Interesting...but feels incomplete

This was an interesting insight into the native culture of interior Alaska. Thinking about history from Napoleon's point of view does seem to give a good case for PTSD to be linked to alcoholism in his people. His writing is quite introspective especially since, at the time of his writing, he was in prison for some un-named similar offense. Many posts have focused on this issue of PTSD but seem to miss the larger problem Napoleon addresses at the end of his essay...and that is what to do about it.

Statehood intervened and policy makers began to address the issues of native peoples. If disease and death began the loss of the culture of his people, then statehood completed it. I would have liked to read more about what he proposes to do about the problem of alcoholism specifically and how the government should go about redressing the greater broad expanse of grievances of his people. Napoleon was a leader for his people in the 70's and 80's when the government was trying to fix some of the issues left over from statehood. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act and the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act attempted with much input from native leaders and individuals to set up a fair system of subsistence and ownership of lands for native and rural Alaska. There is no doubt that ANILCA and ANCSA still need work but these are now the laws of the land so to speak which were shaped by both policy makers AND native leaders. I agree that the only way for native communities to address many of the problems faced in the villages is to confront them in an open and honest way. Alaska and especially rural Alaska is tied together at the hip to the Federal Government...grants, subsidies, dividends, welfare, or whatever you choose to call them, are a way of life for most Alaskans. I would be interested to hear Napoleons view now as to what should be done in today's Alaska.

His essay feels incomplete and needs a part two. I would love to hear him expand upon his ideas in the later part of his essay and focus on the ways for rural Alaska to move forward.