Chickaloon Indians = leeches?

Proposed Alaska Coal Mine Divides Alaska Communities, Elicits Racist Rant

By Terri HansenThe Wishbone Hills coal mine, a controversial project proposed by the Usibelli Mine Company five miles west of the small community of Sutton, Alaska, and Chickaloon Village of the Chickaloon Tribe, is driving a wedge between local community members.

At a contentious September 7 town hall meeting that overflowed the building’s capacity to discuss the Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ mining renewal permits for the project, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly favored positively. The borough’s petition cited the mine as a “God given resource.” A Chickaloon Tribal resolution was against, said Ahtna Athabascan/Suqpiat and Chickaloon tribal member Shawna Larson, a spokesperson for Chickaloon Village Coal.

A news story September 8 in the Anchorage Daily News elicited a racist rant in the comments section that ran for at least one day before the newspaper pulled it.

“Chickaloon and Sutton now owe their existence to federal tax money that is given to the ‘Chickaloon Indians’ who, for the most part are less Indian than my dog, and who want nothing more than to leech off of the rest of us,” the comment read. “…This is about a few deciding on the basis of emotionalism and feelings about something that they perceive as a problem without bothering to find out what steps are required to mitigate the problem. We do need the jobs. The needs of the many outweigh the idiocy of the few.”Comment:  For the umpteenth time, mainstream Americans claim Indians are lazy, good-for-nothing bums. In other words, welfare leeches who want to suck on the government teat. In other words, subhumans who might as well die because they're not "real people" like you and me.

I don't know the racial makeup of the Chickaloon Tribe, but it's irrelevant. Membership in Indian tribes is based on political and cultural affiliation, not race. Too bad so many people are ignorant of this fact.

For more on Indians as welfare recipients, see:

Rubio:  Entitlements "weakened" us
Beck ridicules Lumbee woman
Aboriginals to be "weaned from government teat"
Commissioner:  Indians should get off the rez
Roger:  Let Indians commit suicide
Fox special on "Indian freeloaders"
Mines minister blames the victim

Below:  "A local drinking establishment in Sutton, Alaska proudly displays its support for the Usibelli Mine Company’s proposed Wishbone Hills coal mine."