ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – For many, President Trump’s inauguration is a cause to celebrate, but one Indigenous-led group in Alaska is watching the proceedings with caution.
Enei Begaye is Executive Director of Native Movement, a statewide non-profit organization with offices in Anchorage and Fairbanks that focuses on community organizing over issues like social justice, community health, and climate change.
Begaye said the group has concerns about human rights under the new president as well as both President Trump and Governor Mike Dunleavy’s support for expanding resource development in the state. Begaye said the worry is over potential impacts on the environment and the acceleration of climate change.
“These are things that concern the communities that we work with, a lot of communities who live off of hunting and fishing, live off those lands that their ancestors have lived on,” Begaye said.
Begaye acknowledged the group doesn’t speak for all Native people. Some villages and Native Corporations support oil exploration and mining for the jobs those activities can provide in rural Alaska.
When asked for her reaction to President Trump’s call to change the name of Denali back to Mount McKinley, Begaye called it “unfortunate”.
“I think it’s been a long-standing concern as Indigenous people that names be returned to Indigenous names and that’s just one sign of remembering our collective history,” she said.
On Monday, inauguration day, the group held a community organizing session in Anchorage that Enei said about 25 people attended. But Enei said the group holds training sessions regularly and this one wasn’t specifically intended to counter the Trump presidency.
“Regardless of who was elected it’s important for communities to organize,” she said. “It’s important for us as citizens to talk together, to get together, to build the communities that we want to see.”
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