That a high school kid and hockey captain from Soldotna has made what the school said were hateful comments about Alaska Natives and gays on his Twitter account assures us that racism and bigotry remains one of Alaska’s hot button issues. The only thing is no one is paying attention to the putrid stink of the access that is still here.

This kind of hate, especially against Alaska Natives, the largest private landowners in the state and one of the state’s most active and generous economic powers, has been with us for generations. And once again, I call on the Alaska Federation of Natives to exclude Anchorage and the Southcentral region from its convention schedule until such time that we feel welcome on our own homeland.

I'm posting here because the ADN omitted the comments section from this story, and owes us an explanation why it does so whenever a news item about Alaska Natives graces its pages. I trust it is because hundreds of the comments would echo the high kid's hatred.