By KETCHIKAN MAYOR RODNEY DIAL
Today the Alaska Municipal League is holding a multi-day conference in Anchorage. This event brings hundreds of elected officials together to discuss topics of mutual concern to influence State and Federal decision making. As Mayor of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, I want to be there, but I can not in good conscious attend for the following reasons.
For the first time in AML’s history, attendees have been notified that they must submit proof of vaccination or a negative test, and agree to a release of liability. It’s straightforward they say…upload your proof of either to an app, get a green stamp next to your name and you are now worthy to attend.
It’s not like you have to be vaccinated, they say… you can be tested. For me, the mere statement of “you can be tested” as some alternative, infers a complete personal disconnect that they have already been conditioned to accept a new normal, as if in their mind the process of showing health papers to engage in an activity is somehow materiality different than showing vaccination papers to do so.
In response to the “show your papers” requirement, I asked the director of AML for a few minutes to address (remotely from Ketchikan) my peers….the request was denied.
I had hoped to start a discussion on how these actions normalize a behavior that has on many occasions in our past turned into a grave error.
That grave error is segregation and discrimination. We have done this before with Native, African and Japanese Americans…and here we go again, this time with the unvaccinated and those who refuse to submit to unnecessary health procedures (testing without symptoms). In each case the justification was exactly the same, just repackaged…always about safety of one group vs. the other.
Additionally in each instance, the majorities at the time supported the efforts, and as we now look back they were seen as being on the wrong side of history… every time.
In our lives if we are lucky, we get one or two “Braveheart moments.” These are opportunities to truly stand against the many, to take the difficult path, and make a difference for those that come after.
With that in mind I say to the elected officials at the AML conference…
I see many of my countrymen, assembled in Anchorage, normalizing actions in support of tyranny. You took an oath to support the rights of free men (and women) and free they are. But what are you as elected officials if they loose their freedoms?
Will you fight for their rights? Or will you run from your responsibility to maintain your elected status? Fight and you may die (politically); run, and you’ll maintain your elected status…at least a while.
And at the end of your elected career, many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days, from this day to that, for one chance – just one chance – to truly stand for the very principle this country was founded on, and tell the citizens we serve that you were willing to risk your political lives so that they would never loose their freedom?
Please consider the side of history you want to be on.
As for me, I’ll stay here in Ketchikan with my fellow Alaskans, including those being turned into 2nd class citizens for their personal health decisions. I stand with those unwilling to allow their rights to be turned into privileges, doled out on the basis of their obedience. Enjoy your conference.
These are my own personal comments and I am not speaking for any other entity.
Rodney Dial is the mayor of Ketchikan.
