Native women vote for a leader who chooses respect

In the vast majority of America, law enforcement is an assumed right. In rural Alaska, law enforcement is hours, sometimes days away. Alaska Native communities experience some of the highest rates of domestic violence, sexual assault and suicide in the country. Our state is teeming with obstacles to provide adequate law enforcement for rural Alaska communities. We hear the stories and sometimes, we are the ones brave enough to share them. We are the first people affected by the budget cuts to the Village Public Safety Officer program. We endured the 52% drop in officers from 2014 to 2017. We know these facts. Some of us live these facts.

We are a group of Alaska Native women who are mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, colleagues and friends. Together, we are a strong voice. We live in different parts of our state, have differences in our belief systems, work in a variety of industries, and engage in the political sphere on a wide ranging scale.  We do not agree on everything, and we are not all of the same political affiliation. But we all support Sen. Dan Sullivan’s re-election.

Leadership comes naturally to some. Hard work can be learned, but genuine care and commitment to the service of others , whether to the individual or collective, is something that comes from the heart. Dan Sullivan embodies these traits and consistently demonstrates his commitment to our rural communities through his efforts to meet the needs of our most vulnerable individuals.

Sen. Sullivan’s successful advocacy and work on behalf of victims of domestic violence and sexual assault is well-documented and continues to this day. Alaskans should remember this when we march to the polls.

Sen. Sullivan understands the gravity and lifelong impacts of these experiences. He’s taken the time to listen to survivors, the families who’ve lost loved ones, law enforcement, and community leaders. Hearing these stories – as horrific and unfathomable as they may be – drive him to fight for us. And as a U.S. Marine Corps Reserve colonel, Sen. Sullivan will fight relentlessly.

Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, he served as Alaska’s attorney general. When he learned about the disparaging inequities of justice in our communities, Sullivan was quick to act. He organized “Choose Respect,” a campaign aimed at combatting the high rates of domestic violence and sexual assault plaguing Alaskans. As our U.S. senator, he continued to develop this campaign into a series of bills by co-sponsoring the Choose Respect Act to change the culture surrounding the tolerance of violence experienced by women. His commitment to some of the most defenseless people in Alaska expanded a platform that has reached the entire nation.

In 2018, Sullivan sponsored and passed the POWER Act, The Pro Bono Work to Empower and Represent Act.  The bill requires public events that promote pro bono legal services for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. Since then, 100 pro-bono summits were held to give survivors and victims access to legal services, and more are on the way.

Sullivan worked closely with Sen. Lisa Murkowski on SAVANNA’s Act. This bill directs the Department of Justice to reassess and develop law enforcement protocols to address the injustices of missing and murdered Native Americans. This is important for tribal involvement in national database systems like the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System portal. In a time where national civil unrest puts funding public safety into question, this is extremely invaluable to our missing sisters and survivors. Public safety in rural Alaska demands funding for adequate training and procedure development to secure our communities. On Sept. 30, SAVANNA’s Act was sent to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

Until all levels of government and institutions recognize the atrocities of domestic violence and sexual assault, movements like MeToo and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Children will lose momentum and the culture around acceptance, unchanged. Sen. Sullivan continues to champion legislation to strengthen law enforcement in rural Alaska and improve access to medical resources and legal services for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. We cannot afford to lose one of our strongest advocates after years of collectively bringing these matters to light.

For far too long, our voices were ignored. No longer. Sen. Dan Sullivan listens and fights beside us. Sen. Sullivan chooses respect.

This commentary was authored by Elizabeth Ahkivgak, who served as an Al Adams Young Political Fellow in Sen. Sullivan’s office in 2019. It was co-signed by Mariah Pitka (Galena), Patuk Glenn (Utqiaġvik), Cynthia Erickson (Tanana), Donna Erickson (Unalakleet), Lydia Agnus (Nightmute), Dana Leask Ruaro (Ketchikan), Zoanne Anderson (Tanana), Ruby Cruger (Galena), Ginger deLima (Ruby), Marie Duriez (Utqiaġvik), Kailey Jo Erickson (Tanana), Patty Folger (Cantwell), Alice Debbie Fullenwider (Eklutna), Keeley Goward (Utqiaġvik), Elizabeth Huntington (Ruby), Crystal Holmberg (Kalskag), Carole Huntington (Galena), Sabrenia Gurtler Jervsjo (Manley Hot Springs), Leila Johnson (Hooper Bay), Carol Kaveolook (Kaktovik), Leanna Mack (Utqiaġvik), Cheyenne Niemuth (Kenai), Charmaine Vent Pattison (Ketchikan) and Tia Peter (Fort Yukon).

The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.