I’m not being racist here, but…

Photo by Redhawk at Standing Rock

Have you ever noticed right before someone says something racist, they say, “I’m not being racist here, but…”, and then they say something racist. You know what’s coming.

A Denali tour pilot wrote something racist online and he’s feeling the brunt of many Alaskans who are tired of racism against Native Alaskans. Among other things, the pilot said “no Natives.” I realize he’s an out of stater, but part of the historical shame that magnified his comments were the “No Dogs, No Natives” signs that used to hang in too many of businesses.

One of the commenters on the article wrote in part, “I have flown many times in and out of hundreds of villages and have had the same experience as this pilot has had. The plane has reeked of feces from natives who don’t wipe their fannies. The spit cups that they hold and spit into while they sit next to you will make you vomit. The smell of urine mixed with alcohol is also another gagging experience you have to deal with while seated so close to them. This is not a racist statement. They are filthy and disgusting humans who behave in this manner.”

Not a racist statement???

In 1922, a Tlingit Chief, Charlie Jones was jailed for voting. His protest gave way to Native Alaskans getting the right to vote two years before Native Americans. Our past two governors have had to be sued to uphold equal access voting for Native Alaskans. In 1944, years before the civil rights movement in the States, Roberta Schenck, a Native woman refused to budge from her seat in the “White’s Only” section of a movie theatre in Nome. She was dragged out and jailed. Schenck was Alaska’s Rosa Parks. Because of her bravery and the moving testimony of Elizabeth Peratrovich, on Feb. 16, 1945, Territorial Governor Ernest Gruening signed an anti-discrimination law. Against the argument that the law would not eliminate discrimination, Peratrovich said, “Do your laws against larceny and even murder eliminate those crimes?”

The answer is no. Discrimination against First People is rampant. It’s everywhere.

Perhaps the most blatant current display of discrimination in our country is happening in North Dakota at the site of a proposed pipeline across land sacred to the Sioux tribe. It’s not just about the religious implications of the land or the 1851 treaty that secured their sovereignty, but the pipeline which would endanger the drinking water for millions. Water should be sacred to everyone, and they have been encamped there as protectors. The response of the pipeline corporation and local and state authorities has been so severe you would think they were fighting ISIS. Truthfully, they have a lot of the equipment used on the frontlines of war. Tanks. Yes. Tanks. Pepper spray, mace, rubber bullets, over one hundred officers in riot gear, sound cannons, with massive arrests, including clergy. Journalists have been arrested for “trespassing” and this week one was shot with a rubber bullet while conducting an interview. The company, Dakota Access, has their own security company that has unleashed dogs and pepper sprayed protesters.

Compare that military like response to peaceful protectors of water – whose bloodline has been on this continent for thousands of years – to how the federal government and local authorities treated the Ammon Bundy militia circus that took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for forty-one days last year. Even though they took over the refuge with guns, bulldozed sacred lands, cost the federal government over $4 million and intimidated locals, they were allowed to set up camp and play patriots until their final arrest. By “set up camp”, I mean they had mail delivered by the USPS, food delivered, came and went when they wanted, and the feds kept the electricity on so they could charge their phones. This last week a federal jury gave a shocking pass to the first round of charges against the Band of Bundy’s.

Don’t think for a second you’re going to get between an oil company and polluted water without the government protecting…yep, the company.

Our current political climate isn’t helping our racism problems. Running a racist pilot out of Alaska isn’t going to fix how hateful we can be to one another. Having a federal government who breaks treaties with Indigenous Americans, in favor of corporations, shouldn’t be tolerated by any of us – that’s just socialism for companies.

Shouldn’t “Of the people. By the people. For the people.” apply to First People?

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