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PaleHawkWoman -> RE: Sarah Palin's Record On Native Alaskan Issues (9/12/2008 1:42:23 AM)
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First of all, the term"eskimo" is a racial slur meaning "dog eater". Please do not use it or I will have to report it to the moderator. The proper term is Inuit. Not all Native Alaskans are Inuit. There are also Tlingits, Kwakiutl, Salish, and about 30 other groups.There are a total of 262 Native nations in Alaska.
According to the treaties, Native Alaskans are permitted to hunt and fish for subsistance- that is to feed themselves. A lot of whites in Alaska do that too, but must receive a state permit. Native Alaskans hunt and fish primarily on their own lands and must report all fish and game taken to US Wildlife for accounting purposes. White Alaskans can only hunt in state-sanctioned areas and cannot take more than the state allots. Certain species- which have been hunted to below sustainable numbers on state lands- are illegal for non-Native Alaskans to hunt. Since Native Alaskans have not hunted these species out on their lands, they are allowed to continue hunting them.
Native Alaskans, as part of treaty agreements are allowed to fish in waterways their people historically used, as payment for lands ceded to the state or federal government. They use traditional methods, not the more effective commercial methods, for these catches. NONE of the fish and game taken for subsistance may be sold commercially.
Native commercial fishermen must abide by the same federal and state regulations as non-Native fishermen. Native Corporations which sell hunting permits for guided hunts by non-Native hunters on Native lands must abide by US Fish & Wildlife regulations just as non-Native outfits who lease federal lands for selling guided hunts must do.
Native people are not the ones hunting animals to extinction or killing wantonly, so there is no "slaughter" involved.
According to the United States Constitution, American Indians-and this includes Native Alaskans- are recognized by the United States Government as sovreign nations subject to federal oversight. This means we are not subject to state or local laws on our tribal lands. We ARE subject to all federal laws just like the state and local governments. Each tribe has a constitution- which has to be approved by Congress- and its system of governance, judiciary, and law enforcement, which again are all under jurisdiction of federal law. The Indian Child Welfare Reform Act of 1978 gives federally-recognized tribes jurisdiction over Native children born to tribal members whether on or off the reservation. This was to stop the practice of state and local social workers taking Native children as a common practice to destroy the Native culture by removing Native posterity(children). Most of the children were not taken for reason of abuse or neglect but simply because the parents were Indian. Think of how you would feel if your children were taken from you for no other reason than you are poor or because of your religious beliefs. DHHS in Alaska does not make the habit of removing non-native children permanently from their familes or cutting off all ties between children and their extended families as they have been doing with Native children,so there is a huge difference in how the state of Alaska treats whites and Natives.
No state has the right to infringe upon another state, does it? Neither does a state have the right to infringe upon a federally-recognized Indian tribe. States DO have jurisdiction over state-recognized tribes, however.
Because of the remoteness of many Native Communities in Alaska there are some of the oldest of elders who do not speak English. All of the younger generations(age 70 and under) DO speak English and have been asking the state for some of them to be trained as poll-workers to assist these elders by translating the ballots into Yupi'ik and reading the ballots for those who are illiterate.
*Please take note that ALL voting sites in the US and its territories are REQUIRED by federal voting laws to provide interpretation of ballots for US citizens who are illiterate or blind or do not speak English and must have poll workers trained to provide this service.*
So unless you have a problem with Billy Bob in Appalachia needing help at the polls because he went to work in the coal mines at age 6 and never learned to read, or your neighbor who needs help at the polls because she is blind, you shouldn't have problems with someone helping someone who lived in such a remote area that they never learned English by translating the ballot for them.
It is obvious that you haven't taken any time to get to know Native people. You will find us to be gracious, generous, humble, and extremely respectful people. Think about how Jesus would treat Native people- shouldn't His followers do the same?
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