Change Street Name
Dear Editor: This is an open letter to the Assembly members and the public.
Mike, thanks for your note on the upgrading of the ordinance on sales on public property in Sitka.
I invite you to co-sponsor an ordinance to change the name of Lincoln Street to Elizabeth Peratrovich Street. Lincoln had little to do with Alaska. Elizabeth Peratrovich was one of the greatest Alaskans. To our credit, we have preserved the name of Katlian, memorializing the leader of the Kiksadi at the Battle of Sitka.
Kiksadi was not as great an Alaskan as Elizabeth Peratrovich, as he simply was defending his clan and family against physical attack, a noble, yet simple kind of bravery. Peratrovich defended the moral dignity of all Alaskans. She fought for equality and justice, as essential conditions for all Alaskans, principles that still need defense, as we experience the centuries long raid against our resources by corporations. (The Russian American Company was merely the one of the first.)
We have tucked street names memorializing great Alaskans in the neighborhoods. Naomi Kanosh, Andrew Hope, and others have their streets. Let’s raise our brand, raise our essential story, to the forefront. Let’s celebrate our origins by naming our principle street for one of our greatest Alaskans. Visitors to Sitka probably don’t even think about Lincoln Street. When they stand on our main street, looking at St. Michael’s Cathedral, they will ask about Elizabeth Peratrovich. Is our brand reverence for a church that symbolizes Eurocentric oppression? Or is our brand partly the memory of one of the great defenders of our foundational values as Alaskans?
We exploit the image and history of Native Alaskans – look at our shop windows! Let’s honor that heritage by renaming Lincoln Street after Elizabeth Peratrovich. Please recruit at least one other Assembly member to co-sponsor the ordinance. The genocidal murderer, Shelikov, has his street. Let’s reset the balance. Lincoln was a notable humanitarian. But let’s elevate the name of one of our own: Elizabeth Peratrovich Street. That is the brand we want the world to recognize.
Thanks for listening.
John Welsh, Sitka
