Community Perspective
Native veterans need to organize
These Americans sacrificed so much for their country
Published Sunday, November 16, 2008
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Stumble It!Last winter, I used my dividend to backpack around the Native American communities in the Midwest and West Coast. I got a ride on Craigslist from a Vietnam veteran named Randy. He is a mechanic living a peaceful life in Kenai. He told me his story and the story of all veterans. The psychological trauma that scars them for life, and how getting a mortage, a house or a job can be a challenge, because people are afraid of veterans — they think they’ll have flashbacks and go nuts on them.
“All doors are shut on us. It gets to where the only people we can be around are each other,” he told me, wiping tears from his eyes.
We didn’t talk for the rest of the way. When we reached the Pine Ridge Reservation, I helped him plan the rest of his trip to Tennessee, and we shook hands and parted.
After visiting the Lakotas, I rode with a Navajo veteran who walked around with a cane. He told me about the honors he received and the life he’s been able to scratch out since the Vietnam War.
I’ll never forget staring at the Traditional Lakota Warrior statue and the Lakota World War II statue standing next to it at the tribal college, and reading all the names along the Veterans Wall.
Two weeks later, I was staring up at the giant Navajo Code Talker statue in Window Rock, Ariz. Linda, a nice Navajo lady, gave me a ride home. She stopped the car and gestured over: “There’s our veteran cemetery.” Hundreds of American flags planted at each grave waved in the backdrop of the mesas. Wow! I thought.
When I returned to Alaska, I realized the significance of veterans, especially those among my people — Alaska Natives and American Indians. If you had 500 Native men in one hall and told all the veterans to raise their hands, you would see 90 percent of them raise their hands. If you told the war-time veterans to raise their hands, 80 percent of the hands would go up.
We are the most under-represented and under-served minority group in the nation, and yet we made the biggest sacrifices. We are the number one ethnic group to enlist in a time of war. We are warriors. We never relinquished our hunting and fishing rights, our identity and our lands. In our hearts, we will never give up who we are.
One evening, I e-mailed the American Legion and said, “Look, its high time you folks gave a special place and honor to our Native American veterans.” I got a reply from an Asian man saying, “All veterans have made sacrifices, including my people.” I was so upset I didn’t write back.
Then my friend Jay Cross told me that he sort of gave up convincing the Legion to create a special section for Alaska Native and Native American veterans, so now he’s trying to form an Alaska Native and American Indian organization. He is part Native.
If there are any Native veterans or relatives of Native veterans out there, I suggest you contact him (jaykat@mtaonline.net). He already has hundreds of signatures from the Alaska Federation of Natives meeting, and he’s looking to get more. He’s not associated with anyone, so please contact him.
Alaska Native and American Indian veterans have fought to protect modern-day democracy, their reservations and Native communities, and the integrity of their people and all peoples in the United States.
Matthew Gilbert is a masters student in rural development at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Community Discussion
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Apparently, you're unaware of the Alaska Native Veterans Association. It is organized and has been in operation for years. Contact Benno Cleveland for information.
x2 Matthew. Benno is an awesome leader in this community. If you can't find him on your own, go to the Vet's Center down off 4th and Cushman, just north of the bus station and ask for assistance.
The "Alaska Native Veterans Association, Chapter-1" President-Benno Cleveland or Administrator-Pete Peter at: 452-3344. They have been publishing membership meetings every year and meetings every first Thursday of the each month at 7:00pm (Al Ketzlers Building). They have membership drives at many events. Their main accomplishment so far is the Alaska Territorial Guards who were finally recognized (5) years full US military service since 1942 and the on going veteran cemetery project for here in Fairbanks. The ATG forgotten soldiers are still due benefits. For burial headstones could be obtain at: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.org
Hey Matthew ~
Have you ever heard of the Alaska Native Veterans Bridge in Nenana?
I suppose I am a Native American veteran (grandmother), yet I've never felt the need for a special organization just for me. I've always thought of myself as an American, period. There is the Native Alaska Brotherhood in Nome, mostly a veteran's drinking club. They wouldn't let me in 'cuz I'm not native-enough, I guess. That's fine because I quite drinking 20 years ago.
more seperation of the races? racisim will always be upon us as long as people want to be seperate. the VA outreach programs are there for everyone regardless of race ,creed or color.quit whining and get down to the VA for help if you need it, i was in WW2 and Korea jumped into Normandy with the 82nd Airborne, I eat anywhere I want and the VA has been damn good to me, in fact the USA has been pretty damn good to me.
Amen Gadzooks. God bless veterans, ALL veterans. I don't care what the color, race, or creed and neither should anyone else. Nobody's service is any more or less important than the next, right? I'm still on active duty and I see no difference in the one in uniform next to me. Now I hear there is an organization where I wouldn't be able to buy a fellow war vet a drink because I'm not native? A vet is a vet is a vet, we all served.
Matthew, you had it right in your first paragraph, Randy told you "his story and the story of all veterans." Not the Black veterans or the Native American veterans or the Asian veterans, ALL veterans. Now you think we need an organization to promote discrimination amongst vets? If anyone serving ever learned anything while serving it would have to be that nobody is an island, we are a team. We succeed as one, we fail as one. Should we recognize the service and sacrifice of Native Americans? Hell yes we should, just as we should recognize everyone else that served. Do we need something to divide the vets into categories? Not a chance.
Morgan Freeman got it right when he said "stop talking about it." www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?A... There's alot of truth in that interview, please read it. As long as we highlight our differences, the differences will always be between us. Everyone wants equal treatment but then want to be considered special.
gadzooks and ACman - you don't know all the facts.
1. I am a member of the Alaska Native Veterans Association. Racially, I am white ... half Irish and part French, with a little (very little) Native American blood thrown in.
2. The Alaska Native Veterans Association focuses on bringing the same services and benefits to veterans as those enjoyed by veterans in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and other heavily populated areas, without regard to race.
3. The Alaska Native Veterans Association promotes sobriety. Far too many veterans, of all races and ages, suffer from alcohol and drug addiction. To the best of my knowledge, the VFW, American Legion, and AMVETS all have bars so it's nice to have a veterans organization that doesn't promote alcohol consumption.
4. The VA focuses almost exclusively on the Anchorage, Matsu, and Kenai areas, with grudging support for Fairbanks in the form of a limited, understaffed clinic. The Fairbanks Vet's Center provides some outreach to rural veterans but is constrained by budget limitations. Various veterans fraternal organizations also provide limited outreach but focus mainly on their membership, which is centered in cities and larger towns. The Alaska Native Veterans Association seeks to fill the gaps, primarily in rural areas, left by these other organizations.
To continue - the reasons I do not support most veterans fraternal organizations, especially the VFW:
1. I graduated from high school in 1973. Many of the people I grew up with went off to Vietnam. Some never returned. And, I clearly recall the VFW saying Vietnam was not a war so Vietnam veterans were not eligible for VFW membership. I also remember how the VFW changed its tune when it realized its membership was shrinking drastically because WWII and Korean veterans were dying off.
2. Some years ago, while sitting in a VFW bar with some friends, I hear an obviously intoxicated man declare, very loudly, that "all women in uniform are whores." I was not a VFW member so I didn't feel it right to challenge the individual's statement. Unfortunately, nobody else saw fit to challenge it either and, to make matters worse, the bartender even served him another drink immediately after his declaration. (My friends, who were VFW members, later apologized for his behavior.)
-- For the record, my wife (of 33 years) is a Vietnam-Era veteran, with an Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force Good Conduct Medal, and National Defense Medal. My daughter, with similar decorations, is a Sergeant currently serving her second tour in Iraq. Family members aside, I served with many hardworking women who overcame significant prejudice and discrimination in order to serve their country.
3. At other times, in various places, I've heard veterans refer to fellow veterans as ni**ers, beaners, shinobs, g**ks, skimos, and just about every other derogatory name you can think of. I have absolutely no desire to associate with prejudiced veterans like that.
I think I've said enough.
AK NVA supports all all veterans without race ,creed or color!
They were organized to support forgotten soldiers in the Alaskan villages but today they have more areas to cover to help non-natives veterans living on tribal lands.
Griff, I completely understand what you're saying with regards to discrimination, but everything you've listed are examples of individuals that have prejudices. I don't think it's fair to convict any organization on the actions of some members. It's unfortunate that those people have those prejudices and equally so that nobody present saw fit to correct the situation, apologies don't change the facts.
As far as promoting sobriety or not, alcohol is not the devil. There's absolutely nothing wrong with having a drink with a friend. It's personal control. Most of those vets that sit at the bar to drown those demons need some help that they won't find at the bottom of that bottle. Unfortunately, some of those demons will take our brothers and sisters to their graves. Perhaps those same organizations that provide a relaxed atmosphere for gathering should focus some resources on possibly identifying someone who needs some help rather than another round. Organizations such as the VFW promote the brotherhood of the profession of arms, we need to be taking care of ourselves.
I personally believe that prejudice and discrimination are slowly dying out. Those people that hold to those ideals are aging and dying off, their generation is shrinking, giving way to today's global mentalities and attitudes. People today more readily accept the idea that race should have no influence, they've grown up in an integrated society. Maybe not in my lifetime, but certainly in the next two generations, we will no longer need laws to dictate what should be common sense.
To be honest, I'd never heard of the AKNVA, maybe they should try a little publicity. If the goal of such an organization is ensuring that veterans are recieving their entitlements in the far reaches of our state regardless of who they are, then I'm completely behind them. Their name is a little misleading though.
These guys are pretty cool; homepage is kind of rough on the eyes tho'. Their outreach to the villages has been exceptional, if for nothing else, to lug paperwork around for folks. I am still learning more about them.
On ADN:
http://www.adn.com/matsu/story/594005.ht...
Their site:
http://www.vaoonline.org/
Griff, pity I wasn't there when that jerk spouted off. There would've been some cheap entertainment for ya from this vet. I've fought that stereotype for decades.
Prospector your comment is very rude~Don't be a hater, or is that how you were raised?
Alaska Native Veterans is a fine organization. Not only do they promote their own events and help their veterans, they openly and generously also participate in the events for other organizations in our area, both native and non-native. They welcome all veterans to participate with them:)
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