OPINION: Rep. Sarah Vance apologizes after speaking out for white victims. Does she understand why?

Whether you’re politically liberal or conservative, it’s hard not to feel sympathy for Sarah Vance, who stood up to apologize to the state Legislature on February 12th. Holding the camera “from gavel to gavel” and fixating her gaze on Homer’s chosen representatives, she struggled to contain her emotions and find her own words in 45 seconds of excruciating silence. did.

She had angered many people in and around Juneau during a Congressional hearing the week before. This situation was humiliating. This is because this is a topic that she cares deeply about: the sexual exploitation of women, which is often referred to as “human trafficking.”

The Tribal Affairs Committee was discussing the longstanding and appalling rates of sexual assault and sexual assault against Native women in Alaska. At one point, Vance objected to the tenor of her case, reminding her witnesses that “we have white sisters going through the same thing.”

The committee chairman, who is from Bethel, said he was “speechless” by her comments. They had heard that Alaska Native women were murdered at 10 times the rate of white women in Alaska. Even the state’s public safety commissioner recently called years of law enforcement neglect in rural Alaska “disgraceful.” After Vance’s gentle rebuke, the Fairbanks Democrat responded that while the suffering of the white female victims may be the same, “the causes of the violence are not the same.” And the response to that violence is not the same. And justice for victims is not the same. ”

While pundits have debated back and forth about who is politicizing the issue, Homer’s concern is that Vance’s comments, sadly, are making a big difference in our small, isolated, mostly white town. How does it reflect the risks of raising children?

A Juneau columnist hit on Vance’s comment, calling it “all lives matter.” It’s all too easy for Homer’s children to grow up in sheltered homes where racism and the structural inequalities in our society are never talked about when the news comes on. Flashbacks to Black Lives Matter protests and critical race theory warnings reveal a concerted effort to intimidate librarians, school teachers, and local government officials, among others, from holding thoughtful conversations about discrimination. Now that it’s helping to close things down, understanding can quickly become blurred.

The moment echoed her efforts in local politics in 2017 when she led a recall effort against a City Council member who debated via email whether to take up the cause of making Homer a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants. Reminds me (they had decided against it).

Homer voters strongly opposed that slow recall effort. But something was changing in our politics.

Mr. Homer has consistently skewed conservatives in statewide elections. Despite Crunchy Granola’s liberal reputation, Homer has been sending Republicans to Juneau since I came there in the 1970s. Some were moderate, others more conservative. A notable example was Gail Phillips, who rose to become Speaker of the House of Representatives. Although Phillips was staunchly conservative on issues of resource development in old Alaska, he was careful to moderate politics in his homeland, even when it came to logging around Kachemak Bay. I think her extensive community roots reflect her long and methodical political rise through chambers of commerce and city and borough elected offices.

Vance represents a different kind of conservative. In this new world, compromise shows a lack of integrity. She has advocated shrinking the state budget, increasing Alaska Permanent Fund dividends and eliminating ranked-choice voting, and has repeatedly called out “the people of my district.” And some of her priorities, such as her advocacy for Israel and her campaign on human trafficking, appear to come from somewhere outside her district — perhaps opposing increases in Koch-funded education funding. Maybe the Alaska Policy Forum or the Museum of the Bible. There, Mr. Vance attended the December annual meeting of the National Association of Christian Legislators, where he serves on the Legislative Leadership Council.

The emotions that drove Vance to tears during his painful silence in front of Congress suggested a battle of ideas. Was she thinking about the testimony that more than half of Alaska Native women are victims of sexual violence and often have nowhere to turn? Or was she thinking of the awards given by the National Association to campaigners who oppose the teachings of critical race theory?

Her apology, which finally came to light, was yet another disappointment. She said she regretted her choice of words. She said, “What I should have said is that evil does not discriminate.”

She doesn’t understand it yet. Evil loves discrimination.

homer resident Tom Chiggia He is a longtime journalist in Alaska, starting his career as an editor at the Homer News, where this commentary first appeared.

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