Radio show comment about Native women fires outrage

Alex DeMarban
alex@alaskanewspapers.com

April 15, 2008 at 9:19AM AKST

The state House of Representatives agreed Sunday to condemn an "abhorrent" reference to Alaska Native women made by a host on a morning radio show in Anchorage, according to Rep. Mary Nelson, D-Bethel.

The slur was made on Wednesday, April 9, shortly before 7 a.m. on the Woody and Wilcox show on KBFX 100.5 The Fox, said Michelle Davis.

Driving to her job in Anchorage that morning, Davis said she laughed as the two men discussed the car accidents around the city, and joked about how you weren’t a real Alaskan unless you’d crashed at a busy intersection.

Later, one of the DJs on the classic rock station tried to make a play off an old Alaska saying, and asked, “Have you made love to the Yukon and peed in a Native woman?” Davis said.

“I was horrified," said Davis. "I was completely shocked, it took a long time to sink in, then I got to work and I sat down at my desk and cried. It’s such a degrading thing to say. It’s incredibly insulting."

“I think the act they described was so degrading in such an intimate way, and it’s a very short leap from degrading words to violence. Research shows that sexual assault comes out of a desire for dominance and intimidation, not sexual gratification, and statistics of violence against Native women are really sobering," ,” said Davis, a Tlingit who once worked for Standing Together Against Rape, an Anchorage organization which helps victims of sexual assault and sexual abuse.

Davis complained to the station manager, and lodged a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, she said. The station manager returned her call the next day and said he gave the radio hosts a “good talking to,” she said. He said other action might be considered, she said.

Phone calls Monday by a reporter to the studio’s operations director, Mark Murphy, weren’t returned Monday. A receptionist at the studio would not provide the names of Woody and Wilcox.

The station’s Web page – www.1005thefox.com/main.html# -- contains this statement: "On April 9, 2008, we made some comments about a number of recent auto accidents at the intersection of Minnesota and Raspberry. We intended for the analogy we made to an old axiom about what it takes to be a true Alaskan to be humorous – and we failed at that. We sincerely apologize to any of our listeners who we may have offended – Woody and Wilcox."

After hearing the comments, Davis e-mailed her “Native network” to complain, and word spread, she said.

Nelson, speaking before the House on on the last day of the legislative session on Sunday, blasted the comments as “abhorrent to the highest degree.” Her colleagues unanimously signed on as co-sponsors in a rare motion called a “Sense of the House,” a statement expressing the will of the House, she said.

The saying the disc jockey was playing off – “You’re not a real Alaskan unless you’ve peed in the Yukon and made love to a Native woman,” is offensive humor from 50 years ago, said Nelson, a Yup’ik.

Woody and Wilcox’s twist on it is sick, she said.

“What I would like to see is someone get fired, and I would like the station or individual who said it pay a large fine to the FCC, and pay some kind of fine or make a contribution to a woman’s shelter or a scholarship fund."

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Alex DeMarban can be reached at (907) 348-2444 or (800) 770-9830.  

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