Letter: Native Village of Eklutna is acting within its rights on gaming hall
By Jessie Lavoie & YWCA Alaska Advocacy Committee - February 1, 2025
We have watched with dismay as the discussion around the Native Village of Eklutna’s gaming hall has escalated to levels of fervor incongruous with the issue at hand. The facts are readily available to the public. The Native Village of Eklutna, acting completely within its rights as a sovereign tribal nation, is seeking to open a facility providing “Class II games” such as bingo or lotto. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) allows for tribes to conduct these games if they are already allowed by state law. A quick drive through Anchorage will reveal no shortage of bingo halls. The tribe is seeking to use proceeds from the facility to fund tribal operations, provide for the general welfare of tribal members, promote economic development, donate to charitable organizations or fund municipal government, consistent with the uses allowed in the IGRA.
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Letter: Ensuring equal ballot access for all Alaskans
By Jessie Lavoie & YWCA Alaska Advocacy Committee - October 18, 2024
"We read with dismay Alaska House Speaker Cathy Tilton’s recent comments indicating that she and her party killed a voting rights bill in the previous legislative session on the grounds that it would be bad for them politically, since it would reduce the rejection rate of rural ballots, specifically from voters who are overwhelmingly Alaska Natives. Speaker Tilton finds herself in historically dubious company in openly admitting to racially discriminatory legislative actions as they relate to voting. n addition to seven states of the former Confederacy, Alaska was subject to the preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 due to discrimination against Indigenous voters. A 1915 territorial voting act required “Native Indians” to take a test and to undertake “a total abandonment of any tribal customs or relationship” in order to be granted the right to vote. From 1924 until 1970, Alaska employed an English literacy test that was primarily used to disqualify Alaska Native people from voting."
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OPINION: Anchorage government should take these actions on homelessness
By Jessie Lavoie & YWCA Alaska Advocacy Committee - September 9, 2024
"At YWCA Alaska, we are on a mission to end racism, empower women and promote peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. We know our city’s ongoing housing crisis disproportionately affects women and people of color. With this in mind, we recently held a community housing forum with various community leaders from the Assembly, Mayor Suzanne LaFrance’s office, the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Legislature. Together, we listened to our neighbors who have experienced houselessness and/or unstable housing. While we are continuing to sift through the large amount of valuable feedback we received, some clear patterns have emerged."Click here to be taken to the opinion piece!
Letter: Keeping the housing conversation going
By Jessie Lavoie & YWCA Alaska Advocacy Committee - August 16, 2024
"As the incoming CEO of the YWCA Alaska, my organization is guided by the mission to eliminate racism and empower women. As we look deeply at our own regional history, we can point to critical junctures where the powers that be made choices that intentionally disenfranchised specific neighborhoods and demographics. As Charles Wohlforth specifically called out in his regrettably titled commentary June 21, “Some plats in the oldest parts of the city have racist covenants,” but continued to make the point that, to paraphrase, racism wasn’t as bad here as it was in other places. At the YWCA, we feel that’s gaslighting the problem: Just because you’re allegedly not the worst at something hardly gives you the moral authority to decide not to try to be better. The YWCA aims to eliminate racism, even knowing just how far we are from the goal — not marginalize or disavow racism."Click here to be taken to the opinion piece!