Attacked on Quora
I was just accused of being a privaledged white person who had no right to talk about women in Alaska by an Alaska Native. She said I only highlighted my "white" friends in my answer to a question and had no right to be "spouting off on the internet". This is really upsetting since I did not say anything at all about Alaska Natives or anyone's culture and my friend she was referring to is acually part American Indian.
I guess if someone is mad at you then you are going somewhere...I will tell myself that at least but this is really upsetting. I just answered a question. The person asked why so many women work in road construction here. I said it just seemed normal to me since I have lived here my whole life and that Alaskans are very independent and women often do outdoors jobs. I mentioned my best friend who is a woman fishing boat captain. This person who replied to my answer said I was a privaledged white woman and had no room to talk and said I only highligted my white friends in the reply. Well, my friend (the fishing boat captain) is actually half Cherokee! This person just assumed because I am white that my friends were white. I don't know this person and don't know she is trolling my posts.
She went on to insult me, my white "privaledged" parents, my "Merica" ideals and said I should "Get a lil bit more woke if you want to be less basic". This was at the end after writing the rest of the post with good grammer and spelling so she is clearly tyring to insinuate I am uneducated white trash.
I replied and politly told her I actually had a degree in Anthropology, studied with the preeminant professors in Alaskan anthropology and archeaology, as well as Alaskan Native professors. I told her I was not saying anything about culture or Alaska Natives and that my friend whom she assumed was white was acutally American Indian.
I also pointed out I did not grow up privaledged. I lived where we had to haul our own water, split our own wood and find our own food. My parents had to home school me since no one builds a school for a white kid in the bush here. I do not have my education or health care paid for. I am so sick of being looked down upon by Natives even though I was born here. I guess racism just never dies, sadly. What started as racism against natives is now racism against whites...even if we were born into it and can not help the color of our skin. I can not go back in time and change what was done generations ago. Now Alaska Natives get the highest level jobs, get free education through college, free medical care, get no competition government contracts for jobs all over the world, get hiring preference for regular jobs etc. etc. No, that doesn't change what was done in the past. I know that, but I can't change it. It does no good to hate me for the color of my skin.
Alaska never had slavery under U.S. control. There was slavery under Russian rule however. Alaska never had reservations like in the states. We had no Trail of Tears here. There were atrocities committed like forbidding the speaking of native languages. Those were wrong. No one is defending that. I can't go back in time and change it however.
My family and I have been yelled at multiple times walking down the street and called "f..ing white man". It would not be ok if it was the reverse.
These sorts of incidents make you want to hole up and not write anything, not express any opinion. As a white person (in my case) or a brown, yellow, blue or green person you will be blamed for something, judged as something, hated by someone.
I know we all have to rise above this though and keep on going. Let the haters hate and just move forward and do the best we can to be good people and treat everyone fairly.
It sucks though. I have felt this my whole life here and it only seems to get worse.
You can't keep everyone happy so I guess if your words are getting out to a wide enough audience then someone will be mad at you for something. Maybe it just goes with the territory.
Onward and Upward,
Jessica
Recent Comments
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I think it is unfortunate that you were attacked as being racist but it is equally unfortunate that you use racist arguments in your defense. “What started as racism against natives is now racism against whites….Now Alaska Natives get the highest level jobs….”
Perhaps racism will never die, perhaps it's ingrained in all of us (although I hope not), but steps taken to redress wrongs are not racist because you believe (perhaps falsely) that you are impacted.
In fact, a report from a panel, chaired by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. found that non-Native managers collected 69% of the executive pay at the Alaska Native companies.
Hmm...so much for the negative impact against whites.
Yes, but my point is that even though, there was no slavery here (by Americans, but there was by Russian before who forced Natives to work for them and then killed them), there were never any reservations here, Natives were never treated the way they were in the other states, and they really do have many advantages here they still hate white people for the color of their skin. There were wrongs, they can't be changed since we can't go back in time. I fully understand that. In fact I understand that better than most because I studied it for years. But extraordinary efforts have been made here to work against that that are above and beyond anything else in this country. In any case I am not responsible for any of that. I HAVE learned about their culture. I do respect their culture. They don't have to respect me as a human, Alaskan or anything else despite my actions.
Natives in certain tribes don't have to work here because they are part of large Native corporations that were set up to help them support themselves and have a monetary business to be on an equal footing. They choose to HIRE white people to manage their businesses. They get free education and hiring preference for all those jobs. If they want them they can have them and they are getting more and more good jobs (as they should). White people are not taking those jobs however. Native choose to hire white people for them.
Those natives that you say "don't have to work" earn an average of $615 per year as shareholders in the Native corporations. Still you have a right not to be attacked and it is apparent that the issue weighs heavily with you, but making blanket assertions ("they still hate white people for the color of their skin") undercuts your point which seems to be that the racism is one-sided, rather than validates it.
I said in "certain tribes". There is great disparity there with some earning nothing and some earning many thousands per year. In some tribes it is more like $10,000 per family member. Clearly that can go a long way to supporting a household. If you include free housing, free education, free health care, welfare, food stamps, the right to hunt and fish for anything they want (they do not have the restrictions we do because subsistence is their tradition) then they don't have to work. My statement is actually correct.
I should have phrased my original message better however and I did not mean to sound like I was being judgmental.
It is frustrating however because Alaska has worked very hard to treat the Native people with much more respect than American Indians or other minorities were ever treated. If the same atrocities were never committed here and we have worked very hard to right the wrongs that were committed we should all continue to move forward rather than blaming each other for what happened generations ago.
Well, it's a non-starter for me when folks claim that they are not responsible for the wrongs of the past in this country because it happened generations ago. Let me also say that you are probably not responsible for any of America's past successes either. You probably didn't put one stitch in the flag, or build the White House, the Jefferson or Lincoln Memorials, the interstate highways, the bridges and by-ways, and put not one nail in a B-52 bomber that kept us safe, probably didn't fight in World War I or II either, but still you benefit, like we all do because those are the successes that made America. And if you can be proud and take ownership and benefit from America's successes, own its wrongs and the reparations that are made to address them.
And I still say that it is entirely unfortunate that you were attacked and I still maintain that for you to now use broad brushes and blanket assertions against an entire group because of the misguided or misdirected actions of one person in that group undermines your entire point.
I agree. I do not take credit for any of that. If we continue to look backward though we cannot move forward. I am not saying we should ignore the past. But it does no good to blame someone now for what happened then. It cannot possibly change the past. If someone treats you with respect and love and decency now, you would not be inclined to blame them for what happened between groups of people that happened to share the same race generations ago.
If we judge each other based on skin color (and hatred of their ancestors) rather than their actions in their own lives today, then we are doomed to never escape these problems.
I did not mean to make any statements about an entire group of people. That would certainly be wrong. I am talking about certain individuals who claim to be representing those entire groups of people and blaming me because I am part of another group of people (according to them). I would rather view myself as an Alaskan rather than me white and them something else.
Ok Swangirl, we're cool. Thanks for hearing my point. I hear you. And that's how perspectives evolve: we hear one another. :-)
Hi, Jessica,
In London we call them keyboard warriors. They have nothing better to do than attack people. You should have sent her a link here so she can see we are many cultures just working hard trying to make a living.
It's like social media. I hate FB messenger. I get an influx daily of men wanting to be my boyfriend or other things. I am 52 years old for goodness sake. They make me sick.
It's part and parcel of opening our world up to the world wide web. It's not nice. It hurts too. Especially when you are kind person too.
As long as you are ok Jessica that's all that matters to us.
~Debs :)
Jessica, that is just so horrible. I'm so sorry that's happened to you. Racism is a destroyer. But so is jealousy and hatred. If only people would appreciate what they have, the world would be a better place.
Keep smiling Jessica. You are wonderful person. Cuddle up to your beautiful cats and tell them how much you love them. That will make you feel better.
Take care. Tomorrow is a better day :)
Thank you so much Valerie. I really appreciate this. I agree. It is such a shame. I don't critique other people's posts unless it is something totally critical like them harming children or animals. Otherwise, I leave everyone alone to express their own opinions and don't criticize them. I hate the feeling of being attacked out of the blue.
I understand Jessica. I would feel the same as you do, if I were to experience such an attack.
And this is not nearly as bad as my family being yelled at just walking down the street and being called "f..ing white man". This has happened several times too.
As great as the internet is this is the dark side of it. People hiding behind their computers attacking people because they have nothing better to do.
I think we just need to rise above the morons on the internet.
There's always going to be some keyboard warrior throwing the punches, whether it's on Quora or social media.
Usually, you'll find the people with the chip on their shoulders are the ones with big problems, who find it much easier to take it out on others rather than tackle their problems.
Keep your chin up. Some people are looking for a fight for no reason. I pray we get to a place in this world where people don’t wake up feeling damaged for the color of their skin, and looking to blame someone for that feeling based on the color of theirs.
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A conflict becomes racism when people have different culture, skin, language... we better talk about conflict.
When people however agress others because of this difference, it is racism and should be reported.
Thank you Fleeky.