Joe Hotch remembers open racial discrimination in Haines.
Born in 1930, Hotch sat in the Natives-only section of the Coliseum Theater on Main Street. As a child, he wouldn’t go to Sheldon’s Store without a friend for fear that white youths might jump him. Because of his race, he was prohibited from entering Lou’s Café, today’s Bamboo Room.
Hotch, a Chilkat elder, shared those memories at the Feb. 16 observation of Elizabeth Peratrovich Day at the Haines ANB Hall. The day commemorates passage of Alaska’s Anti-Discrimination Act on Feb. 16, 1945. It’s hailed as the nation’s first comprehensive civil rights law.
Though the law was pioneering, its full effects weren’t realized for years, Hotch said in an interview. Not everyone was enamored of the law or wanted to see it observed. Even Native people were apprehensive.
“It took a while for it really to sink in for the Native people. We were still on one side (of the theater) but the Meacock boys – George and Louie – would come across the aisle and would visit with the Native boys,” Hotch said.
The cause of Alaska Native civil rights was advanced by the accomplishments of black civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., Hotch said. “That added more power to us. We became national.”
Peratrovich – a Tlingit whose articulate testimony is credited with triggering passage of the Anti-Discrimination Act – was memorialized at the local ceremony by a student presentation of Peratrovich Rap, a song highlighting the civil rights leader’s life, written by Mary Folletti of Haines.
Also, a Peratrovich children’s book written last year by Haines School teacher Sophia Armstrong’s first-grade class was read aloud.
Resident Mike Denker also spoke at the observance. He noted that passage of the Anti-Discrimination Act required years of work, as well as courage at a time when discrimination was accepted and commonplace.
The struggle for equality continues to this day, and one person can be a victim of discrimination, not just groups, Denker said. “Only through continued struggle can equality and justice prevail… It’s never quick or easy. Those who struggled for civil rights in Alaska taught us we must always be watchful for times when people are not treated equal or fair in our communities.”