The Challenges Facing Northwest Alaska

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

Today I met an outstanding individual during my visit of the Village of Kotzebue, up above the Arctic Circle in Northwest Alaska.

Siikauraq Martha Whiting is the Mayor of the Northwest Arctic Borough which covers a wide area of Northwest Alaska including many towns and villages in the region. She grew up in Kotzebue, Alaska and is an Inupiaq . 

Whiting went to Kotzebue High School here in Northwest Alaska and fully participated in as many activities as possible while being taught by her parents in the traditions of the Inupiaq. She was a standout volleyball and basketball player with Kotzebue High School. After going to college in Southern Alaska and earning a degree in Nature Development, Siikauraq returned and started to give back to the region where she was born and raised. First, she was an outstanding coach for many years at Kotzebue High School.

Whiting started at the Northwest Arctic Borough ten years ago. Last year she was voted the Mayor of the Borough.

As I visit here, I am learning more and more about the complexities of the issues that the residents and the people who serve this region in a postition of leadership face. 

This region of the United States needs somebody in leadership positions who are part of the rich heritage.  Siikauraq is. She gets it. 

Before she even ran for the office of Mayor, she asked for the blessing of the Inupiaq Elders. Make no mistake about it.   Whiting is a tough person which belies her beautiful and petite exterior but she almost tears up when she talks about how her tribal elders got behind her and supported her run for the mayorship. This is important to her and it should be important to anybody that is in a position of leadership here.

The other thing I like about Siikauraq is that even though she is steeped in the tradition of the region, she also is saavy enough to know that the new technologies need to be utilized to make sure the word gets out about the people in this region. 

One thing that I learned in the past few days is that the Inupiaq have been traditionally a people that kept the history going by verbal communication. As the Elders  pass on, there is a concern that this history may get diluted or even forgotten by the newer generation. 

One of the things that Siikauraq as well as others in the community are doing is to make sure that there is a recorded history. This is a touchy subject with many of the elders in the Inupiaq community but with their blessing, tools such as the internet, videos and radio programs are being used to make sure that the true stories and voices are carried down to the next generations.

One of the interesting things that is being done here is a weekly radio show on local KOTZ radio which is produced by Willie Goodwin called the Inupiaq Hour which features the music, history, and language of the Inupiaq community which is such a big part of the region. And since KOTZ is on the internet this message can literally go out to the whole world.

Siikauraq also has surrounded herself with some very good people. Not only do these people know what they are doing in their particular fields and bring great ideas to the table, they are more importantly from Kotzebue and the surrounding villages so they have a deep knowledge of the issues facing the region.

People like D'Anne Hamilton, the Director of Economic Development, who grew up and has spent most of her life in Kotzebue. Hamilton also is knowledgable in the area of multi-media and is a big asset when it comes to effectively getting the word out about the region. She also works closely with longtime Kotzebue resident Cyrus Harris at the Manilaq Senior Center. 

Harris, as Whiting, is big on the idea of the Inupiaq tradition of Subsistence Living. Harris actually does the hunting, fishing, and gathering for the Elder Inupiaqs which reside at the Senior Center. The selection of Annabelle Alvite in Grants and Community Development was also a wise choice. Alvite is working hard on writing grants to cover such tough issues as waste management in Kotzebue. With no roads leading in and out of Kotzebue, the waste can not disappear from the area magically she says.

I will be thinking a lot about Siikauraq and the good folks in Kotzebue as well as the other towns in the Northwest Arctic Borough as they face the unique challenges of the region. But I also believe the region is in good hands as long as people like her are in charge. So I wish for her a successful term and another term, if she needs it, to meet her goals.