KIMBERLY STRONG, PRESIDENT OF THE CHILKAT INDIAN VILLAGE OF KLUKWAN
CUTTING FISH AT THE CHILKAT RIVER, KLUKWAN, ALASKA
On gender roles: You know, I read this one book called Reviving Native Womanhood and I think that there’s some gender roles that were brought upon us by Western civilization that weren’t necessarily there before, and I think that we’re now realizing that there aren’t those particular roles that are specifically for men or for women. And I do go out and fish with the net in the river and I do go out in the bay and collect salmon with a net or halibut with a longline…and its just an enjoyable thing to do. Its enjoyable just to be able to bring in your own food. I don’t personally make a big effort to recruit other women [in Tribal leadership positions]. I make an effort to recruit people who are involved in the community and interested in making a difference and thankfully there’s more women who are willing to do that.
On sovereignty: There’s groups of people with the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act that are running corporations that want to be recognized as tribes and that’s downright scary to me. I think that if you have corporations being recognized as tribes, that they’ll erode the sovereignty of a tribe where we have a home we have land and we have a place that has always been and now we have a corporation somewhere in a city saying, “oh we want recognition as a tribe. That’s an erosion of our recognition of sovereign people.