Wrangell’s Native community is critical of last month’s chamber-sponsored economic forum for its lack of tribal presentations on the agenda and the offensive comment of a speaker.
The chamber of commerce organized the five-hour session to spark a discussion about Wrangell’s economic future and create a space for business leaders to share their perspectives. However, key players in Wrangell’s economic landscape — particularly representatives of the tribal government — were not offered the opportunity to present.
Esther Aaltséen Reese, tribal administrator at the Wrangell Cooperative Association, attended the forum, hoping that it would offer a “chance to come together, talk about the current economic condition of our town, and … improve that for the entire community.” The event, however, proved “disappointing,” she said.
The forum featured Borough Manager Jeff Good and Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore, doctoral student Ryan Naylor, state legislative candidates Jeremy Bynum and Dan Ortiz, fisherman Mike Lockabey, Salvation Army officer Jon Tollerud, California-based restaurant owner James Freeman and California-based business consultant Kevin Jones. Freeman owns property on the island and is a regular visitor; Jones is his associate.
No local business owners presented.
Reese described the lineup as “exclusionary” and pointed out the lack of tribal representation. Event organizers “didn’t reach out to the tribe as one of the large drivers in our community,” she said.
Freeman, the second-to-last scheduled speaker, made a comment during his presentation that some thought was racially offensive. Talking about the need for a strategic plan to avoid population decline, he said, “We can live where we are, we can stay being cowboys and Indians … as the population dies away.”
When confronted by WCA IGAP director Valerie Massie during the event and by Massie and Reese after the forum’s conclusion, Freeman “became verbally combative,” said Reese. She called Freeman’s remarks “inexcusable.”
“Language like this is a result of centuries of racism and continues to perpetuate stereotypes that have real-life impacts on Native communities,” Reese said. “It was shocking to experience racism during an economic forum hosted on the land of the Shtax’héen Kwáan with tribal members and leadership present. (Freeman) refused to acknowledge that the comment was racist and continued to argue after the event.”
Brittani Robbins, event organizer and chamber of commerce executive director, said in a written statement that the chamber “does not condone the use of language or terminology that is insensitive to any ethnic (or) racial group within the community or anywhere else, whether intentional or otherwise.”
Freeman did not respond to a request for comment.
Though Massie’s confrontation with Freeman was an emotional moment for her, she felt deep sadness throughout the forum as the WCA’s contributions to the community were overlooked. “It is often forgotten that there are two governing bodies in Wrangell,” she said. “WCA doesn’t do trash pickup or collect taxes, but it is still a whole other nation.”
Through grant funds, the tribe has contributed $2.8 million to pave borough roads, $450,000 to maintain trails in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, $300,000 to Forest Service roads to make traditional subsistence areas accessible, and $86,000 for emergency medical services equipment. The tribe also uses its grant funds to make yearly contributions to the senior center and public library.
Some of the speakers, Massie suggested, were “not creating space for the people who are already working on those ‘improvements’ that they were talking about.”
She acknowledged that running such as the economic forum can be challenging. “I know how it goes with organizing events. It’s a lot easier to criticize things than to put them together,” Massie said. “I do commend Brittani for putting it together.”
All of the event’s nine speakers were either involved in the planning of the forum or invited to speak by Robbins, with the exception of state Rep. Ortiz, who was invited by co-organizer Lockabey.
Robbins said she sent out an invitation to the event to chamber members, including the Wrangell Cooperative Association, on Aug. 15. “I’m not sure what more reaching out I could do other than directly calling people,” she said.
However, the invitation made no indication that the event was seeking additional speakers — it included only the time, date, location, ticket price and a reminder to RSVP. According to Reese, no one from the WCA was under the impression that forum organizers would accept their insights. “I would definitely have been a part of it if invited,” Reese said in a written statement.
In a subsequent interview, Robbins explained that she did not ask a WCA representative to speak because she “thought it was more of a business-style meeting” than an effort to see “how many groups can we include.”
The chamber may put on another forum in 2023, Robbins said, and in the future she would review speakers’ comments in advance and not invite political candidates during an election year. She would also not allow microphones at the event. “Some business people … felt less comfortable asking questions and speaking up with a microphone there,” she said.
Like Robbins, Reese wants the conversation about Wrangell’s economic future to continue. However, moving forward, she hopes that the conversation will include “representation across the entire community,” particularly members of the WCA, the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium and the local tourism industry.
“My hope is that something positive can come from this unfortunate event,” she said in a written statement. “That education on systematic racism can occur, that positive change is made and we can move forward stronger as a community.”
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