Details

Storyteller: Elia
Tribe: Tlingit & Haida
Created: 2019
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Transcript: I grew up in Juneau, Alaska, the traditional homeland of my clan wooshketaan of the aukwaan Tlingits. When most people hear Alaska Native, they assume Eskimo. But my tribe is closer to those on the coast of Washington, Oregon, and northern California. We have stories that date back to thousands of years when my tribe first came to southeast Alaska. The land is rich with food; I grew up fishing, clamming, and picking berries. To me, Juneau is the most beautiful place in the world because the rainforest turns everything green, even in the winter. Every two years Juneau hosts Celebration, where all the Tlingit and Haida clans get together and dance through the streets. Our red and black regalia can be seen from miles away. Juneau is a hard place to live. As tourism increases, the cost of living does too. Rich people brag about their beautiful houses on the beach while my tribe continues to struggle to find affordable housing on land that we’ve been on for thousands of years. I want people to understand that the land they live on is stolen. I want people in Juneau, Alaska to recognize that they took the land from the tribe standing right in front of them. The same tribe that they make racist remarks about. I think if people knew the names of the tribes whose land was taken, maybe then they'd have just a tiny bit more respect. Maybe if people knew the actual history of the U.S., they would have a little more sympathy for Native people instead of just assuming we all get government money and spend it on booze. I dare people to read our histories, watch our ceremonies, and listen to our language and tell me to my face that Native people are lazy. I will always be angry about how we've been treated. I have a right to be mad when I look at Enbridge stomping their way through Native land. I have a right to be furious when I look at the statistics of how Native women go missing when pipeline workers come around. I want people to know that I am going to work my whole life to fight for sovereignty, power, and justice for Native people.