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[Pages S1071-S1072]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REMEMBERING WESLEY AIKEN
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I want to take a few minutes to
recognize the life of Ugiaqtaq Wesley Aiken, who died January 6, 2020
at the age 93 years old, only 19 days shy of his 94th birthday.
With the passing of Native elder Wesley Aiken, Alaska has lost a
highly respected Inupiat leader who dedicated his life to leadership in
the Alaska Native community and ensuring that cultural and traditional
knowledge will be passed down to younger generations.
Wesley Aiken was born in 1926 in Utqiagvik, to a completely
subsistence lifestyle north of the Arctic Circle. He grew up in a small
village, Isuk. which lays east of Utqiagvik, until the age of 12,
moving for his education. As a teenager, he became a reindeer header
for 3 years in order to help out his family. He was a man of many
trades--he was a mechanic, laborer, member of the Alaska Territorial
Guard, and later a member of the Alaska National Guard. He served as
the land chief for Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation following its
formation in 1973. He was a spiritual leader for the community and was
always asked to pray. He would pray when the whale was caught, before
big celebrations, the Nalukatak blanket toss, the Winter Games, and he
prayed with the whaling captains. He loved the gatherings of the people
and strived to see all the community's children participate. He was a
hard worker
[[Page S1072]]
and would say, ``If you have dreams to do something, you, yourself have
to work hard to get to that goal.''
Wesley grew up using dog teams in the wintertime to camp and hunt
long before snow machines were prevalent and available in his region.
His traditional knowledge of the subsistence lifestyle was extensive,
and he enthusiastically shared with his community. He learned whaling
from his grandfather and uncle and later became a whaling captain. He
took it upon himself to teach the next generation whaling. His
daughter's generation was sent off to boarding schools, and so many
youth were not taught the traditional ways of hunting and needed to be
retaught when they returned. He taught many of his nephews traditional
hunting methods and said it was his job to give back, just as his
elders had taught him how to hunt whale and inland animals. He observed
changes in sea ice and climate in his generation and shared with the
world what he saw.
Wesley also served on the North Slope Borough's Inupiat History,
Language and Culture Commission. He often stressed the importance of
language, and his dream was an immersion camp in which only Inupiat was
spoke. He reminded the youth about the hardships their ancestors
experienced and that the whole community looked out for each other. And
if you took care of animals and the land, they would take care of you.
In 2018, he served as the keynote speaker at the Elders and Youth
Conference in Anchorage, during which he delivered a strong message on
respect. He said it is all about respect. It is about respect for self
and for one other, as well as a respect for the animals, which he said
have spirits just like we do. In fact, when he took his daughter
hunting, he taught her where to put a hole behind the neck to release
the spirit of the caribou.
Wesley was also known for his Alaska Native rights activism. He
participated in the 1961 Barrow Duck Sit-in, protesting the Federal
Government's regulation of Native hunting rights, and this protest,
among others, led to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. A
respected leader, he also helped establish the Alaska Federal of
Natives.
Elder Wesley's wisdom and kindness will be missed. He is survived and
respected by his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, friends,
and his whole community.
____________________