Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Interview with Gwich’in Girls and Women
“Protect” – more than 200 people gathered to spell this word, a porcupine caribou antler and the threatened Yukon River Salmon with their bodies on the bank of the Porcupine River during the Gwich’in gathering. The aerial art sends a message of a permanent protection of Arctic Wildlife Refuge to the world.
I have captured a total of 26 Gwich’in women and girls speaking up for their rights to protect the Arctic Wildlife Refuge to create a video that shows unified voice of them. They all spoke about their connection to the land and the caribou, subsistent life style and Arctic Wildlife Refuge as their lifeline. But most of all, they talked about the basic human right. One woman said, “We have the basic human right to choose our way of life on this land so that we can live the way we have lived for thousands of thousands of years. It’s our spirituality, it’s our religion, it’s how we put our food on table, and it’s our whole world view.”Another woman said, “Oil will bring you money but money will run out someday. We cannot eat money. We cannot eat oil. But the land will provide us food and everything we have forever as long as we take care of it.”
These voices are so strong. Many women said, “”How are we as a humanity continue to survive if we continue to destroy life and taking it away from our children and their children?” “We all need clean air, clean water and clean land to survive. We are not speaking up for only Gwich’in people. We are speaking up for everyone in this world.” Many of them know that they can’t protect the coastal plain of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by themselves. So here is the invitation from them. “Please come see us and we will show you how we live. We will take you to our land, serve you our food and show our ceremony. Then you will know how we are deeply and spiritually connected to the caribou and the land.”
Not many people have a privilege to spend a time with the Gwich’in people like I do. So, I listen, I take notes, I record videos and I take photos so that you can see them, hear them and feel them. So, you will have a new lens to see this issue from the Gwich’in people’s perspective. You will have a tool to stand by them. You may be inspired to be on this journey with them. So, I will go again today – to listen to one girl, one woman and one voice at a time.
