WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2020) The authorities of the US city of Sitka in Alaska decided to relocate the city founder Alexander Baranov's statue from downtown to the local museum, while the Russian diaspora in the United States expressed fear that this move may provoke further waves of renaming in historic Russian America.
The Assembly of Sitka meeting started late Tuesday evening. The agenda included two proposals concerning the Baranov statue. One of them suggested to relocate the monument from its current location in downtown to the local Historic Museum, while the second insisted on adding this issue into ballots during local election in October.
After an hour-long emotional conversation, six out of seven Assembly members voted to relocate the monument. Valorie Nelson and Kevin Mosher, who co-sponsored the second resolution, had to remove their proposal to put it on the ballot from consideration.
"It was very obvious that we would not get 4 votes for the ordinance to put it to the voters, so myself and Mr. Mosher did not even put it up to be addressed," Nelson told Sputnik.
She expressed confidence that the actual decision in favor of removing the statue has been made before the official meeting.
"It was very obvious that this issue had already been decided by the mayor [of Sitka Gary Paxton] as his opening statement was that he had already met with Kathy Hope Erickson of the tribe and they had decided to do this," Nelson said.
Three assembly members and three representatives of local tribes immediately figured out how to relocate the statue, she added.
The timing of relocation remains uncertain. However, city mayor Gary Paxton assured Sputnik that local authorities will move the statue with full respect.
"The statue will be moved to the museum in a respectable, positive manner," Paxton said in an interview.
Local authorities will be working with tribal representatives and different organizations in a constructive manner, trying to find an appropriate place for the monument, he added.
The Baranov statue became controversial since its erection in 1989. Ironically, the monument, which should symbolize the end of the Cold War, sparked a number of protests, as some members of local tribes, primarily Tlingits, insisted that Baranov played a negative role in the enslavement and even murdering of indigenous people.
"Reading communications of supporters of statue removal in social networks, I understood that they simply do not know their own history because they got it incorrectly. They heard about Baranov's brutality, while in real life he was one of the most peaceful governors of the Russian America and tried to live in peace with them," Russian Cultural Center in Alaska Director Anne Vernaya told Sputnik in early July.
Some Tlingits insist that Russians have forced them to accept Orthodoxy, but it is not the truth, Vernaya added, inviting them to visit any Russian church in Alaska now, where most believers are Creoles, Eskimos and Aleuts.
"They could choose their original religion after Alaska became a part of the United States, but continued to baptize in Orthodoxy and have Russian Names," she said.
Many Russians in the US expressed disappointment with Sitka authorities' decision.
"We are upset because of decision to dismantle the monument of the first governor of the Russian settlements in the North America on the back of the contamination and demolition of monuments to historic persons during the mass protests in the US," the Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said in a statement.
He pointed out that Baranov had a constructive role in Alaska and California. "Sadly, the history continues to be politicized," Ambassador said.
Russian Community Council of the USA (RCC) Chairperson Elena Branson expressed fear that this relocation will open a road to other efforts to erase the Russian heritage in North America.
"We think that the Baranov statue relocation opens a 'Pandora's box' and could lead to further renaming of streets, islands, boulevards and other place-names in Alaska," she told Sputnik on Wednesday. "We are worried that Sitka's authorities made this step on the wave of protest events in the US without inviting our representatives."
The Russian community is also dismayed, Branson added, that the Assembly made its "rapid-fire" decision without broad discussion.
Trying to preclude statue relocation, RCC launched a petition, signed by almost 6,000 people. On the other hand, supporters of relocation were able to get only less than 3,000 signatures under their petition.
"We are worried that Sitka's authorities made this step on the wave of protest events in the US, without inviting our representatives," Branson said.
Alexander Baranov was the first governor of the territories in North America in 1799-1818. He founded the current city of Sitka (then Novo-Arkhangelsk) as a capital of the Russian America, as well as dozens of other settlements in Alaska, California and Hawaii.
In late June, a group of activists urged Sitka authorities to remove the statue, citing mistreatment of indigenous people.
Statues of several historical figures associated with racism have been removed, toppled or defaced across the United States amid nationwide protests fueled by multiple police-involved killings of African Americans.
