The Mudflats

Sen. Mark Begich delivered a speech yesterday on the Senate floor recognizing the enormous contributions of Alaska Native people on the occasion of National Native American Heritage Month.

The speech not only addressed the important achievements and contributions of Alaska Natives, but addressed some of the unique challenges including high energy costs, subsistence issues and lack of basic infrastructure in many areas.

In addition to November being National Native American Heritage Month as declared by President Obama, numerous Alaskans are in Washington, D.C., this week to take part Thursday in President Obama’s White House Tribal Nations Conference. The president’s initiative is designed to strengthen the relationship between the federal government and tribal governments.

Here is the full text of his speech:

Mr. President, I rise today to honor thousands of our fellow citizens who don’t receive adequate recognition for their enormous contributions to our nation – Alaska Natives and Native Americans.

President Obama has declared this month Native American Heritage Month. He also hosts an important summit Thursday with our nation’s tribal leaders. I salute the President’s initiative, which is designed to strengthen the special relationship between the federal and tribal governments.

This week, many Alaska Native leaders have traveled long distances to participate in this summit because they recognize the great significance of the Obama administration’s historic initiative.

These events are especially important to Alaska because we proudly claim the highest per person number of Native Americans in the nation. Nearly 20 percent of Alaska’s population – about 120,000 Alaskans – are Alaska Natives.

From time immemorial, Alaska’s Native people have developed a rich cultural heritage and sustained themselves by living close to the land in some of the most challenging geography and climate on earth.

Today, the diversity in Alaska’s Native community is broad.

In scores of tiny villages in some of the most remote regions of our nation, Alaska Native people feed their families with subsistence hunting, fishing and gathering. This is a way of life practiced by their ancestors for generations.

At the same time in downtown Anchorage, prosperous Alaska Native corporations help fuel our state’s economy and employ thousands of Alaskans and other Americans from gleaming modern office buildings.

This is thanks, at least in part, to actions taken by Congress to help lay a foundation for success by America’s first people and to provide the opportunity for self-determination.
Mr. President, the story of Alaska’s Native people is one of great success against enormous odds. For me, this story is also personal because I was born in Anchorage barely three years after Alaska became a state in 1959.

In that era, the status of Alaska Natives was bleak. Fewer than 20 percent had a high school diploma; less than 1 percent a college degree. Half lived below the poverty line. Fifty percent of Alaska Natives lived without indoor plumbing, collecting their waste in what we call a “honey bucket.”

And nearly two-thirds lacked what we define today as a job. Most hunted, fished and lived off Alaska’s land and waters to feed their families.

Today, the lives and achievements of Alaska Native people have improved dramatically. The 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act was a completely different model than the reservation system of the lower 48.

It established 13 regional for-profit Native corporations, hundreds of village non-profit corporations and empowered Alaska’s Native people to take their destiny into their own hands. Subsequent amendments to the act, such as those permitting Alaska Native corporations to participate in the SBA’s minority business 8(a) program, helped even more.

I’m proud to note that the Settlement Act was among my dad’s proudest accomplishments during his single term in the House of Representatives.

Now, educational attainment is growing, with about half of Alaska Natives earning high school diplomas and nearly a third with at least some college. Less than 25 percent now live below the poverty line. Three-quarters live in homes with the basic clean water and sewer facilities we all take for granted.

What’s most impressive to me is the enviable success of Alaska Native corporations and tribes. They were formed to help fulfill the federal government’s obligation to Alaska’s indigenous people.

After struggling in their early years, all 12 of Alaska’s in-state regional profit corporations are profitable, generating about $4 billion in revenues for their Native shareholders.

ANCSA corporations are among our state’s top employers, providing jobs for more than 30,000 people. And I submit that these companies are among the most socially conscious in the world.

Alaska’s Native non-profits and tribal organizations partner to enrich our state and their members in many ways. They provide the resources that help schools, families and individuals preserve 10,000-year-old languages, values and ways of life.

They help address the health needs of Alaska Natives through local clinics and hospitals, research centers and by building coalitions with local, state and federal partners.

They empower self-sufficiency with short-term financial assistance when it’s needed, helping low income families afford heating fuel and electricity, nutrition services for elders and even burial assistance so that family members are treated with dignity and respect.

Through increased self-governance, Native tribal organizations in Alaska can provide even more essential services, from law enforcement to tackling crippling social problems.

Mr. President, one of my most rewarding moments so far as a member of this body was making sure that two dozen brave members of the Alaska Territorial Guard – all distinguished Alaska Native elders – finally got the recognition they earned for their courageous service to this nation more than a half century ago.

Long before Alaska was a state and our country was engaged in World War II, men like Wendell Booth of Noatak, Paul Kiunya Sr. of Kipnuk, and Victor George of Nulato answered their nation’s call on America’s most remote front lines. Last month, the Senate approved an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010 I sponsored with my colleague, Senator Lisa Murkowski.

With President Obama signing that bill into law last week, these 25 surviving Territorial Guardsmen finally will receive the retirement pay and recognition they earned so many years ago.

Great progress has been made over the years in helping establish the means for rural and Native Alaskans to succeed. Yet much work remains to be done.

At the top of my Senate agenda are three specific areas of focus to ensure Alaska’s Native people continue to flourish. First, we must make energy affordable for rural Alaskans.

Some residents of my state pay the highest energy prices in the nation. Electricity in some Alaska villages exceeds a dollar a kilowatt hour, compared to just a dime here in Washington. When East Coast residents complain about high gas prices, consider that a gallon costs eleven dollars in Noatak, one of Alaska’s villages.

This is a bitter irony when you consider that Alaska has long prided itself as America’s energy storehouse, providing the Lower 48 states up to a quarter of their domestic oil production.

We are working to address these problems here in Washington. My off-shore oil development legislation is unique by providing that local governments and tribes get a share of any revenues from federal outer continental shelf development.

We’re also trying to kick-start the Alaska natural gas pipeline with federal loan guarantees and other provisions in the Senate energy bill. Fortunately, local Alaska leaders are not waiting around for Washington to act.

Regional leaders like Ralph Anderson of Bristol Bay Native Association, Tim Towarak through his position with the Bering Straits Native Corporation, and Michelle Anderson of Ahtna Development Corporation, already are developing comprehensive, regional tribal energy plans.

A second major issue facing Alaska’s Native people is subsistence, the time-honored practice of harvesting Alaska’s rich fish and wildlife resources to put food on the table. For the last 10,000-plus years, Alaska’s Native people implemented a subsistence model that worked to create abundance for subsistence users. That system is now in disarray.

The Obama administration announced plans just last month to revamp that system and I welcome their initiative. We must preserve the rural subsistence priority in Alaska at all costs.

Finally, a continuing major issue in rural Alaska is the lack of basic infrastructure. This includes water and sewer systems, so Alaskans don’t have to live in Third World conditions. It includes expanded broadband technology, so all Alaska children have equal access to the educational wonders of the Internet.

We are working to address these needs in Congress. One model for economic development in rural Alaska is the Denali Commission. For more than a decade, this innovative agency has been addressing vital needs from health facilities and energy to roads and water and sewer systems. I’ll be seeking the continued support of my colleagues for the Denali Commission.

Mr. President, the largest annual gathering of Alaska Native people convened in Anchorage just last month as the Alaska Federation of Natives convention.

Thousands of Alaska Natives from across our state met in Anchorage’s new Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center, named in honor of the first people of that region. Their theme spoke to the historic journey of Alaska’s Native peoples. A journey of overcoming enormous obstacles; a journey full of accomplishment and pride.

I am honored to join my fellow Alaskans on that journey, and to salute the enormous contributions of Alaska’s Native people on this, the first week of Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month.

Thank you, Mr. President.