Sitkans gathered in front of the local courthouse on Tuesday (5-3-22) to demonstrate in support of reproductive rights, after a leaked draft Supreme Court opinion suggested that a majority of the court will support overturning Roe versus Wade, the 1973 case that legalized abortion nationwide. 

Sotera Perez was one of the organizers leading Sitka’s demonstration, which was happening in tandem on courthouse steps across the country. She said she wasn’t surprised by the decision in the draft opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito.

“We’ve known for a long time that that’s where this was heading,” Perez said. “But the fact that it came so far in advance of the ruling that it’s based on, which is the Missouri abortion ban, that was interesting that it came so early.”

Perez said that people with means are always going to have access to abortions–

“The ones that are going to suffer are people who are economically disadvantaged, people of color, especially young people with uteruses,” she said. “For me, the thing that’s the most important is figuring out how to be helpful here on the ground, especially because Sitka has such limited options as far as accessing abortion care is concerned.”

She held a sign that said, “They aren’t going to stop with Roe v. Wade.” She worries that the Supreme Court decision could go beyond abortion, putting other rights at risk.

“I think that the end game of this Supreme Court is not to end the right to abortion. I think it’s to systematically dismantle all of our rights, especially the ones that they feel that certain portions of the population aren’t entitled to,” Perez said.

The group discussed abortion rights and resources in Alaska– like where to get an abortion, where to donate money or other resources, and what the ruling could mean for the state.

Abortion is legal in Alaska and protected by the Alaska State Constitution, even if Roe v. Wade falls. But some organizers voiced concerns about a current push to change the state’s constitution, initially fueled by tensions over the Permanent Fund Dividend. This November, Alaskans will vote on whether they want to hold a constitutional convention next year. The question is on the ballot every 10 years in Alaska, and voters have never said yes. The last convention was in 1955, three years before Alaska became a state. Organizers worry that if Alaskans vote to hold a convention, a strong push by abortion opponents to remove privacy protections in the state constitution is on the horizon.

“So they’ll say, if you call Sullivan’s office or Murkowski’s office, that we are protected through our state constitution,” demonstrator Tory O’Connell Curran said to the group on Tuesday. “But that is only true if they don’t change the state constitution and they’re trying to do that now.”

On Tuesday, Senator Lisa Murkowski expressed concerns about the draft opinion. Murkowski co-sponsored the Reproductive Choice Act with Senator Susan Collins of Maine. But at Sitka’s gathering, Curran told organizers to push for Sitka’s congressional delegation to support a more comprehensive rival measure backed by Democrats– the Women’s Health Protection Act.

Advocates for reproductive health, like Perez, have been here before.

“I was telling my young friend that the only time I ever almost got arrested was at a choice coalition. And I was younger than she is now. So I’ve been doing this for a very long time at this point,” she said.

“And it’s the thing that just keeps coming back…keeps coming back, and keeps coming back,” she continued. “And ultimately, I firmly believe that reproductive rights are…the gate between us and control that other people have over our bodies, and I think that we have to defend it really staunchly.” 

After about half an hour discussion in front of the courthouse sheltered from the pouring rain, Perez and the group of around 20 demonstrators walked to Sitka’s roundabout to wave at passing cars on their commute home, signs and umbrellas in hand. 

Around 50 trollers and friends rallied outside of Harrigan Centennial Hall Monday evening (5-21-18), prior to ADF&G’s Chinook Symposium. Demonstrators wanted to send a message to the department’s Deputy Commissioner Charlie Swanton — who is also Alaska’s lead negotiator on the Pacific Salmon Treaty — that further concessions by the Alaskan fleet to Canada were unacceptable. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

Top officials from the Alaska Department of Fish & Game held a town-hall style meeting in Sitka this week (5-21-18) to discuss the rationale behind ongoing deep restrictions in the commercial king salmon harvest.

However, few of the 160 or more commercial trollers or processors in the room appeared satisfied with the politics. They had reservations over the state’s strategy for renegotiating the Pacific Salmon Treaty with Canada — which expires this year  — and strong criticism for the man leading Alaska’s treaty team.

Downloadable audio.

Watch and listen to the entire Chinook Symposium.

This meeting might go down as the one where Deputy Commissioner of Fish & Game Charlie Swanton brought the recipe…

“Plantation molasses, only Oregon ketchup, Aloha soy sauce, and four tablespoons — or a heavy dose of — organic Montreal steak rub,” was Swanton’s suggestion for the post-meeting salmon bake.

…and Sitka trollers brought the grill. This was the scene outside of Harrigan Centennial Hall just a few minutes before the symposium opened.

Rally outside Harrigan Centennial Hall.

Caven Pfeiffer — Governor Walker, stand up and fight!
Chant — Stand up and fight!
Pfeiffer: We are sick and tired of our fish being traded among a bunch of suits, behind closed doors. We need these fish. Why is it that the people who need them the most are the people who don’t have a say? Give our king salmon to Canada? No way!
Chant — No way!
Pfeiffer — Give our king salmon to Canada?
Chant — No way!

About 50 commercial salmon trollers and friends voiced their objections during the rally. Their main concerns were over possible cuts to the Alaska chinook fishery to conserve king salmon runs in Puget Sound that are listed under the Endangered Species Act. The final extent of the cuts won’t be known until the new terms of Pacific Salmon Treaty are released (expected to be a reduction between 5-10 percent for each of the next 10 years, depending on abundance).

Deb Lyons, a former member of Alaska’s Board of Fisheries and a former member of Alaska’s Pacific Salmon Commission team, was calling foul.

Lyons — Yeah! Canada’s giving fish to help Puget Sound, so now we have to give fish to Canada, even though we don’t catch the Puget Sound fish. We don’t have an impact on the ESA-listed stocks, but we’re being blackmailed by the National Marine Fisheries Service. They’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. And we’re Peter.

Inside, at the meeting that followed, the tone was somewhat more subdued, but most of those who spoke could barely contain their frustration over the perfect storm of low abundance and closed-door politics that has pushed many in the fleet to the brink of economic survival.

Fisherman Jim Moore didn’t question the integrity of Alaska’s treaty team, led by Deputy Commissioner Swanton, but he wondered — as did many — whether Swanton really had their backs at the treaty table.

“And I think we all realize that the best deal possible under the circumstances is not any good for this industry. It’s killing us,” said Moore.

Moore noted that Alaskan fishermen have taken a cut every time the Pacific Salmon Treaty has been renegotiated since the 1970s. He asked, “Why can’t we win?”

Charlie Swanton has been under constant fire by the Southeast troll fleet since his decision last summer to close all chinook fishing — both sport and commercial — when trollers still had 30,000 kings remaining in their allocation. At around $12 a pound, it amounted to about $1.8 million in lost revenue to the fleet (according to Seafood Producer’s Cooperative general manager Craig Shoemaker).

“I think it’s a big mistake, Commissioner Swanton, to arbitrarily take 10 percent — and you haven’t shared the plan,” said Jordan. “I think this is an example of where our treaty team is making decisions that cost us, but aren’t borne out by facts. So what has happened, Charlie, because of — quite frankly your decisions — is the trust has been broken.” — Sitka troller Eric Jordan

Trollers immediately questioned the timing of the closure — August — and its rationale to conserve record-low returns to three major river systems in Southeast. They argued that it was costly and pointless, since most Southeast kings have already made back to the rivers by August anyway.

For just this year, the Department is cutting back the all-gear harvest limit another 10 percent, to protect the same stocks, plus two more in Northern British Columbia.

Troller Eric Jordan, also a former member of the Alaska Board of Fisheries, thought the action was haphazard, and damaging to the relationship between the fleet and state managers.

“I think it’s a big mistake, Commissioner Swanton, to arbitrarily take 10 percent — and you haven’t shared the plan,” said Jordan. “I think this is an example of where our treaty team is making decisions that cost us, but aren’t borne out by facts. So what has happened, Charlie, because of — quite frankly your decisions — is the trust has been broken.”

Jordan argued that fishing locations and timing could be shifted to spare kings headed toward these rivers, and to target those from healthy systems.

Swanton, however, disagreed. He said that the department was trying to create a harvest strategy consistent with Alaska’s Sustainable Salmon Fisheries policy. He also suggested that the landscape of treaty negotiations was more dynamic than people realized, with parties at the table representing Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Canada, and a number of Tribal governments. His position at the beginning of treaty negotiations was: Alaska is not giving up any fish. But it didn’t play out that way.

“You have to look at it in terms of: Whose fish are we harvesting? And how much do we harvest of them? And what are the concerns and challenges with some of those stocks? And they’re pretty substantial,” Swanton said. “And I’m not saying that the reductions that we took are going to solve this, but that’s the landscape now.”

“You’re looking at king salmon stocks up and down the coast right now that are in the toilet. We’re trying to negotiate at the same time. How do you ask for an increase when everything’s going south?” — Tom Fisher, a fisherman for four decades, and alternate member of the Northern Panel of the Pacific Salmon Commission

Swanton said it was impossible to walk away from the obligations imposed by the Endangered Species Act. “Once that genie’s out of the bottle,” he said, “You can’t put it back in.” He suggested that enacting strict conservation measures under the treaty was preferable to management by the federal government under the ESA. Keeping Alaska involved in treaty management meant “at least we have an exit.”

Swanton was composed during the symposium, but his remarks didn’t appear to placate Sitka’s trollers. Nevertheless, the room was not universally opposed to him. Tom Fisher, a troller for over 40 years, is an alternate on the Northern Panel — one of the subcommittees of the Pacific Salmon Commission. Fisher argued that Swanton was doing good work under extraordinary circumstances. He said he would give up his seat to anyone who thought they could do better.

“You’re looking at king salmon stocks up and down the coast right now that are in the toilet. We’re trying to negotiate at the same time. How do you ask for an increase when everything’s going south?” Fisher asked.

Swanton also had the support of his boss, Fish & Game Commissioner Sam Cotten, who sat alongside him throughout the meeting. Cotten was concerned about the risk of a federal takeover of the fisheries if Alaska alienated itself from the treaty process.

“I don’t think we’re losers if we find ourselves in a position of deciding to accept an agreement that isn’t everything we wanted,” he said.

Back at rally…

Cotten was also conspicuously on the curb outside Harrigan Centennial Hall during the rally prior to the meeting. While he didn’t chant, once back inside he told the crowd that he appreciated their “show of strength.”

Downloadable audio.

Marshall Albertson is waving as people drive by. His smile is wide across his bearded face.

“We’re just out here rallying for our First Amendment and Second Amendment rights,” explains Albertson. His belief in the right to bear arms is clear by the gun slung across his shoulder.

“Not an AR-15, but an R-15,” Albertson clarifies, “made by Remington. It’s a semi-automatic firearm.”

Marshall Albertson and Brittan Sheets, holding a Confederate flag that reads, ‘Heritage not hate” march for the right to bear arms. (Emily Russell/KCAW Photo)

And he’s got second gun, a 45 pistol, concealed beneath his coat.

“Which I carry everywhere,” Albertson says, “day or night, even if I’m going to the grocery store.”

Albertson and his wife helped organize the rally. He says he wanted to show the people of Sitka that public protests don’t need to end in violence, like what happened in Portland, Oregon, where one man was shot and over 70 were arrested.

He supported Donald Trump in this year’s election, which is clear from the bumper stickers on the back of his truck. They read, ‘Hillary for Prison,’ ‘Trump 2016,’ ‘Donald Trump for President,’ and Albertson adds, “I’ve also got my ISIS hunting permit– unlimited bag limit.”

Albertson is here to set the record straight. He says in small town Alaska, you to get along with your neighbors, which he says is difficult when generalizations are tossed around.

“They say we’re a bunch of racists, we’re a bunch of homophobes, xenophobes, sexists, and that’s not true,” says Albertson.

Brittan Sheets is standing next to Albertson, and nods in agreement. He says liberals are labeling them all wrong.

“I’ve had gay friends, lesbian friends, transsexual friends of every different race, every different color, every different ethnicity,” says Sheets.

Along with a rifle around his shoulder, Sheets has a confederate flag in his hand that reads “Heritage not hate” in big, bold letters. He holds it up high as cars drive by.

“The Confederate flag itself holds no more racial relevance than the American flag itself,” Sheets says. “That would be like people trying to disown our American flag because we revolted from England.”

The Second Amendment rally is about 10 people, half of them high school students. Two blocks away, a larger crowd has gathered.

Sitkans gathered at Crescent Harbor for a candlelight vigil after last week’s elections. (Emily Russell/KCAW Photo)

“Why are you marching down the street with weaponry?” Questions Skyler Wright. “That can’t be anything but threatening to me.”

Wright is a young woman of color. She, her mother, and about 30 other Sitkans stand in a circle under the Crescent Harbor shelter, holding candles to express sadness over the election and fear for the future.

For Tahirih Lang, the fear is very real.

 “As a mother to Arab-Muslim children, who were born in this country, whose father is Syrian,” Lang explains, “it’s scary for me now.”

Tahirih Lang and Skyler Wright at Sitka’s candlelight vigil. (Emily Russell/KCAW Photo)

Lang doesn’t identify as a liberal. She’s anti-establishment and wants to see change, but says Trump’s change was too radical and his rhetoric too hateful. Seeing men marching the streets with a confederate flag elicits a lot of emotions.

“Without question, history is repeating itself,” Lang says.

As women of color Tahirih Lang and Skyler Wright are in the minority at the vigil. Ironically, it is an older white male who marks this moment with a Civil Rights anthem. The circle of people begin singing “We Shall Overcome.”  

Sarah Brewer put together a handmade sign when she heard about the Second Amendment march. (Emily Russell/KCAW Photo)

And just like the Civil Rights movement, the work isn’t over. Despite their peaceful intentions, both events were disrupted briefly by angry, verbal confrontations with passersby. Perhaps unlike Portland, Sitka has its shades of gray. It’s a gun-owning town that supported Hillary in the election. One woman, marching alone, seems to represent this middle ground.

“I am holding a sign, hopefully of solidarity with the marchers,” explains Sarah Brewer. “I do support the Second Amendment, but that I am also calling for them to support tolerance as well.”

Tolerance that Sitka — and communities across the country — will be looking to as the nation transitions from a turbulent election to an already-troubled presidency.

Update, November 18, 2016: The event sponsor says more residents attended the Candlelight Vigil than the 30 reported by both local news outlets. In all, the sponsor says, 60-70 attended by the conclusion of the event.