[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 176 (Tuesday, October 31, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6897-S6898]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Tribute to Chris Apassingok

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, one of the privileges of being in the 
Senate is actually being able to preside, as the Presiding Officer is 
doing right now--to sit at the Chair and listen and watch my colleagues 
talk about issues that matter to them, and a lot of times issues that 
matter to their States. In this amazing country of ours we have so many 
great States, great stories, and great traditions. When I am presiding, 
some relate to Texas, where the current Presiding Officer is from, 
celebrating our unique traditions, while still appreciating that at our 
best we share values as Americans together--opportunity, liberty, 
justice, and fairness. It really is one of the things that makes the 
Senate a great body and what makes us strong as a nation.
  One of the things I like to do is to come to the Senate floor and 
talk about some of the traditions in my State--some of the things that 
I think make Alaska the greatest State in the Nation. I know some of my 
colleagues will not fully agree with that, but we all get to brag about 
our State. When I do that, I like to talk about an individual whom we 
recognize as the Alaskan of the Week. Often, it is somebody who is 
doing something in a remote part of Alaska whom not a lot of people 
know about. It is very important to share that with my colleagues in 
the Senate and other colleagues watching on TV.
  Today, I would like to recognize a young Alaskan from Gambell, AK, 
named Chris Apassingok, a young whaler who is helping to keep the 
tradition that we have in Alaska--Native whaling--alive and well. He is 
our Alaskan of the Week.
  This year, Chris was a keynote speaker at the Elders and Youth 
Conference, which is a precursor to the

[[Page S6898]]

Alaska Federation of Natives conference held each year in one of our 
cities. It is the largest annual gathering in the United States of any 
Native peoples, and there is nothing like it in all the country. AFN, 
as we call it in Alaska, is certainly a highlight of my year. My wife 
and I and our kids always try to get there.
  Let me spend a few minutes talking about why Chris's speech about 
whaling was so important and what happened after he landed a huge 
bowhead whale in Alaska and why that was so inspiring for so many in my 
great State and, really, around the country.
  Gamble, AK, is where Chris comes from, a Yupik village of about 700 
people on St. Lawrence Island, on the northwest edge of Alaska. It is 1 
of 11 Alaska communities that participate in two whaling seasons, 
recognized and authorized by the International Whaling Commission. 
These are subsistence communities. What does that mean? They are 
subsistence communities because whale meat is actually a necessity in 
feeding these communities.
  I should point out that we have no road systems at all in Northern 
Alaska. Most of Alaska has no roads connected from community to 
community, and certainly not in Gambell. The Presiding Officer and I 
have had the opportunity to travel around Alaska. He has seen our great 
State. He knows that many communities are only accessible by air or 
seasonal barge. Some areas can only be reached at certain times of the 
year because of the weather. These communities need food. They need 
whales.
  The annual bowhead whale migration provides the largest subsistence 
resource available in these remote areas of our great State. Even so, 
when a whale is taken, the sharing does not stop with the residents of 
the community. Each whale produces between 6 and 25 tons of food, on 
average. This meat is shared with other subsistence communities in our 
State and with family members and elders throughout the State. That is 
a hugely important part of Alaskan Native culture. This is another 
example of the resourcefulness of the Alaskan Native peoples, which has 
enabled them to survive in the Arctic--with some of the toughest 
weather and conditions anywhere in the world for millennia--and which 
has shaped the culture of Alaska and the character of our State today.
  Back to Chris, he is an extraordinary hunter, even by the standards 
of Gambell, a community of extraordinary hunters. He could aim and 
shoot a rifle at the age of 5. By 11, he had trained himself to strike 
whales, as one writer put it, ``standing steady in the front of the 
skiff with the gun, riding Bering Sea swells like a snowboarder.''
  This past April, Chris and his father set out on a boat in the Bering 
Sea to do what their ancestors have been doing for thousands of years.
  After they got a bearded seal, they spotted a spouting bowhead. Chris 
took the first shot, it was accurate, and it was a huge whale, 57 feet 
11 inches. It took 2 hours to tow it to shore and 4 days for the 
community to carve it up. As always, when a whale is landed, it is time 
for celebration in the community, and this time was no different, but 
shortly after this, things unfortunately went sour for Chris and the 
community.
  A radical special interest activist, with a large online following, 
read the story about Chris and the whale and he began to attack Chris 
and so did many of his followers, from all across the globe--hundreds 
of people, most of them adults, cyber bullying and attacking a 16-year-
old boy from Gambell, AK, who had, at that point, only left his village 
once in his life.
  They were shameful, no respect, no civility, and I mean vicious 
attacks. I will not repeat them here. It is enough to say they were 
greatly upset. In the community, Chris, his family, and his mother 
cried all night. Chris was angry that he and his family were being 
attacked for partaking in this necessary tradition that his community 
and his ancestors have been doing for thousands of years--thousands of 
years.
  However, this young man, despite the hateful messages from adults, 
from adults who live a world away, despite the names they were calling 
him, Chris, now 17, cut through the noise, stood strong, and gave a 
great speech at AFN, that he will continue to hunt and feed his family 
and his community the way his ancestors have done for millennia.
  At his speech last week at AFN, he asked: ``Will you stand with me as 
I continue my hunting [traditions of my family]?'' The crowd applauded, 
all of whom rose when he asked this: ``Will you stand with me'' as we 
continue our subsistence activities that we have undertaken for 
thousands of years?
  I hope everyone across the country stands with this extraordinary 
young man--truly brave and courageous--as he continues his tradition 
and his right to hunt and feed his community.
  This afternoon, I will be holding a hearing in the Commerce Committee 
about whaling in Alaska and how necessary it is for subsistence and the 
survival of these important cultures. I hope all Americans also stand 
with so many other proud Alaska whalers, protecting their rights to 
hunt the way their ancestors have hunted.
  Thank you, Chris--a young man in Alaska, 17 years old--for standing 
tall for your people, for all of Alaska. I also want to thank his 
parents Susan and Daniel for raising such a fine hunter.
  Congratulations, Chris, for being our Alaskan of the Week.