Alaska News

Welcoming song written after a suicide brings message of love to opening of AFN convention

FAIRBANKS – The welcoming song was peaceful, almost like a lullaby that enveloped the first people walking into the convention hall as the sun rose Thursday.

Travis Cole wrote it when he was just 15, not long after his best friend killed himself. Cole was in a dark place then. He wanted to express how even when you feel alone, someone out there is thinking of you.

"I made it not just for him. I made it for everyone," said Cole, 41, originally from the Interior village of Allakaket and now living in Fairbanks.

He sang "The People Love You" at the Carlson Center to open the Alaska Federation of Natives convention on a note that acknowledged the hurt of suicide and the healing that people can give one another. Last year, a man jumped from a balcony and killed himself during the AFN convention in Anchorage's Dena'ina Center. The Southwestern Alaska village of Hooper Bay was experiencing a wave of suicides then too.

Reach out to each other, Bill Martin of Juneau, the AFN representative on the Statewide Suicide Prevention Council, said from the stage. Take a moment to think about the part of your life that keeps you going. Don't be afraid to ask if someone is thinking about killing themselves, Martin said. There's help, he said.

A wellness room was set up in the convention hall for anyone who wants to talk to a clinician or a volunteer. People also can call the Careline at 1-877-266-4357 if they need help.

Lisa Demer

Lisa Demer was a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Dispatch News. Among her many assignments, she spent three years based in Bethel as the newspaper's western Alaska correspondent. She left the ADN in 2018.

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