5/24/10

WHITE SUPREMACY IN NOME GETS A CHALLENGE-UPDATE

From the first time I read about this story I knew it had something to do with Natives taking some of their rights and most likely workplace bullying in the schools. I am very happy to see this happening and believe me these people on the school board have a lot of courage. Even if they lose the battle they will have empowered the native community with their actions. Good on them.

From the Anchorage Daily News:

Voters in Nome are headed to the ballot booth Tuesday for a special, wall-to-wall recall election, with all five of the city School Board jobs at stake.


The dispute began in January when the board voted 3-2 to oust the principal and assistant principal at the Nome junior-senior high school. Petitioners called for an election to remove the school board members, saying they broke open-meeting rules and violated school board policy in their handling of the contracts.

The powers that be often invoke so called rules and laws when they don’t get their way.

The petitioners accuse the board of holding an illegal closed-door meeting just before voting on which school administrators would keep their jobs. Among the group's claims: Principal Janeen Sullivan wasn't properly notified of the closed meeting and the board talked about issues beyond the scope of the executive session -- such as budget and policy decisions.


School Board President Gloria Karmun voted to keep Sullivan as principal but says the board acted "within its legal and ethical bounds." A lawyer for the school district has reviewed the meeting and said the board did not break open meetings rules, board members say.


The debate comes with a mystery: Just what was said behind closed doors before the board voted on the principal's contract?


Board member Albert McComas, who voted against renewing the principal's contract, said he gets asked that all the time.


"People want to know specifics -- they want to know what was done in executive session and again, I can't say," McComas said. But as for why he voted against the contracts, McComas said he'd had concerns about Sullivan's performance as principal for years.


"Parent complaints concerning the treatment of their children. Employee complaints citing a lack of support," he said.

Parents and probably teachers at the school have come forward with information. They may have children in the schools who will be treated poorly if it is known they spoke up. They most likely do not want what they have said to be published to the people in Nome because it will be used against them. They could be arrested and charged with crimes and so will their family members, being innocent makes no difference there. What matters in Nome is the agenda of the white elite. People with complaints about how their children are treated may be on probation or have family members on probation. In Nome as well as many other places in Alaska they do not have to have a real reason to violate your probation, they simply use a technicality which can be found on most anyone at anytime. They will be harassed and denied jobs which can be very hard to come by there. There is also a certain slum lord who can be very nasty if you cross him. The school board is probably protecting those who have given them information. They have probably also known about the problems in the schools for a long time. They probably wanted to be on the board to try and effect changes.

The school board is smart to protect people and I know that at least one of them is very familiar with their techniques because I know a person very close to one of them was harmed by some of the power structure in Nome. I myself was workplace bullied, had false rumors spread about me, was snubbed by the elite white community, had lies told about me, even at the level of the board of nursing, had death threats, had false charges, had a prosecutor tell multiples lies about me, was charged with clearly false crimes, was harassed on many levels by police, had a serial bully even harass me in a public restaurant, was not allowed to get health care at the hospital(when I tried I was met with severe abuse by multiple people), was bullied because my religious beliefs were not Evangelical or LDS, was forced to have a drunk for a public defender, there was at least one shill on the grand jury(as well as prosecutorial lying), had a judge, DOL, and the public defender agency all assist in denying me due process, and I was met with extreme anger when I said certain politicians in Ak were corrupt. When I was charged with crimes the native people came to me and told me I should stay in Nome because they were learning to speak up from me. They also said they all had legal charges and I would not be looked down on there as it is common place, “We all have felonies“.

When the native people or any whites who support the native people try to change things in Nome the elite white power structure goes into action. I know this because they mobilized against me.

Several points:

1. Nome is a white supremist society. What the white elite in Nome want goes and anyone who goes against them is demonized. They have built a power structure and fight like crazy to keep it.

2. There is a long tradition of workplace bullying in Nome, for example, it is horrendous at Norton Sound Health Corporation. While I never worked at the school, when I went to speak about health care jobs at the high school I made the statement that the hospital needs more Native nurses. You should have seen the looks I got from the white people. I can't imagine Workplace Bullying is not going on at the high school, one of the serial bullies has a husband who works at one of the schools. The two serial bullies at NSHC have been kept on staff and allowed to continue harming people, which they have done over many, many years. I saw them run off every native nurse in the inpatient unit myself. They also run off whites who support the natives(or who are competent practitioners, they can‘t have that). They had a native CEO for a couple of months who they got rid of because he was making positive changes at the hospital, for the natives, and all patients of any race. In fact he is a man who believes everyone should get along. They violated his contract to run him off and told lies about him.

3. The Nome court system is used to keep the prison there and other places in AK filled up with Natives by arresting them for alcohol related crimes, then sending them back to prison on violations of their probation, in very large numbers. There is very little competent mental health treatment for both mental illness or chemical dependency in Nome. I witnessed the judge chewing people out for not getting appointments with the Behavioral Health Services and every one of them said their calls were not returned. The judge basically called all of them liars. When I got up for my hearing I said, “Oh, by the way, BHS never called me back either”. My hearings were then scheduled for the end of the day or in a separate court room.

4. The white population in Nome has just as many alcoholics as the native people. They just stay home instead of go to the bars. The natives in Nome say when white people drink they are considered sophisticated and when natives drink they are considered drunks. This is how the white elites think in Nome. It is interesting to note that certain whites make millions of dollars a year off selling alcohol in Nome and then bitch about all the alcoholics.

5. The police in Nome have a long history of harassment and abuse of not only natives, but also those who are not in favor of the white elite population. They used to take intoxicated native people several miles out of town in the middle of winter and just leave them. Several of the missing native people were seen with police just before they disappeared. I had the police chief follow me in his car when I walked down the street laughing and making little remarks as I walked. I had death threats on my phone. I had an attorney laugh hilariously every time my name was called in court while the judge and other attorneys said nothing. People in Nome told me that I would never be allowed to have a trial. They told me the public defenders, the prosecutor, and the judge get together and decide the outcome of each case, then make it happen. I did not believe them at first, but then I watched it happen. They told me the truth. A trial is never allowed when the truth will be exposed about the white elite structure in Nome.

6. Workplace bullying is very common in education. I have often wondered what must be going on in the school system there as I knew about the horrendous situation at the hospital, as well as the incompetence and I know schools have horrible workplace bullying.

7. People from the lower 48 who are basically incompetent or have a low level of education often go to Nome and other places in Alaska because there are very few people to question their competence. This is the reason there are so many workplace bullies in the bush(This is true in bush Australia also). They get entrenched in the white elite system, gain power themselves, and then the people of Nome are stuck with corrupt, bullying, incompetence. These people make good money in Alaska and then when it is time to retire they leave and go back to their state of origin. In other words they really are not invested in the outcomes of the work they are doing. This is what I saw at the hospital. Some of them also don’t care that a mine makes the environment toxic, they just came to Nome for a good paying job. They will leave and go somewhere else eventually, so why do they care about a ruined environment.

8. The newspaper, the Nome Nugget supports the white elite community by writing information that supports them and demonizes non-supporters. The Nome Nugget staff wrote articles about me which contained false information. Much of it probably came from the prosecutor, the two serial bullies, the editor’s BFF-Judge Esch’s wife, and the gossipy public defender agency, there is also a probation officer who is one of the elite whites, of course. Among the lies was a post about the totally false charge in Homer which the public defender agency, ADA Earthman as well as others at DOL, and Judge Esch conspired to use to put me in prison in an attempt to shut me up. How’s that shutting me up thing workin’ for ya? The Nome Nugget wrote the story about that charge several days after it had been dismissed as if it was a valid charge. In fact I had never even been charged with that crime, I was charged with violation of conditions of release. They also never put the little notice in the legal hearing section about the dismissal. They only posted negative information about me. You see they all work together to protect each other and are willing to do anything to do it. The editor of the Nome Nugget would not print my rebuttal letter, stating it was too long, yet she lets other long letters in the paper. For the editor, Nancy McGuire, it is about what the letter says, not the length.

****
From the ADN:

-- Heather Payenna: Recalled by a vote of 479-471.


-- Board President Gloria Karmun: Not recalled, 447-495.


-- Albert McComas: Recalled, 491-467.


-- Barb Nickels: Not recalled, 362-580.


-- Kirsten Timbers: Not recalled, 476-478.

Anyone who has done business with the powers that be in Nome knows things get altered. Documents come out of the court house saying something other than what the judge ordered. Serial bullies at the hospital manufacture fake documents. Someone with power in the town doesn't like a decision a board makes and suddenly an accusation of wrongdoing appears against a board member and they are removed. How could anyone trust a vote in Nome unless it was closely monitored by people with interests from both sides.  

1 comment:

majii said...

Good post, and I understand the point you are making in it. I am African American, and I live in a medium-size city in GA. Although African Americans are the majority of the citizens in my city, it is the minority of whites who get to call the shots. It doesn't matter if they're incompetent at running the city, all that matters is that they're white. African Americans, homosexuals, immigrants, and others are not treated the same as whites. Keep your eye on the movers and shakers in Nome, and get the Native population united to oppose those who discriminate against them. Although the whites there will scream loud and long, let them because they have to be made to understand that the amount of melanin one has in one's skin does not make one superior or inferior. Keep up the good work especially since it could make a huge difference in the lives of the children. No child should have to grow up in a place where he/she is considered a third class citizen. Since I'm a retired teacher of 33 years, I have a special interest in the future of all of our children.