Candlelight Vigil
Dear Editor: On Sunday, May 30, the Sitka Fine Arts campus awoke to 215 eagle and raven feathers installed on the lawn. We welcome what we believe is a response to the heart-wrenching reporting about the remains of 215 children discovered on the site of Canada’s largest Indigenous school.
This powerful statement connects us to the troubling history of racism and oppression of Indigenous culture in Sitka and in Alaska. As board members of the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, holders of the site of the former Sheldon Jackson school and college, we welcome the placing of the feathers and acknowledge the damage caused by involuntary acculturation at missionary-run schools.
We recognize our privilege and are grateful to be guests on Tlingít Aaní, and recognize the history of acculturation that occurred on the Sheldon Jackson campus. It is imperative that the full story of this past is told, and we seek to elevate the voices of those who can speak this truth.
We wish the campus to be a place that welcomes all who walk on it, while acknowledging the full history of this place. As the artist Banksy said, “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”
As an organization, we wish to promote healing for all members of our community. We seek the way to build a better future together.
A candlelight vigil for 7 p.m., June 6, on the front lawn of the campus has been organized by the members of Social Justice and Racial Equity in Sheet’ka.
Wendy Alderson, Mary Goddard, Mollie Kabler, Jule LeBlanc,
Susan Litman, Marya Pillifant, James Poulson, Martha Pearson, Amy Rhyneer, Roger Schmidt,
Sam Skaggs
