A non food post..

But, a post none the less, eh?

I have every intention of coming back to the blog world real soon.. I do miss all of my blog buddies dearly!

I thought I would share this video of my sons dance performance last week it was for a celebration for Elizabeth Peratrovich Day. I copied some info about her below.

He is the fidgety one in the front - the one who runs in the beginning of the video after his solo and costume change.


Elizabeth Peratrovich: Speaking out for civil rights
By FATHER MICHAEL OLEKSA FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

In 1945 in Alaska, citizens could address the state Senate. The public was allowed to speak from the gallery, and Native civil rights activists Roy and Elizabeth Peratrovich were in attendance daily during the floor debate.

From the official Senate Record:

Sen. Frank Whaley: " I am also against the Equal Rights bill. I personally would prefer not to have to sit next to these Natives in a theater. Why, they smell bad. . . ."

Sen. O.D. Cochran: " I am personally assailed by Senator Whaley's remarks. I stand in support of the Equal Rights Bill. Discrimination does exist. . . ."

r Sen. Allen Shattuck: " This legislation is wrong. Rather than being brought together, the races should be kept further apart. Who are these people, barely out of savagery, who want to associate with us whites, with 5,000 years of recorded civilization behind us?"

Elizabeth Peratrovich: " I would not have expected that I, who am barely out of savagery, would have to remind the gentlemen with 5,000 years of recorded civilization behind them of our Bill of Rights. When my husband and I came to Juneau and sought a home in a nice neighborhood where our children could play happily with our neighbor's children, we found such a house and arranged to lease it. When the owners learned that we were Indians, they said no. Would we be compelled to live in the slums?"

(There was a silence in the hall.)

Sen. Shattuck: " Will this law eliminate discrimination?"

Elizabeth Peratrovich: " Do your laws against larceny, rape and murder prevent those crimes? No law will eliminate crimes, but at least you, as legislators, can assert to the world that you recognize the evil of the present situation and speak of your intent to help us overcome discrimination. There are three kinds of persons who practice discrimination: First, the politician who wants to maintain an inferior minority group so that he can always promise them something; second, the " Mr. and Mrs. Jones" who aren't quite sure of their social position, and who are nice to you on one occasion and can't see you on others, depending on whom they are with; and third, the great superman, who believes in the superiority of the white race. This super race attitude is wrong and forces our fine Native people to be associated with less than desirable circumstances."

(Applause from the gallery and from the Senate floor.)

The following afternoon's newspaper reported Elizabeth Peratrovich " Climaxed the hearing with a biting condemnation of the " super race' attitude. It was the neatest performance of any witness to yet appear before this session, and there were a few red senatorial ears as she regally left the chamber."

On Feb. 8, 1945, the Senate voted 11-5 in favor of the bill, and Gov. Ernest Gruening signed it into law Feb. 16. It was the first anti-discrimination law in the nation.
Years afterward, Gruening said that without Elizabeth Peratrovich's eloquent testimony the measure would not have passed.

Excerpted from " Haa Kusteeyi: Our Culture: Tlingit Life Stories," edited by Nora Marks Dauenhauer and Richard Dauenhauer. The text above was written by Father Michael Oleksa.

More non foodness... Meet our new hairless kitty Mystic. She is two years old. She came to us the day after Christmas and is a real joy to have around.



I promise to come back and blog.. Thanks for stopping by.