“The sled dog, without him, we would not have survived.”

In the 50th Iditarod, Alaska Native mushers confront the past – and a cultural divide

Iñupiaq musher John Baker and his sled dog team during their championship run in the 2011 Iditarod. Jeff Shultz

The commemoration of the 50th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race winded down in Alaska as the Senate Judiciary Committee, and much of the country, focused their attention on Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the Supreme Court. Once more, ethnicity and identity became targets in America as Republicans grilled Jackson about critical race theory and gender equality, while at times characterizing her as an extremist in support of both issues. The future of the country and how it manages discrimination depends on this controversial SCOTUS appointment, a battle for fairness felt long before a mega-mushing race took off in the far north.

In last weekend’s newsletter, Indigenously brings you a piece about the significance of the Iditarod’s extraordinary role and framing of narrative involving, even still, some of the most marginalized and misunderstood people in the state — Alaska Natives. There is romance in traversing the icy earth by dog sleigh, an Arctic experience that hardly fits neatly with understanding encroachment on Indigenous land and life. As I write:

While dog mushing may be what has kept Indigenous Peoples of the North alive for…