Alaska: Creating an Inclusive Economy

The development of Alaska’s economy has historically not only contributed to but depended on the persecution and oppression of Alaska Native peoples. The treatment of Alaska Natives leads to economic ruin and cultural decimation in their communities and, given that their numbers amount to 19% of Alaska’s population, the Alaskan state government prioritize the elimination of institutionalized mechanisms of persecution and proactive institution of mechanisms for growth. We are currently witnessing the downfall of the petroleum industry in and withdrawal of federal funds from our state; because we are already seeking alternatives to diversify the declining oligopoly of our economy, there is no better time than now to initiate sustainable, moral, and legendary policies that value Alaska Native people rather than persecute them.

There are three main mechanisms of oppression to address. The underlying issue is that the state has traditionally valued money over public good in policy-making. The new policies instituted should value the human and cultural capital which Alaska Natives can provide.

Firstly, environmental degradation disproportionately affects Alaska Native communities and traditions. Extraction and use of oil and gas releases greenhouse gases that affect Arctic communities more so than South-Central communities (where Anchorage is located). Yet the majority of Alaskans with the largest carbon footprint live in Anchorage and receive oil money through jobs and public services. Though non-Alaska Natives reap the most profit from petroleum production and use, Alaska Native communities will suffer the most from consequent climate change.

80% of Alaska Natives depend on local flora and fauna for subsistence. The northern-moving tree-line threatens to change the ecosystems of flora on which these people depend and the shifting climate changes the types of animals which dominate the ecosystems—for example, caribou will be threatened by introduced parasites, and Arctic foxes, whose fur changes to white in wintertime, will be more easily preyed upon when they cannot evolve to change the color of their coats at the appropriate time of year. 70% of Alaska Natives live in rural villages, in which there is less reliable access to imports; although rural Alaskans will have less access to subsistence resources, they will not have more readily imported food. Environmental degradation not only decimates the capital on which many Alaska Natives subsist, but eliminates the ability for them to continue their cultural traditions.

Secondly, Alaska Natives are disproportionately incarcerated—though they encompass 19% of the population, they are 46% of the state’s prisoners. People leaving prisons have permanent records that disallow them to obtain jobs, receive government benefits, and integrate into society. Unfortunately, crime rates in Alaska have decreased by 30% since 1981 but incarceration rates have increased by 5 times. And our criminal justice system punishes with bias rather than understanding—in the entire prison population, only 4% do not suffer from mental health or substance abuse disorders. Rather than rehabilitate these people, we put them in a system where they are punished for factors out of their control and are continually punished once they are released. The legacy of Alaska Natives disproportionately persecuted by the punitive system is unemployment, vagrancy and recidivism, and Alaska Native culture is consequently associated with these traits.

Thirdly, one of the policies most emblematic of the state’s cultural decimation of Alaska Natives is the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1980. Under the act roughly 1/3 of the land was given to the state, 1/3 to the federal government, and 1/3 to Alaska Native tribes. A corporation was established in each section of Alaska Native land that could market the natural resources there, and each Alaska Native person had a share in their tribe’s corporation. Not only did the state take lands for itself that would make it the most wealthy, like Prudhoe Bay, but it forced Alaska Native people to assimilate to the American corporate structure. By consequence Alaska Native shareholders are the poorest in the world, are socially segmented into those who choose to assimilate and do not, and have legally lost claims to lands they had historically owned and utilized.