Saturday, July 24, 2010
Why did ANCSA became law?
Previously, I had only very general knowledge of ANCSA. I was shocked to discover through the readings that the motivation behind ANCSA becoming law was oil. I had always naively assumed that the land conveyances had finally come into being out as act of fairness and justice toward the native population of Alaska. I do however believe that the indigenous population of Alaska was fairly compensated and continues to be so. It is just unfortunate that oil was our government's motivation to settle the land claims.
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It is sad to know that greed was the driving force behind the settlement, but due to a lot of the hidden languages I think that the indigenous natives were not properly compensated. Or at least due to the rushed nature of the lengthy contract, they did not have an informed vote to pass ANCSA.
ReplyDeletePS
ReplyDeleteHow do I start my own post? I seem to only be able to comment. Someone help!
Hey Mary Jane,
ReplyDeleteAfter signing in there will be a litte box icon to the right of your name, click on it to start a post.
Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGiven that tens of billions of dollars were generated upon delivery of oil within a couple years, 962 million does seem small. But that is economic capitalism for you. Many of the corporations have figured this out for themselves and are doing quite well. The long term question is whether this settlement was in the best interest of the Alaska Native community. Some would say yes...they ended land disputes and had a great deal of ability to select lands that were traditional - a far cry from how other Native groups were treated by the US government. I doubt you would find many Alaska Native individuals wanting to get rid of the Corporations. But it has forced the AK Native community into the western way to doing things. Interesting to note that many whites ran the corporations for most of the time...not sure what the management of them is today but I would bet still dominated by non Natives. I consider that unfortunate if it is still true.
ReplyDeleteI am not too sure of how things operate here in Alaska, but in the Yukon, some of the First Nations Bands set up "Job Mentoring" situations for native students who graduate from grade twelve. Granted it is up to the student to apply for the job, but they can get on the spot training and if the mentoring goes well, the Band will pay for the necessary education required to hold the position.
ReplyDeleteThat is how they are attempting to incorporate more natives into the business of running our bands.
Most of the Native corporations are still ran by non-native CEO's but there is an increasingly bigger following by native representatives. The difficulty of course was the knowledge base of how to run large corporations. I know I would probably crash and burn if I was to try it. Not just the size of the organization but the complexity is crazy!
ReplyDeleteI was fortunate to attend a recent coroporation meeting regarding the Banner Health organization and the possibility of another free clinic for natives in Fairbanks. For reasons I won't mention on the blog it was denied. Small business owners can rejoice because of it. What I did find interesting was that those speaking on behalf of the needed clinic were non-native personnel.
Although greed played a part in why ANCSA was passed I think that maybe it was for the better. This time the government had reason to be fair to a group of people that may otherwise have continued to be taken advantage of. If the oil had not discovered the government may have drug the process out for many many more years.
ReplyDeleteThe finding of oil also gave the Native community leverage whether they realized it or not.
It is very sad how Alaska was taken, but this seems to always repeat itself no matter where it is in the world, colonialism of course is always driven upon greed, no one has ever just taken a piece of land from someone with the intention of living peacefully with the native inhabitants, it is always driven because there is something there that we want. It's just funny to say that the US is a country of freedom, so is said.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could say that I was surprised to find out that it was a decision made based on future government profits but I am not. The part that bothered me the most about this first reading was how they decided to just stop issuing stocks after Dec. 18, 1971. Think about how that decision must have separated villages. It would have been terrible, people being angry with their neighbors over something as simple as a birth date.
ReplyDeleteWhile the motivation to compensate the Alaska Native people was motivated by oil, I believe that we might still be debating the topic of compensation today if oil had not been a factor. While there are parts of the settlement that still are debated in court and could probably be improved, it does seem as though most Alaska Native people born on or before 12/18/71 did receive compensation as agreed unlike the agreements made with Native Americans in the lower 48.
ReplyDeleteI'm on the side of Mary and Tamara on this issue. America is a capitalist economy; therefore greed is a major incentive, not just among for-profit corporations but also among politicians, who often pander to special interests and lobbyists. What do you expect from such a system? Money always motivates more people than altruism or justice.
ReplyDeleteI'm just glad that the profit incentives eventually aligned with the creation of a settlement act. Otherwise it might have been a long time coming.
Yes Kerri,
ReplyDeleteWe have big oil to thank for getting Congress to work on behalf of what some called "unsophisticated" and "uncivilized".
I do have to say that not only was Congress fair with it's dealings with ANCSA, they also did it with remarkable speed.
These days in the U.S. Senate, the passing of the smallest bill, even the recent debacle over the Unemployment Compensation Package, is subject to the filibuster; the technique for the minority party to hold up bills for as long as they want until 60 senators break it. Then they proceed to debate.
Since 2006, when Republicans became the minority, the use of the filibuster has more than doubled. Therefore making it difficult to get anything done.
I'm glad that in 1971, both parties, and chambers, as well as President Nixon,were able to worked together for the betterment of the Alaska Native people.
Kalesha (I know this was originally Kerri's post, but I'm writing to you):
ReplyDeleteThis is only tangentially relevant, but I think I should mention that the filibuster seems like the crudest and most ridiculous tool available to politicians. Is it really possible that, while the clock is ticking on important issues like climate change and health care, venerable senators stand up in front of Congress and ramble for hours on end?
Politics is crazy.
It would be a novel thing to think that the politicians of ANCSA had the best interest of the citizens of the state of Alaska at heart. You know I wonder how many politicians had ties to contracts in oil, minerals and other exploratory functions? Basically, subsurface oil was the source of wealth to those who had ties to companies exploring and extracting the vast resources within the state.
ReplyDeleteANCSA has worked out pretty well. It is unfortunate that greed was the driving force behind it, but it's not surprising. At least it forced the government to do something! The Native Alaskans were stuck in limbo until this was signed. ANCSA may not be perfect, but I think it worked out pretty well. Who knows how long the negotiations would have been dragged out if it weren't for the oil.
ReplyDeleteI agree with those that commented on the fact that the discovery of oil on in the north slope most likely sped things up in Washington. People tend to dawdle until they have a stake in an issue. It seems though that it kicked the thing in overdrive. Some decisions had to be made in haste. That probably hurt Alaska Natives.
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