The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska put out a statement today on behalf of tribal citizens condemning the extremist violence in the nation’s capital.
President Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson says he’s afraid of what the events are demonstrating to the rest of the world.
“I think our democracy is unfortunately, extremely fragile right now,” he said. “And I think enough is enough, you know, we need to come together. We need to build a stronger, better country, a stronger, better economy. And this, this isn’t doing that.”
While Peterson says he’s not taking a position for or against President Trump, he says Trump’s video address — where he called for peace but continued to claim the election was stolen — was unfortunate.
“If he really believes that this election was lost, okay, great. Go make that speech somewhere else. This isn’t the time. Right now is the time to defuse the situation, not to continually use it as an opportunity to incite,” he said.
He also says many tribal citizens are veterans who have “fought to ensure our country is a nation of laws and not of men.”
“I don’t support anything that is violent,” he said. “But you know what, peaceful protests, you know, should happen. [This] should be how we can demonstrate our views. Bringing violence into it does nobody any good.”
Peterson represents over 32,000 Tlingit & Haida tribal citizens in Alaska and outside the state.
