A nationwide anti-fascism protest was held Tuesday, Feb. 5 at each of the 50 state capitals in the United States.
Juneau was represented among those cities as more than 200 local citizens gathered at the Alaska State Capitol building to speak out against fascism and rally for racial equality, election integrity, women’s rights, LGBTQ plus issues, climate change and income inequality.
Jamiann S’eiltin, Deishetan of the Raven’s Bones House Angoon, is the president of the Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp 2. She was a presenter at the Juneau event.
She spoke to opposition from the Trump administration in recognition of Native Alaskans and other First Peoples. She also called upon the name of Alaska’s renowned civil rights advocate, Elizabeth Peratrovich.
“I oppose deeply of rejecting [of] and no longer recognizing the original peoples of Turtle Island,” she said. “And there are no illegals on stolen land. I, as the president of the Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp 2 Juneau, I tend to walk in the spirit of Elizabeth [Peratrovich].”
Turtle Island is a name used by some First Peoples to refer to the continent of North and Central America.
One of the protesters in attendance, who declined to give his name, said, “I’m here to stand for our Constitution, for our individual freedoms and liberties and for class solidarity. There are two classes of people in this world. There’s the working class and there’s the ruling class. When they forget that we write the rules and they are supposed to enforce them for us, that we are supposed to be the ones who elect them to represent us, and they choose to take their own agenda, we stand, we fight, we do not allow that to happen.”
As referenced by S’eiltin during her presentation to the crowd, a statewide holiday honoring Elizabeth Peratrovich is commemorated each year on February 16, to honor and celebrate her life and contributions to civil rights, freedom and equality.
