MARTIN & ANNE STEPETIN

NARRATOR 1: 

We’re here at Juneau Voices Number 10, in front of the Alaska State Museum. 

SOUND: Ethereal wind, and an Eagle and Raven call.

NARRATOR 2:

Look. Raven and Eagle are both taking flight over Gastineau Channel.

NARRATOR 2: 

They’re wheeling and whirling, way out past the forested islands of the Inside Passage. Across the Gulf of Alaska, with its 20-foot ocean swells. Across the windy Alaska Peninsula, to a tiny island in the Bering Sea, a thousand miles from here. 

MARTIN:

St Paul Island… is where I’m from.

NARRATOR 1:

This is Martin Stepetin. He lives in Juneau, but he’s originally from–

MARTIN: 

St. Paul? It’s nothing like southeast Alaska. There are no trees on St Paul. There are no salmon on St Paul. There are seals and halibut and king crab… and berries and seabirds and eggs. I am Unangan, and these are our Native foods on St Paul.

SOUND: Eagle’s call and a musical phrase send us back in time.

NARRATOR 1: 

1942.

NARRATOR 2: 

1942.

MARTIN: 

United States soldiers are swarming my island, and the other islands around here. They’re forcing our people onto ships. My grandmother and grandfather are 2 of those people: Heritina Misikin Krukoff and Agafon Krukoff, Jr.

NARRATOR 2 (as Martin’s grandmother): 

What’s happening?

NARRATOR 1 (as Martin’s grandfather): 

Where are you taking us??  

MARTIN: 

‘What’s happening? Where are you taking us?’ they say. My grandparents hear that the Japanese are invading Aleutian islands south of here. The American soldiers say,

NARRATOR 1 (as U.S. soldier):

We’re evacuating you from St Paul for your own good!

NARRATOR 2 (as U.S. soldier):

There’s no time for you to get your belongings. Get on board, now.

NARRATOR 1 (as U.S. soldier): 

We’re taking you to southeast Alaska, where you’ll be safe.

MARTIN: 

The American military destroys our houses and our churches on St Paul, so that if the Japanese occupy it, there will be no more buildings to use. It’s a scorched-earth policy. 

My grandparents arrive on that ship at a place called Funter Bay. 

NARRATOR 1:

Look across the channel with me to Douglas. On the other side of Douglas is another island, Admiralty. On the west side of Admiralty Island, is Funter Bay.

MARTIN: 

At Funter Bay, my people are forced to live in abandoned canneries. It’s wet and cold and dark. The huge trees are terrifying. There’s no familiar food for comfort. Malnutrition. Tuberculosis. The soldiers treat Unangan men as slaves: they’re forced to hunt for fur seals, for the government to sell. Many of my people die here.

NARRATOR 2 (as Martin’s grandmother): 

It’s time to have this baby! It’s time!

MARTIN: 

My grandparents are very lucky. Because so many babies have been dying, they get to go to downtown Juneau to have their baby boy at St Ann’s Hospital. That baby boy becomes my father.

SOUND: Ethereal wind, and a distant Eagle and Raven call.

NARRATOR 2: 

— Look! Raven and Eagle are taking flight again!

NARRATOR 1: 

Now they’re heading south of Juneau, south of Funter Bay. Below the Bay, is a Tlingit village called Angoon. About 60 miles away from where we’re standing now.

ANNE: 

Angoon, is where I’m from.

NARRATOR 1: 

This is Ann Stepetin. She lives in Juneau, but she’s originally from… 

ANNE: 

Angoon? There are trees everywhere in Angoon. There are salmon in Angoon, and brown bears and seals and halibut and berries and seabirds and eggs. I am Tlingit… And these are our Native foods in Angoon.

SOUND: A musical phrase sends us back in time once again.

NARRATOR 1:

1942.

NARRATOR 2: 

1942.

ANNE: 

The U.S. government makes an order for every Japanese American to relocate to internment camps. My grandfather is one of those people. His name is Bill Samato. He lives on Killisnoo Island outside of Angoon. His sister and father are taken, too.

NARRATOR 1 (as Anne’s grandfather): 

What’s happening? Where are you taking me??

ANNE: 

“What’s happening? Where are you taking me?” he says.

NARRATOR 2 (as U.S. soldier):

We’re putting you in an internment camp. You are a resident enemy alien! 

ANNE: 

My grandfather loses his freedom until the war ends. All because of his race. Eventually he goes back to Killisnoo Island. 

SOUND: music.

ANNE: 

2013. Martin and I live in Juneau now. We’re dating. I see an ad in the newspaper inviting people on a boat journey to Admiralty Island, to pay tribute to the Unangan people who were forced there. 

…Martin, we should go on this trip! Then I can visit home in Angoon!

MARTIN: 

Anne, my grandparents are two of those Unangan people. That world history is part of my personal story.

ANNE: 

Martin, my grandfather was interned in the war too, in Idaho. That world history is part of my personal story, too.

…When we arrive on that boat trip to Admiralty Island, Martin tells the organizers:

MARTIN: 

By the way, I am Unangan. My grandparents were part of this internment.

ANNE:

The organizers give Martin a shovel.

MARTIN:

I break the ground for the new plaque, commemorating my people who lived and died here. Unangan people.

MARTIN & ANNE: 

World history is what ties our personal stories.

SOUND: Eagle’s call and a musical phrase bring us back to the present.

NARRATOR 2: 

Raven and Eagle are back here in Juneau. They’re flying up Whittier Street. Headed away from the waterfront, toward the Juneau Indian Village. Juneau Voices Number 11 is there. It’s the last sign on our walk together. We’ll meet you there.