Do people believe Alaska is segregationist?

SOme in the media act as if Alaska is just Anchorage and that Alaska is the last bastion of segregation (because its far from media centers its a convenient scapegoat)

Alaska isn't segregationist

Is Alaska in any way segregationist? It seems to me that it isn’t. It is cold, remoteness and history that have kept most non-white or non-aboriginal Alaska people in the overwhelming minority. The media spinners and others sometimes seem to believe that Alaska is somehow segregationist anyway by discouraging minorities from living here as an unofficial policy

--at least that’s the impression I got being away from Alaska much of the last decade, and living here for maybe 15 years over a 25 years time period before that. With more than a million visitors to the capital city of Juneau each year I tire of the idea that anyone has that Juneau is in any way like some sort of Quisling symp state.

It is an interesting fact that the Colonel on General U.S. Grant’s staff that wrote the document of surrender for Robert E. Lee to sign was a full blooded American Indian named Ely Parker. Over 3000 aboriginal American sharpshooters fought on the union side in the civil war and took heavy casualties . Alaskan aboriginal people have also served in U.S. military campaigns with distinction.

Following is a brief communication transcript of some e-mails I exchanged recently with a Juneau Alaska city assemblyperson in the effort to get an M.L.K. street named more prominently in this city. The area proposed is right in the middle of the city bus line and all visitors riding the bus would see it.

Was my suggestion unreasonable? Did I write too perjoratively to receive an unabmbiguous reply?...

Dear Assembly; here looking for work in Juneau I have yet to discover the location of Martin Luther King Avenue...its de rigueur to have one for political correctness you know. I suggest Lemon Creek Road, Churchill Avenue and Davis Avenue be transformed into M.L.K. Avenue.

Since attending U.A.J. (I never liked the name change to U.A.S.E.) I thought it would be good for business to change the name 'Lemon Creek' to some more noble sounding appellation-after all it has a connotation of something being wrong with it when in fact its a remarkable location although maybe without any gold historically (who can say?).

thanks,

Gary-
Thanks for your note. I think our interest in diversity in Alaska focuses more on native Alaskan issues (as it should) than on other minorities -- and our various naming issues show that.

Dear Assemblyman ______; I appreciate your unconcern about the national civil rights issues of the United States that lead you to believe that Dr. King-the Nobel laureate, should be ignored in Juneau. Juneau has an unfortunate national reputation informally as a segregationist redoubt anyway so your point of view is consistent with that logically.

The divide and conquer or divide and repress minority rights was a tradition in the ante-bellum south as it is yet today in many areas of the world. Cheap labor if slave labor isn't available is always a desirable commodity for those inclined to create jobs for those in need of social improvement by those willing to pay for a few chains and whips or bottles , demon rum or sub-normal wages.

Certainly blacks are minorities in Alaska and naming a street for the Christian preacher that represented the national drive against segregation and oppression by corrupt southern politicians of the era may understandably be a choice for some Alaskans aloof from the national and global concerns about human rights. I am sure you have a real concern for minority rights in Alaska and frequently consider naming streets in Alaska for native Alaskans. Certainly Franklin Street, Willoughby Street and a number of other streets are named for the minority of British polar sailors of the Victorian age. Perhaps by keeping Juneau's p.r. like that of a civil rights lemon you will not need to worry about enough blacks arriving in Juneau such that the assembly would be compelled to consider relinquishing the name of Lemon Creek Road for that of the rare minority Dr. Martin Luther King. From your point of view perhaps civil rights are all about race anyway.

Again I thank you for your reply.
Best wishes, Gary

Wow, Mr. Gibson. You certainly do jump to conclusions without knowing background.
Hope you are able to get other listeners.

Dear Assemblyman ________; I am not a mind reader about uncertain backgrounds. I do enjoy reading logic however, classical and symbolic, and believe that renaming the streets aforementioned is definitely in the best interests of Juneau and the state of Alaska. I write about 300,000 words annually and print-on-demand publish my books at http://www.lulu.com/garycgibson and am not concerned over much about getting 'listeners' though I appreciate your concern.

I well understand the process of proving conclusions for validity, and do not 'leap' to any. Perhaps you might enjoy reading 'The Art of Reasoning' by David Kelly to discover how premises may be effectively utilized within 23 valid forms of syllogism amidst 256 possible forms.

Voted for by GaryCGibson.
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Huh?

What are you talking about? I've never considered Alaska segregationist. I've never considered it much of anything at all except for a place I'd like to visit someday. It has virtually no media attention in regards to segregation, or lack of, that I know of.

I don't know why you were so firmly pushing for this street name change. Perhaps you could mention NEW roads might want to throw MLK in the bin, but renaming a street for one random honorable man that had little to do with them is just strange. Alaska wasn't even a state 10 years when MLK died, and the amount of minorities there--while large--were not heavily populated with black people. The racial issues up there would largely be between Natives and whites, and have mostly gotten along pretty well. They have there own milestones and achievements to celebrate than their distant family. I'm sure they respect and appreciate the late, great MLK, but they also respect and appreciate countless honorable men and women. How do you decide which streets to suddenly rename for who?

I currently publish no books, but hope that my opinion is still SOMEHOW found valid.

Voted for by Weydon.

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GaryCGibson
March 21, 2007
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There are many states in America that had small populations of blacks when Dr. King was slain yet that did not prevent later transformation of many places with Dr. King's name. Civil rights isn't simply about the number of people of any given race...civil rights are applicable to all people of any race at any moment with the notion that all men and women are created equal.

Dr. King's contribution in the civil right's struggle was just a portion-a revision on a large manuscript that removes exploitation of anyone by anyone so far as is possible. While anyone or any class of individuals are sufferring infringement of their civil liberties in the United States all Americans are having there civil rights adversely impacted at least potentially. Alaskans are no exception to the rule, and their rights to may be adversely impacted individually or collectively today , tomorrow or next century.

Alaska is also a northern country without much of an african american population, and not many Jews either although a few synagogues are strewn about. I admit that Michael Medved seems to have de-intellectualized his political agenda and set his sights too low in the effort to reach a popular audience yet he isn't the dullest of the incandescents in talk radio, and he should advocate l.e.d. lights and radical alterity to national reliance on fossil fuels. The name Juneau does make some of the simple believe it is an eyewink of Jew-no. Medved should do a talk radio program in Alaska for a week or so and not do stories about dogs, musch or oil. Perhaps pollution would be a good topic, and global warming...he could do some serious reszearch on the melt-down in the Arctic perhaps and what it will cost the state of Alaska.

One certainly can right books if they like nowdays-just organize your material a little bit and decide what it is you want to write about a lot and then write.

The state of Alaska can do well, and especially the city of Juneau if it allays any appearance of conflict with or indifference to civil rights issues in the lower 48 states. Unfortunately people do in error transfer ideas about nortrhernness from the European Scandanavian nazi era to American Alaska with it's remote northern locale on occassion. It is helpful for the state and the city to neutralize any appearance of support for a sort of k.k.k. closet fascism by not being the last to recognize Dr. King-and I don't mean Stephen King even if he got a Phd. in English and wrote a Michner like story of horror in Alaska.

I have some idea about the background of Alaskan and civil rights history. It isn't easy getting a blind-date sort of reply from a politician and having any idea where they are going with the issue.

Politicians should be direct if they reply to a constituent instead of vague or blowing thee issue off with trivial sophisms. Not every constituent has a lot of time for interminable e-mails to discover what the politician really thinks.

Constituents need to know if a politician is on one's own side in favor of an issue or against one as a defender blowing smoke. Deception is one of the main skills in contemporary politics. The Bush administration is believed by some to have used that now and then.

If Painton Manning had faked handoffs to his running backs that believed they were going to get the ball, sent receivers on pass patterns with as little hope of ever getting anything thrown their way and so forth with a Lucy and Charlie Brown place-kicking relationship one might suspect that ole Paintin was on the other side in some way.

The issue of Dr. King and Lemon Creek Rd. was simple and might have received a positive or negative response directly. A politician if against something should just say so forthrightly-that too can be respected;at least Ronald Reagan had that quality. What I don't have is money to patronize assemblymensch in any way, if that is what is expected.
Weydon
March 22, 2007
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I already understand MLK's vast contributions to our nation and civil rights in general. But he is one of thousands of highly respected people. It is equally "rude" for them not to rename another street after Gandhi or Elizabeth Cady Stanton or Booker T Washington and so on. Why not rename EVERY street after someone inspirational?

Personally I find NAMING streets to be vastly confusing. Where I'm from at least 90-95% of the streets are numbered, and it's beyond easy to give directions or find your way if you get a little lost. But at least in the countless cities that name their streets, the locals know the names and how to get around and give directions--unless someone goes around renaming all of them.

Maybe they can throw a couple thousand inspirational names in a hat for naming NEW streets, but they may as well keep their general tradition for focusing on more intimate namings.

I have never known Alaska to be big into KKK or closet fascism, but if it is I hardly think renaming a street after a black guy will cause people to burn their bedsheet costumes and put out their burning crosses.

"Unfortunately people do in error transfer ideas about nortrhernness from the European Scandanavian nazi era to American Alaska with it's remote northern locale on occassion"

I don't even know what that is lol

As for the assemblyman being "deceptive" and dodging an answer...I think he was quite clear that he was not going to do it. Rather simply sending you "NO!" with a Jeopardy wrong-answer-sound, he explained directly why he WOULD NOT put this into action.

Even if you want to argue that he was somehow beating around the bush too much--even if he directly said "Uh...uh...I'll think about it!!!", I think it's a little extreme to compare "Maybe I'll rename this street...." to the vast dodges and lies the Bush administration is "believed to have used" that brought us into war.