After 12 years I find myself back in school again. It has been an ongoing journey mixed with a lot of just living. Sometime last year I decided I wanted to go back to college and finish my degree. Maybe for some professional growth, but mostly for myself. And I get to do it through my hometown college by way of online classes. The University of Alaska Fairbanks, probably where I should have gone to begin with right out of high school, but instead I chose the ripe age of 48.
One of my first classes is a class on Alaska Native Corporations. I am a Gwich'in Athabascan and a shareholder in Doyon, Limited. So naturally I have always wanted to know the why and what it is they do. The why is, why am I shareholder in this company? Well, that part I didn't know about until I started the class. It's a result of the 1971 settlement act, Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), when the 12 Native Corporations were created. It was 13 originally, 12 over different geographic locations in Alaska and different tribes, and one for all Alaska Natives not living in Alaska. There are only 12 now, and to be a shareholder does not require them to live in Alaska.
After many years of not acknowledging my native side, other than just in passing. I decided I wanted to be a larger part of the Native community and be an advocate for all Natives. I believe I was ashamed for the longest time, all stemming from my childhood. In school the kids would make fun of the drunk Natives around town and being a Native I saw that as a direct reflection of me. I'm not sure why that stands our more than the influence of my grandma, who was a strong Native woman. But maybe that is because shame is more easily influenced? I'm sure it was a combination of things as a child that brought on years of shame. I never stopped telling people that I was Alaska Native, but I didn't participate as a Native either.
My hope for this site is to be a positive influence for other Natives and the younger generation living in this modern world. And bring new life into dying languages, old ways of life and the beginnings of Native culture. To share all things INDIGENOUS.