Utqiaġvik Apology & Healing Event

On February 6-8, 2017, the Presbytery of Yukon, along with Utqiaġvik Presbyterian Church, hosted the Renewal and Healing Event in Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow). The event culminated with a presentation of the PC(USA) Apology to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians on Thursday, February 9th, the first day of Kivgiq (The Messenger Feast).

PCUSA Stated Clerk, Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson II and retired PCUSA Stated Clerk, Rev. Gradye Parsons presented an apology for the ways the church often colluded in the damaging acts that brought about the historical trauma rooted in the Doctrine of Discovery. The Doctrine of Discovery was a deeply flawed teaching used by 16th Century Christians to justify colonialism, the oppression of non-Christian people, and the taking of land from non-Christian people and claiming it as their own. According to this doctrine, the indigenous residents were to be treated however the government deemed necessary to keep the land and its resources, which included killing them, enslaving them, and eliminating their languages or cultures.

Unfortunately, the Doctrine of Discovery was explicitly incorporated into US common law in the Supreme Court case of Johnson v. McIntosh in 1823, where it remains to this day despite unequivocal condemnation by most Protestant churches and the Roman Catholic Church. Alaska’s particular experience, however, differs than that of most other parts of the country due to its isolation and its relatively late transfer into US possession. Even within Alaska, the history of the church in the Presbytery of Yukon differs from that in Southeast Alaska.

Early missionaries are actually remembered with great respect in our presbytery. Horatio Marsh, Samuel Spence, and Henry Greist learned the Iñupiaq language and helped translate hymns and raise up indigenous leaders. Marsh and Greist were medical doctors as was John Gambell on St. Lawrence Island. Their medical help was indispensable in showing care and providing help when Western diseases inevitably moved into Rural Alaska, and the gospel they proclaimed was, by all accounts, received with joy.

Still, the spiritual blindness embodied in the Doctrine of Discovery has shaped the way most Anglo-Americans have thought and acted toward people of other cultures and ethnic backgrounds throughout our history.

In Alaska, Presbyterians who sought to do good still participated in shaping policies across the state and taking actions that showed the racist and paternalistic attitudes of the time. Cultural practices like drumming and dancing were deemed "heathen" or "savage" and were forbidden. Families were split as children were sent to boarding schools where Alaska Native languages were sometimes considered too "heathen" to express Christian thought. Christians are called to repent and seek forgiveness when we become aware of our sin. In this case, the apology is particularly important.

Meeting Preparations in Louisville, Ky.

Rev. Gradye Parsons, former Stated Clerk of the PC(USA), presents the apology with translation into Iñupiaq by the late Rev. James Nageak.