Salmon for guiding me home and providing food for our people.  I want to go back home now even stronger than before.

I know now first-hand what I am missing and what has been imprinted in me for many generations.  My DNA...my endless imprint from past, present to future which still calls me home.

It is this present generation of Native adoptees who need to continue to find our way home.  It is you, it is me.  We must follow our instinct and swim upstream.  Some of us make it, some won't but you still need to keep swimming.  If you don't fight back, the predators win.  

It's in our DNA and a matter of survival for Natives today and future generations.  Trust the forces that pull you through to carry us home.  Keep swimming upstream for yourself and all adoptees.

Mary contributed to the anthology CALLED HOME: Lost Children of the Indian Adoption Projects. LINK TO BOOK INFO here