A healing totem rises in Douglas

DOUGLAS — On a misty May morning, the first totem pole in recent memory was raised at Gastineau Elementary School on Douglas Island. Carriers lined up on either side of the 26-foot Raven pole, one wearing a sacred carved wolf mask representing the opposite Wolf/Eagle moiety. Onlookers watched or documented the historic moment on their phones as a crane lifted the pole into a metal housing, a totem for healing racial injustices of generations past for generations to come.

Totem pole raisings are often times of celebration, dancing and drumming. But this one was somber. Five years ago, construction workers uncovered the remains of five Tlingit souls as the school was being renovated. Along with other residents, we were shocked to learn that in 1956, a Native burial ground was paved to build a road and the school two blocks from our house.

Douglas is the ancestral home of the T'áakhu Khwáan, comprising the Wolf/Eagle moiety Yanyeidí, Tookhu.eidí, S'eetkhweidí and Tsaateeneidí clans and the Raven moiety Ghaanxh.ádi, Ishkeetaan, and Kookhittaan clans. The Juneau-based Goldbelt Heritage Foundation (GHF) and the Douglas Indian Association (DIA) put on the totem pole raising.

"These clans resided within the common territory now called Douglas, Alaska," according to the written program. "Their families inhabited the land in Southeast Alaska through migration, wars, famine, and countless struggles for more than 12,000 years."

After the pole was raised, a small group of T'áakhu Khwáan stood in silence. Douglas resident and Tlingit-Inupiaq writer Ishmael Hope slowly beat a drum as the group sang a mournful lament in Tlingit.

"There will be no dancing," Hope emphasized. His ancestry traces back to the Raven Ghaanaxh.ádi clan that created the totem pole.

"It matters so much to the people who have ancestry," Hope said. "For myself, even though it goes back a number of generations, knowing that I likely have some relatives buried under there, it's a personal thing."

Hope was asked by Goldbelt culture bearer Paul Marks to stand in for him for portions of the ceremony during which Eagle/Wolf clans recognize their hosts, the Raven clans. Speeches were given, gifts presented and food distributed.

"The tradition is there to meet the moment," Hope said. "To bring out all those dimensions of history."

In the aftermath of the discovery of the graves, elders had considered closing the school, but decided to keep it open so that Tlingit language and culture can be learned by the younger generation.

As Marks told KTOO public radio, "That's the healing of recognizing that hurt, so our children will be healed and they know we took care of it, that we didn't just stand by and let it happen. We addressed it, and that's part of being Tlingit."

Gastineau School principal Brenda Edwards praised the decision as, "a beautiful example of the greater community involving the school in a way that honors tradition and culture."

Native culture resurgence

It wasn't always this way. "We didn't hear a thing about this kind of stuff when I was in school," noted an attendee with a touch of anger in his voice. Now in his early 40s, he grew up in Juneau.

Alaska Natives have seen a powerful resurgence of Native culture, language and practices, resulting in a growing awareness of the history of injustices toward Alaska Natives by non-Natives.

"I'm 77, and I can tell you it is the first true totem pole that has been raised in Douglas in my lifetime," said Tlingit artist John Morris of the Douglas Indian Association. Morris is great-grandson of Raven clan leader Jimmy Fox, who taught him to fish and pick berries.

As a child, Morris lived in the Douglas Indian Village along the waterfront between the town of Douglas and Sandy Beach. Prejudice was a way of life. He did not feel welcome in Douglas.

"I was picking raspberries on St. Ann's Avenue when a white lady yelled at me and told me to get back to my village," he recalls. "She even called in the marshal."

In 1962, Douglas was independent of Juneau and had its own city government. According to a 2002 article in the Juneau Empire on a report by the Indian Law Resource Center, the municipality, "razed the indian village to build the Douglas Boat Harbor. The beach homes of Morris and other Natives were cleared to make room for material dredged from Gastineau Channel."

Morris says the municipality condemned the Tlingit homes when many residents were up the Taku River at fish camp. "Our house was the fourth or fifth one from the beach and my uncle used it as a net house. They hung from the rafters," Morris said. "I remember the blue and green flames that shot from the building." His family lost everything. Morris left Douglas and joined the military.

A few years ago, former Goldbelt grant writer Richard Steele came upon the Juneau Empire article. "I was blown away," he said. "All kinds of promises were not kept. That was within my lifetime."

Steele came up with plan to recognize such atrocities titled, A Time for Healing — in Tlingit, Ghaneixh Gaawú Khudzitee. On the third try, Goldbelt was awarded a $1.1 million federal grant to erect totem poles in 2017 and 2018.

Eagle/Wolf pole next year

A 40-foot Eagle/Wolf pole will be raised in 2018 near the site of the lost village.

"That will bring balance to the island," Hope said.

The Gastineau School pole brought an opportunity for young apprentice carvers to work alongside veterans. "Our culture is thriving," noted GHF youth education lead Tommy Gee.

The design, by Ketchikan master carver Nathan Jackson, depicts a raven house, frog, woodworm, dog salmon and the Big Dipper, commemorating the people buried on the school ground.

About 200 Juneau and Douglas residents showed up for the raising, which included a speech by Juneau School Board Chairman Brian Holst.

"Today, a heavy pole, both physically and emotionally, has been erected," Holst said. "It required the effort of our entire community to raise this pole and have it stand steadfast. It stands as an acknowledgement of past wrongs inflicted upon the T'aakhu Khwáan. On behalf of the Board of Education, we express our regrets for the pain of past hurts and our solidarity in this healing. Let this pole help us all to pass on a lesson to be inclusive, supportive and respectful of every child and member of our community."

Added Douglas Indian Association President Clarence "Butch" Laiti: "The raising of this pole is the first step of many to restore peace, dignity and respect."

At the end of the ceremony, Steele was presented with a special thank-you gift, a bentwood box hand carved with salmon designs. Open it and the scent of a fresh-cut Southeast cedar fills your being. Steele was stunned and moved by the acknowledgement.

"Every time I look at it, it gives me good feelings," he said. "And that's the way I feel about the totem pole. It's a reminder."

Freelance writer Katie Bausler is a devoted resident of the island kingdom of rainy Douglas, Alaska.