Informally Alaskan Attorney

A decision was made today. Not by me, but recognized nonetheless.

Yes! The opposite of addiction is community. 🙌🏾💜

Established in 2013, MSU’s Collegiate Recovery Community was the first in Michigan to provide on-campus housing to students who are in or seeking recovery from substance use disorders.

The CRC also provides support through additional services, including weekly peer-support meetings and sober social events, that allow students to pursue their education without compromising their health.

"The opposite of addiction is community," says Dawn Kepler, CRC coordinator.

Birthday Spin Out....picking up all the freebies from Sephora to Starbucks to Total Wine & More, etc. 😂 Calls from brother (who says he's just grateful for the $5 True Value coupon), the G-babies & Kari ❤️ Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone! ❤️ I'm blessed with health.

Lately I've heard the phrases, "learn to take a joke", "you need thicker skin", "suck it up". While a lot of that is true, and is generally pretty decent advice for the long haul, it doesn't mean you can't take a mental note of what people are saying and who is saying it. I'm going to be 64 next week. I was the "crybaby" growing up, so I heard these phrases a lot. {Also the famous "We aren't laughing at you, we are laughing with you", while I cried, "but I'm not laughing".}

Now I'm at the point where I do roll with a lot of punchlines that aren't funny, at least I appear to roll with them in silence. You do pick your battles. Depending on how serious they are, I will call you out. But the fact is I do take a mental note. I especially take a mental note on topics and speak out on topics, that over the years I have learned a great deal about: racism against Natives, prejudice against the mentally ill, those who suffer from addiction, Jews, Latter Day Saints, LG TBQ, those who suffer from obesity and any eating disorder, all of the disabled (visible & hidden), the homeless, former felons and grandparents raising grandchildren. That's my list and it's not an all-inclusive one. Just know that if you make a joke about any of those topics, my brain is cataloging what you said, and how you said it and whether the comment is justifiable and true, or whether it's simply the result of prejudice or lack of education.

Elizabeth 🙌🏼🦅

Juneau, Alaska. February 1945. The legislative chamber reeked of to***co and tension.

Native leaders had journeyed to the territorial capital for a single purpose: a law banning discrimination. The kind that let businesses post signs reading "No Natives Allowed." The kind that barred Indigenous Alaskans from restaurants and hotels in their own ancestral homeland.

But before the vote, they had to endure something worse than rejection. They had to sit in silence while white legislators explained, in clinical detail, why Native people didn't deserve human dignity.

This happened a full decade before Rosa Parks. Nearly two decades before the 1964 Civil Rights Act. What most Americans never learned is that the nation's first modern anti-discrimination law wasn't won in Montgomery or Washington. It was won in the frozen north by a Tlingit mother who'd spent her life watching "No Dogs, No Natives" signs in shop windows.

Elizabeth Peratrovich sat in the gallery, knitting, as senators debated whether her people were civilized enough for equality. One complained openly about the smell of Native theatergoers. Another rose with undisguised contempt.

Senator Allen Shattuck stared directly at the Native attendees. His voice carried across the silent room: "Who are these people, barely out of savagery, who want to associate with us whites with five thousand years of recorded civilization behind us?"

Elizabeth set her needles down. She stood. She walked to the front.

As Grand President of the Alaska Native Sisterhood, she'd spent years advocating for her people. But this moment was personal. She was a 33-year-old mother who'd been turned away from hotels, who'd explained to her children why certain stores wouldn't serve them, who'd lived her entire life as unwelcome in the land her ancestors inhabited for millennia.

She looked directly at Shattuck. Her voice was calm, precise, devastating.

"I would not have expected that I, who am barely out of savagery, would have to remind gentlemen with five thousand years of recorded civilization behind them of our Bill of Rights."

She'd turned his insult into a mirror. Used his claim of superiority to expose his complete moral bankruptcy. The opposition senators shifted uncomfortably. They knew they'd been dismantled.

When the vote came, the Anti-Discrimination Act passed 11 to 5. The first law of its kind in the modern era. Alaska now celebrates February 16th as Elizabeth Peratrovich Day. But outside the state, her name remains tragically unknown.

She proved that civilization isn't inherited from ancient history. It's demonstrated by how you treat the vulnerable. And sometimes, changing history requires nothing more than one person refusing to stay silent when called a savage.

For the record, and I support the PLAYERS in the even if it means STRIKE 🤜🏾🏀♨️⛹🏼‍♀️⛹🏽‍♂️ I am a season ticket holder.
Stand Strong. Stand Together.

.mack4 .budz ._ _ .21

A Navajo man was detained by ICE agents in Peoria, even though he had U.S., tribal citizenship documents. 🔗 bit.ly/4qUH2dX

🔴🔴🔴🔴PLEASE READ🔴🔴🔴🔴
With regards to the recent illegal detainments of tribal citizens by ICE, we want to put reminders out to the communities who engage with us:

- Carry your tribal ID. While it is true that tribal citizens have been detained and harassed in spite of showing their tribal IDs, it is a good first measure.

- Make sure your tribal ID is not expired and has an updated photo. Reach out to your tribe as they may be offering extra assistance for tribal IDs in this time.

- Have a plan ready for all your family and community members, have a list of resources available to contact ahead of time. This may include:
* The Native American Rights Fund - 303-447-8760
* Your tribal office's phone number

- Let someone know where you're going before you leave to go there. Let someone know when you expect to be home.
Memorize the phone numbers of your family members.

- Engage with your community's local ICE watch group if there is one available in your area. They may publicize valuable information that can help keep your family safe.

We encourage you to memorize this statement as well, so that you know your rights
"I am a citizen of the (YOUR TRIBE) Nation, a tribal nation federally recognized by the United States. Under the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, all Native American people born within the territorial limits of the United States are U.S. citizens by birthright. Because I am both a tribal citizen and a US citizen, ICE has no lawful authority to detain me."