"Sarah Palin, if you read this, e-mail me.

It seems every time I turn around there's another e-mail in my inbox with more ugly things being said about you. Messages no doubt being disseminated to dozens, if not hundreds, of e-mail inboxes belonging to reporters, tribal leaders and political activists, Democrats and Republicans alike.

If I'm to believe these allegations, you don't want Alaska Natives to hunt or fish. Don't want Natives to hunt or fish? But haven't they been doing that for centuries? Using their own hands to feed their children and loved ones, ensuring their survival through the long, brutal Alaskan winters? I imagine your husband's Yu'pik ancestors did the same. Don't you want his relatives to be able to continue that practice today? Doesn't he want that?

Now I hear you also have fought to take away tribes' rights to protect their young, working to strip away their authority to oversee their children's welfare? How would you feel if someone took away your authority as governor to oversee the welfare of the children of your state? Isn't a people's right to protect their children as basic as their right to defend themselves?

And could it possibly be true that you don't want Alaska Natives to speak their indigenous languages? I mean, you can't possibly consider this an immigration issue. Alaska Natives have been speaking their various tongues since before white people even knew Alaska existed. Surely you're not afraid they'll forget they're Americans? How could they, watching their hunting and fishing rights and ability to protect their children slowly stripped away?

Sarah, I simply can't believe this is what you believe, what you stand for and what you'll take to the White House if elected alongside a man long considered a champion for Native causes.

That's why I want to hear from you, or at least someone willing to speak on your behalf."

Get the Story:
Kevin Abourezk: OK Sarah, We Need to Talk (RezNet News 9/10)

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