ANCHORAGE Alaska
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin routinely notes her husband’s Yup’ik Eskimo roots. But those connections haven’t erased doubts about the Republican vice presidential candidate in a community long slighted by the White settlers who flocked to Alaska and dominate its government.
Since she became governor in 2006, many Alaska Natives say they’ve felt ignored when she made appointments to her administration, sided with sporting interests over Native hunting rights and pursued a lawsuit that Natives say seeks to undermine their ancient traditions.
Alaska’s population today is mostly White but nearly a fifth of its people are Native Americans, primarily Alaska Natives. Blacks and Asians combined make up less than 10 percent of the state’s population.
As a result, race relations in Alaska are different from those in other U.S. states. Palin inherited a complex, sometimes strained relationship with Alaska Natives. There is a wide economic disparity between its predominantly White urban areas and the scores of isolated Native villages, and competition between sport hunting rights and tribal sovereignty.
Early in her administration, Palin created a furor by trying to appoint a White woman to a seat, held for more than 25 years by a Native, on the panel that oversees wildlife management. Ultimately, Palin named an Athabascan Indian to the game board, but not before relations were bruised.
When a game board chairman suggested Alaska Natives missed a meeting because they were drinking beer, the remark struck a chord since the Alaska Native community is wracked by alcohol abuse. Palin, a candidate for governor at the time, asked him to resign.
