September 12, 2008

Sarah Palin and African Americans in Alaska


Villagers, my view is that character is measured by the things you do when nobody is looking. Do you wonder what vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was thinking about African Americans before she stepped onto the national stage?

The following is a statement from one of the Juneteenth Directors in Alaska:


"As for Governor Sarah Palin's involvement in the African American community, the Governor's office hasn't participated in any of our Alaska Juneteenth Events. All previous Alaskan Governor's have traditionally attended and participated in our annual Juneteenth Celebration. Gov. Palin was the first governor not to send out a congratulatory letter or assist us in any way with our Juneteenth activities.

I didn't have the courtesy of receiving a reply when I asked for a representative from the Governor's office to come and speak at our Juneteenth Celebration if Governor Palin was unable to attend. I never even heard of Gov. Palin until she was elected Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, in Mat-Su Valley.

Governor Palin is a very energetic and spontaneous woman. With some of the things being said and going around this state right now, I'm surprised none of the national media have bothered to come here and get the words directly from the mouths of the people who have lived with her all of these years instead of 'surfing the net!'

My other opinion is why would an individual who, to my knowledge, has not hired any African Americans on her gubernatorial staff, insist so passionately on being on a television show owned and operated by an African American, Oprah Winfrey?


While meeting with Black leaders concerning the absence of any African Americans on her staff, Gov. Palin responded that she doesn't have to hire any Blacks and was not intending to hire any. What kind of attitude is this toward African American for who may be the first Vice-President of the United States?

I understand Oprah did have Senator Obama on her show a few times and was the main person raising funds for him "before" the presidency race was in full swing. However, the key point here is that it is Oprah's prerogative not be used as a pawn to tilt the vote one way or another. Oprah has stated repeatedly that she wasn't going to have one side or the other on her show by choice. I thought that was what the Civil Rights Movement was all about, a persons right to make their own choices. I guess this isn't a Democracy at all anymore."


Gwendolyn Alexander, President
African American Historical Society of Alaska
Alaska Juneteenth Celebration
P. O. Box 143105
Anchorage AK 99514
(907) 884-6860


It is a little over two weeks since Sarah Palin was placed on the national ticket by the Republican Party. What is your take on her today?

17 comments:

Unknown said...

Wayne, I have wondered what her relationship was with the black community in Alaska. It would be very telling of how she would govern as a vice president, or even as a president. It is pretty damning that she does not have one black person on her staff. I hope you don't mind, but I put this up on my blog with a link to your site. I think it is pretty important for us to get out to our readers. I am not saying she is racist by any means, but one has to wonder where she stands on the issues that affect blacks in this country. Say what you will about President Bush, he has hired blacks in his administration.

Unknown said...

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess great minds are unified! I just sent you an email about this, because a friend of mine emailed me.

I am not at all surprised at this but I am a little surprised that she didn't have the forethought to address this before it hit the airways. maybe she thought, "well, since it's ONLY black people no one would care???

Unknown said...

Janet - You and other villagers are free to cross-post, link or otherwise use anything that you see on this blog. Period and forever. It is a compliment when information that you find under our digital baobob tree is useful in other villagers around cyberspace. I'm not sure that I concur with you about President Bush's record of diversity hiring ... but, that is a story for a diffent day (smile)...

Regina - Next time your friend emails you such good stuff ... post it on your blog!!

clnmike said...

Im still tripping over the fact that there is a"black community" in Alaska.

Unknown said...

Mike - We're everywhere!

anyabelisle said...

The even more unfortunate part about this story, other than Sarah Palin's utter indifference for the black community, is that this story probably won't get brought up at all in the mainstream media. This is another story that will just be glossed over and replaced by stories about moose hunting.

MomTFH said...

I think it is very telling that she did not think it was important to attend the Juneteenth celebration herself or send a representative, even though it was the tradition of the governor to do so.

She did record a greeting for the Alaskan Independence Party convention as the governor, and discredits that it had anything to do with her past involvement in the secessionist group or her husband's past membership in it. She said it was just a question of tradition - other Alaskan governors have always acknowledged the group.

So, sounds like she does have a choice which groups deserve for her to carry on tradition, and which ones don't.

Lalita said...

Let's break this down a little, shall we? Alaska sports

+ 950,000 caribou
+ 627,00 humans
+ 9,700 souls in all of Wasilla
+ 27,000 people of Black African descent(4.3% of 627,000 people
+ 3,000 to 5,000 polar bears

Given that Sarah Palin doesn't give a Caribou crap about polar bears, why exactly would she care about encouraging the Black populace?

Unknown said...

Anyabilese - It is up to us to spread the information ourselves if the MSM won't pick up on it. Drip-by-drip...the true story of Sarah Palin is beginning to come out...

Doc - Asante sana for the additional information. I hope that more eyes are turning to your Juneteenth crusade as a result of this posting...

Hilary - Interesting point. I hadn't put that together yet...

Lalita - Excellent census information. Sarah is truly a flawed candidate...but, will it be enough?

Ellie Maybe said...

Why am I not surprised?

Unknown said...

ILY-SarahPalin - You can never be surprised when the truth is coming out about your VP candidate...

Dr. Jay SW said...

Despite her "maverick" claims, Palin's a strong supporter of a president who ignored the flooding of a city of African Americans to go celebrate the birthday of an Arizona senator who supposedly disagrees with him a lot, as he's also a "maverick." What else would you expect of her?

Unknown said...

Dr. Jay - Honestly, I didn't know her name until the beginning of this month. It seems we learn something new about her character every day...

TBJCC001 said...

My question is whether there is a form of media suppression taking place in Alaska.

We've all seen various interviews related to Gov. Sarah Palin over the last few weeks but, NEVER have we seen ONE from ANY Alaskan who happens to be a minority! We know there are Indians, Eskimos & Blacks in the state so WHY are they not represented in the medias inquiries into the Governor and her position as it relates to their communities?

I'm neither searching for negative or positive comments just opinions as it relates to the politics in Alaska today! But, somehow with the number of journalists which have arrived there since the announcement of Gov. Palin to the VP candidacy I find it strange that they cannot locate a single person of color (other than the beauty contestant winner) to interview on tape!

This gives cause to question if something is "NOT QUITE RIGHT" in the upper 49th..... I'm also curious as to why this issue hasn't been raised by any of the broadcast news programs? Is it a subject categorized as "OFF-LIMITS" by the station(s) management? If I am mistaken and you are aware of ANY links to current interviews please advise.

Unknown said...

TBJCC001 - You bring up an excellent point. I wonder who the highest ranking Black person in Alaska politics has to say about Gov. Palin? I'm not aware of any interviews. Is it media suppression? or is it simply a lack of Black or Eskimo political presence in Alaska?

Blessed said...

Has anyone contacted Roland Martin,an African American commentator at CNN and a reporter? His website is:http://www.rolandsmartin.com/

Unknown said...

Blessed - I'm not sure if Roland Martin has been contacted or not. I see that he (Roland) is on Facebook as well...