FROM THE EDITOR

How to Forgive and Unite

Reconciliation means different things to different people. So says Will Mayo, a former board member for the Alaska Federation of Natives. Earlier this summer he took a trip from Fairbanks to Wasilla to join a Native-led initiative focused on Alaskans from different cultures getting along at a new level. But it wasn't a 316-mile journey. It was decades in the making.

"There hasn't been a true representation of the heart of God in Alaska in a hundred years," he told a crowd of about 300. No one disagreed.

Mayo noted the irony of holding a meeting dedicated to repairing Native and non-Native relations in the Mat-Su Valley. He called it a place traditionally hostile to Native issues.

"When I was invited to come down here, I thought 'Can anything good come out of Wasilla?'" Mayo said.

In the end, Mayo found that the gathering had answered his question and changed his mind.

"The culture of Native people has eroded over the past several hundred years," said Guy Peters, who founded Alaska Vision to bring hope to Native Alaskans. Peters was one of the event's organizers along with Bill Pagaran of Carry the Cure and Doug Yates of Young Warriors. "They had been given the wrong message of God. Jesus has been packaged in western culture."

As one speaker after another addressed members of the Knik Tribal Council, asking for permission to be on their land, a foundation for mercy was built.

A Russian asked, symbolically, for forgiveness for what his people had done to earlier generations of Native Alaskans. Many pastors spoke. Scott Smith, a minister with Arctic Mercy of Homer, got on his knees and asked forgiveness for the mistakes of Christian missionaries who had come to Alaska and crushed Native culture in pursuit of what they believed God wanted.

Knik Tribal Council president Debra Call called Smith's plea a defining moment. Words to explain it didn't come easily.

"Humbled, I think, is the right word," Call said. "A lot more was shared on a personal level than I had expected."

She said the Trail of Healing can be a turning point if follow-up happens. Call extended an invitation to all the Christian ministers who attended to come to the Alaska Native Heritage Center as her guests to gain more insight.

First Alaskans magazine is a place where stories of reconciliation and redemption can be told. In this issue, Inupiat artist Susie Bevins-Ericsen has such a tale. Also, Native art patron Alice Rogoff explains how she is enabling people to have their creations appreciated more broadly.

As you read these and other stories, consider where you're at on the "trail of healing." There's still plenty of room to start your own journey.

 

First Alaskans magazine is published by Alaska Newspapers Inc. Submissions welcome. Copyright 2010. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the express permission of the publisher. First Alaskans magazine is not affiliated with First Alaskans Institute.