Inupiat Paitot Dena Nena Henash
“People’s Heritage” “The Land Speaks”
1 . tundra times
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‘The Eskimo-Indian All-Alaska Newspaper”
Owned, controlled and edited by Tundra Times. Inc., a corporation of Alaska
natives. Published at Fairbanks. Alaska, twice monthly.
Address all mail to: Box 970. c/o Jessen’s Weekly, Fairbanks, Alaska.
Tundra Times, Inc., publisher (Howard Rock. Martha Teeluk, and Alfred Ketzler);
HOWARD ROCK, editor; Thomas Snapp. assistant editor; Lois Jensen, office man
ager; contributing editors, Guy Okakok, Martha Teeluk, and Alfred Ketzler.
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Vocational Schools . . .
(Continued from Page 1)
Alaskan natives can be trained to be electronics tech
nicians, aircraft and auto mechanics, operating engineers,
brick masons, teamsters, carpenters, cooks, electricians,
plurnbers and steamfitters, sheet metal workers, plasterers
and cement masons—if only given the chance.
Many nativp Alaskans of eighth grade education are
capable of taking vocational training; they want this train
ing, need this training, and are prohibited from this train
ing only by the lack of facilities and instructors.
Vocational training would help to stabilize the state's
fluid population. It makes little sense to transport work
men at great expense from the other states to Alaska
when permanent residents can be trained to do this work.
Let us make a concerted effort to provide vocational
training facilities for our youth. The state will benefit in
its effort to go forward and to develop at the rate that
it should.
Alaska must think of the future and the welfare of
its citizens. One of the wisest investments for the future
is the training of today's youth for the jobs of tomorrow.
H6spitalization
In recent years non-native residents of the native
populated areas of Alaska have begun to voice opinions
thatjthey are being discriminated against when it comes
to medical attention.
It is the opinion of the Tundra Times that this com
plaint is legitimate and its solution should be sought.
When the government built hospitals for natives in
Alaska, the policy has always been that these facilities
were to be for the exclusive use of the native.
Through the years n6n-native people who work and
live in native villages have been handicapped when they
reeded medical attention.
When they or their dependents become ill or need
dental care, they are required to travel to cities like Fair
banks or Anchorage to get medical care.
In emergency cases the non-native is sometimes
given first aid but he has to be flown to a hospital far
away even though a native hospital is close by. The flight
to the hospital may be as much as a thousand miles away
and may cost as much as his hospital bill.
The non-native should also note that it is not the
native who discriminates against him but that the discrimi
nation results from a policy of a government agency, the
United States Public Health Service.
Under these conditions it is not hard to see why the
non-native persons have begun to feel the way they do
today.
Definite solution should be sought by the United
States Public Health Service and it should be done soon,
before friction, that has started to assert itself, becomes
general.
Since United States Public Health Service contracts
with clinics in cities like Fairbanks and Anchorage to give
medical care to natives who live in cities, something of a
parallel should be worked out whereby non-native resi
dents in remote areas can contract or buy medical care at
native hospitals. Non-native people state they are willing
to pay for services rendered.
The non-native people living in outlying areas should
not be subjected to the inconveniences mentioned in this
editorial. They should not be forced to carry the addi
tional burden of the expense of having to travel great
distances for hospitalization when it is available near their
homes.
«
NORTH STAR
. : AWARD
(In each issue, the Tundra Times
will single out for a North Star
award one who has made an out
standing accomplishment or done
a meritorious act.)
Earlier this month Robert L. Ben
nett, area director of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs in Alaska, was given
the 1962 Indian Achievement Award
in Chicago.
The award, which was established
at the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago,
is given annually for the most out
standing accomplishment by an In
dian.
A man of deep understanding of
the feelings of native people, Ben
nett is a man of exceptional In
telligence and excellent education.
He is able to move freely in the gen
eral American culture as in the na
tive and has unusual ability to help
natives understand themselves as
citizens of the State and United
States.
ijfe has worked with the l)te and
Sioux tribes on programs of econ
omic development. Being the oppo
site of a bureaucrat, Bennett has
never taken the easy way of plan
ning for the people, but stimulated
the people to plan for themselves.
He organized a training program
for Arizona Indians that enabled
several hundred to obtain GI bene
fits. arranged the first agreement
with a state agency for special ser
vice to South Dakota Indians. He
assisted in the development of the
Southern Ute tribe and family pro
gram and the Partition Act.
Alaska is fortunate indeed to
have as the head of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs this unusual man.
Already he is proving his great
worth in cutting through the binds
of red tape and bureaucracy.
And so to Robert L. Bennett the
Tundra Times would like to give
its second North Star award along
with our congratulations.
Native Songs . . .
Sung by JIMMY KILUGVUK
Translated by the Editor
(The following old, old ts
kimo songs were sung by Jimmy
Killiguvuk of Point Hope. In
translation, it was not possible
to recapture completely the
tempo and rhythm of the songs.
On special occasions, particular
ly between Christmas and New
Year’s ancient interpretative
songs are sung for Eskimo danc
ing. Killigvuk, now 71, remem
bers the coming of the first per
manent non-Native person to
Pt. Hope.)
Medicine Man Song
When the men were out whaling,
I, the Medicine man started my
song:
If you, young lads, look into the
cove
Into the cove of the open water
For the one that will come up to
breath.
When it comes up
Myself I will strike 'the whale
In the middle of the back
Where the blubber is thick!
Hunting Song
(^t song of my great-great-great
grandfather, Kakaimok)
Who am I?
Watch me! I am at the mouth of
the river!
I have killed the caribou and the
oogruk
I have also gotten the whale.
Who am I?
Watch me! I am at the mouth of
- the river!
I sing a song to Sunikpeak
Sunikpeak did not get a caribou
He did not get an oogrook
He did not get a whale
The reason Sunikpeak didn't get
those animals:
Because he had a long, long beard!
Candidates for Senate
GRUENING
1. What is your position in regard
to historic Alaska native land
claims?
These claims should be referred
to the U.S. Court of Claims for
study and if found valid, granted
either as land grants or their equiv
alent value in money depending on
which proves more desirable to the
Native people and in accord with
the public interest including other
interests which may be affected.
2. What is your position in regard
to historic native hunting and
fishing rights?
The Natives' hunting and fishing
rights should be maintained.
3. What is the difference between
the natives’ aboriginal right to
hunt ducks and geese for food
and the historic right to the
minerals underneath their land?
The Natives’ right to hunt ducks
and geese for food is In my view
clearly established by immemorial
usage which was not in my judge
ment, contravened by the Migratory
Bird treaties with Canada and
Mexico (I have rpade my position
clear on this issue on the floor of
the Senate and enclose a copy of
my speech on the subject.!. The
right to minerals underneath the
land would depend on the establish
ment of the validity of the claims
discussed in Question No. 1.
4. If you are elected, what con
crete programs will you promote
to better the economy of native
villages?
There are several federal pro
grams which can be used to pro
mote small industries in the Native
villages, which industries will dif
fer depending on the locality and
available resources. In the upper
Kuskokwim, for instance, the tim
ber furnishes a splendid and hither- '
to almost totally unused resource.
It should be processed by sawmills
and the product exported to other
parts of Alaska or to the Orient
and/or manufactured into furniture,
etc. In other areas reindeer pro
ducts should be developed as well
as sea-lion and hair-seal products.
The federal programs have not been
properly implemented and put into
action. ‘Alio Wherever possible the
Native arts and crafts should be
stimulated as to quality, quantity
and diversity. With the continuing
influx of tourists these products will
be in grdat’demand and provide a
good income for the craftsmen.
Also a rehousing program which
I am promoting for Barrow, follow
ing the success in enacting a bill to
provide natural gas to the homes of
the Barrow people, should furnish
a model for all other Native villages
whose housing ' is sub-standard in
regard to health and comfort. Such
reconstruction will furnish substan
tial employment while construction
is under way.
5. What will you do to obtain vo
cational schools in Alaska?
I have worked for and succeeded
in obtaining; an enlargement of ac
commodations and facilities at
Mount Edgedumbe which will make
possible the enrollment of 50 per
cent "more fehpils, from the brerent
capacity of TOO to about 1050.
I am working for federal finan
cial assistance to the State’s planned
vocational school' at' Nome for which
the State funds derived from the
bonding issue voted by the people
of Alaska are not sufficient.
It is my view that there should
be at least two more vocational
schools: One for the Kodiak, Alaska
Peninsula, offshore and Aleutian
Islands and the lower Kuskokwim
region; and another for the north
interior part of Alaska. I shall make
every effort to secure authorization
and appropriation for these schools.
6. What will you do to promote
ample educational facilities in
Alaska?
This is partly answered in No. 5.
(Continued on Page 8)
STEVENS
I
1. What is your position in regard
to historic Alaskan native land
claims? |
> There is no question, in my opin
ion, that there are “historic native
land claims." The problem is that
Congress has failed to carry out a
pledge made in 1884 that Congress
I would define the extent and nature
| of the rights which are the basis
j for these claims. My opponent, Mr.
I Grucnins. has failed to provide any
leadership in resolving this issue.
He has not introduced anv legisla
tion to fulfill the 1884 pledge.
My position is that Alaska's
United States Senator. I will intro
duce legislation to create an Alas
ka Native Rights Commission. This
commission will have authority to
investigate and determine the ex
tent and nature of Alaskan natives'
land rights. As an alternative, I
believe legislation could be drafted
to give Alaskan natives the right to
select lands which would be deeded
to an Alaska Native Land Corpor
ation, wholly owned by Alaskan
natives and managed by them. This
would provide an immediate set
tlement to the land rights issue and
permit more rapid development of
the rightful heritage of Alaskan na
tives.
2. What is vour position in regard
to historic native hunting and
fishing rights?
The Alaskan natives' right to hunt
and fish for food is one that should
be protected.
3. What is the difference between
the natives' aboriginal right to
hunt ducks and geese for food and
the historic right to the minerals
underneath their land?
I believe that the right to hunt,
particularly for ducks and geese, is
part of the problem relating to his
toric native rights. Lands which be
long to Alaskan natives by virtue
of historic rights undoubtedly in
clude the subsurface mineral rights
because these lands are based up
on a claim of ownership before the
federal laws were passed.
Whether this is an “aboriginal" or
an “Original" right is of little dif
ference. The point is, I believe, that
Congress has not acted to fulfill
the pledge in the 1884 statute. Un
til this is done, all these lands con
tinue to be held by the United
States government.
4. If you are elected, what concrete
programs will you promote to
better the economy of the native
villages?
I shall act to promote a program
to train our people. In their own
villages, to operate modem con
struction equipment and to utilize
the construction materials nearest
to their village to improve their
own living conditions. We have had
similar programs in foreign aid,
such as the Peace Corps. I see no
reason why we cannot improve our
own living conditions.
5. What will you do to obtain vo
cational schools in Alaska?
1'will 'wcrfk with the Secretary of
the Interior to urge the eonstruc
tiftn of vocational schools. How
ever, 1 fully believe that "we could
have better results by -training in
the villages, as I explained in an
swer nutnber four.
6. What will you do to promote
ample educational facilities in Al
aska?
We will have ample educational
facilities in Alaska only when we
realize that Alaskan schools must
be located in or near the villages
they serve and should be operated
solely upon an integrated basis. I
will work with the appropriate
state officials through Governor
Stepovich to assure fedetal-state co
operation in our educational en
deavors.
7. What do you think about the pro
posal to build a home for the aged
(Continued on Page 8)