NEW CULTURAL AMBASSADORS FACE MANY PROBLEMS SUPPRESSING HISTORICAL NATIVE VIOLENCE AT MENDENHALL GLACIER

KTOO’s Yvonne Krumrey recently reported on the progress of the 10 new Native “cultural ambassadors” earning taxpayer money at Mendenhall Glacier. We follow up on them to see how they avoid discussing the history of slavery, murder, sexual assault and other violence that pervaded Native culture.

KTOO recently updated its readers on the progress that 10 new cultural ambassadors are making at Mendenhall Glacier. The goal is provide visitors with an authentic and accurate view of Lingít culture through these ambassadors. Is it working?

We talked with A’t’an”kax̱stan Billy Bob Smith, the leader of Indigenous Superiority at the Council of Reason in Ykut’ak’tic’tac’toe about some the difficulties the ambassadors face in accurately and authentically relating the history of the Lingít culture.

“It really pisses me off!” Smith said. “My ancestors were bad-ass, violent people. We enslaved people, we killed people. We weren’t a bunch of pussies who walked around in robes and funny hats, singing songs all the time and carving totem poles. Back in the day, if you got in our way, we killed you. That’s how we rolled!”

Smith was especially critical of the activity he read about in the KTOO article. “Just look at this shit!” he exclaimed. “Beads? Drums? Hats? Totem poles? Are you kidding me? Where are the knives? The arrows? The hatchets? The clubs?” he lamented. “We were a Stone Age warring people who broke bad on anybody we encountered. Now we hand out beads to Japanese tourists for $20 an hour.”

Smith is not wrong about the culture of violence that still pervades Southeast Alaskan Native populations. “Well, it is true that Alaskan Natives have insanely high crime rates” said Capt. Bill Fetterman, Deputy Chief of Police in Lower Beating Squaw Village. “But it’s not something we like to talk about” he noted, looking closely over both shoulders with a face full of discomfort. “I mean, KTOO reported a few years back that Alaska has one of the highest rates of sexual assault in the country, and Alaska Native women are more likely to be attacked than anyone else. And APM reported that Alaska Natives make up 40% of the people incarcerated in Alaska, yet are only 14% of the state’s population” Smith stated. “Look, anybody who thinks there isn’t a culture of violence among Native Alaskans is just ignoring the truth” he concluded.

We had a hard time finding anyone who would be willing to go on record to talk about the Lingít culture’s history of slavery, murder, warfare and sexual violence. “This is the kind of history that can get you fired if you talk about it” said Dr. Phil Slaughter, Professor Emeritus of Native History at the University of Alaska. “But what the Hell…. I’m already retired, so let’s talk about it.”

According to Dr. Slaughter, the Lingít people maintained their culture of slavery into the 20th century. “Both the Haida and the Tlingit were nasty slavers” he said. “They were vicious! They would kill slaves in celebration. They would put out the eyes or ears of their slaves. They branded their slaves. We are talking about really, really cruel and recent history of hideous slavery” he noted.

Dr. Slaughter also confirmed the culture of violence and warfare among the Lingít . “They fought all the time” he said. “They were vicious fighters, hardly peaceful fishermen.”

So why aren’t visitors at Mendenhall getting the accurate history from the ambassadors? We spoke with one of them on the condition of anonymity. “Nobody wants to talk about that here” she said. “I sure don’t. Why don’t you shut up and go home?” she finished, as she passed around a drum and some beads for inspection by a group of German tourists.

We went to Sarah Spillmore, M.S., assistant lecturer of communications it Slackwater Community College in Oregon to ask her to explain the reticence the ambassadors have toward accurately relating Lingít culture to visitors. She said “I don’t want to talk about that. Why don’t you shut up and go home?” before ending our telephone call.

With so few people willing to speak on the matter, we tracked down a guy who looked kind of like a Native Alaskan at the Nugget Mall for comment. “Well, let me think about it” he said, pausing for nearly half a minute. “You have to remember, the Alaskan Natives were essentially cavemen before the Europeans arrived. No writing. No math. No science. So it’s probably hard to accurately relate anything ancient without any reliable recorded history” he reflected. “It seems to me that the history is what it is, and it doesn’t do anybody any good to ignore it,” he pondered, before his wife arrived and punched him squarely on the arm. “Nobody wants to talk about that!” she sternly reproached him, before turning to me. “Why don’t you shut up and go home?” she asked.