Singers: Oh, whoa, whoa, oh Oh, whoa, whoa Oh, whoa, whoa [Wind howling] [Motor humming] [Man shouts] [Wind howling] Man: Yeah.
[Indistinct conversation] [Whistling] [Men shouting] [Byron Nicholai's "Angyaput Tuguluku" playing] Nicholai: [Singing in Yup'ik] [Shouting] [Shouting continues] [Wind whistling] [Gulls squawking] [Wind whistling] Man: Ha ha ha!
Different man: [Howls] [Howls] Ha ha ha!
[Howls] Whoo bl bl bl bl bl bl bl.
Ha ha!
[Howling] Ahh... Man: Chris and Chase, and these boys have quite a bit of experience at a young age hunting... You know, there'll be a time and day when that happens.
[Laughs] Daniel: Like my dad always said it, as a younger generation becomes the arrow, the elders become the bow because the arrow, you know, it goes out and catches game.
You know, the next generation takes over... but times are changing, you know, a lot of stuff fighting against us.
It's gonna be very difficult for my boys to continue.
[Wind whistling] [Gunshot] Chase: Oh.
Ha ha ha!
He needs to become more king buck.
Ha ha ha!
Yeah.
[Whimpers] Yeah!
Ha ha ha!
Ooh ooh ooh.
[Indistinct conversation] [Beep] Please stop and stand for the Pledge.
Akeqiinga malighqutaqnalunga tuqlughaasiiniun America-m ama... Man, voice-over: We're located on St. Lawrence Island, which is about 37 miles from Russia and a little over 200 miles to the mainland.
In many ways, curricularly, we are very similar to other schools in the country.
Students: I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Whoo!
Man: So we're gonna be starting on Page 943.
We're gonna talk about post-colonial Africa.
I'll get you guys started off.
We'll talk about the inside story and the main idea of what you're gonna read about.
Man, voice-over: There's kids that are college-ready.
Then there's kids that, you know, they're like, "I'm gonna be a hunter my whole life.
Why do I need to ever pick up a book?"
so that polarization's really hard, you know.
"You really need to know about the Cold War to make sure that you succeed in life."
That argument doesn't really go well for them.
Man, voice-over: Yeah.
He's missed the last few days of school, but finally, a little bit of good weather, I guess he's been hunting.
[Whirring] Rob, voice-over: Our students are allowed 10 subsistence days a year.
You have to hunt.
You have to gather berries.
You have to gather sea vegetables.
If you don't do subsistence activities, you die.
[Grinding continues] [Motors running] Woman: Out.
Out!
Ahh, Minah.
Out.
Out, out.
Go, go, go.
Woman: Did he go outside?
Ha ha ha!
The dogs like to come in every day.
Ha ha ha!
[Beep] Woman, voice-over: I've been working here for a few months.
$26.65.
with their bills.
I get them food.
I buy my brothers shells and gas and stove oil.
I get myself things, too, sometimes.
Woman, voice-over: We spend about $300 to $500 a week on food.
There's always a lack of fresh fruit and produce.
This box of rice is $11.29, $11.29.
This is $13 for the 6 rolls of tissue.
Everything is very, very expensive.
Nalu: I'd rather be elsewhere than here.
I can't wait to leave.
There's not that much to do here on a remote island, and I'd rather have more opportunities.
[Beeping] I feel trapped.
Woman: Got to go fix your top.
Heh.
[Beeping] Woman: OK. Go get your tuck.
[Wind howling] [Motor starts] [Bigbadbeats' "Wild" playing] Man: [Rapping in Siberian Yupik language] [Singing in Siberian Yupik language] [Indistinct] Ha ha ha!
[Calling] [Click] [Gunshot] Yes!
Ha ha!
[Dog barking] Take as much off.
You want?
[Click] Susan: I like to post them on Facebook almost-- Chase: Almost every time we catch something.
Yeah, every day.
Chris: Holy [beep].
Ew!
That's a big one.
Hee hee hee!
Ha ha!
Ha ha!
Are you finished it?
Yeah.
Uhh...let's see here.
Your kids bring home food, it's always something to be happy about.
When they were young, started out bringing little, tweety birds home.
I had to cook them anyway.
Their breasts were only that big.
Ha ha ha!
Ha!
Over 80% of our diet comes from subsistence hunting.
You know, this is a modern world in the remote areas of middle of nowhere.
Ha ha!
Ooh, yeah, looks-- I could smell it.
Thank you, Father, for this food and bless us in Jesus' name.
I pray in Your name.
Susan: Amen.
This is delicious.
Delicious.
[Men singing in Siberian Yupik language] [Applause] [Indistinct conversation] Oh, yeah.
Where are they?
Nalu: Really?
Just now realizing that they're gone.
Ha ha ha!
On me!
Right there.
Skoden.
There it is.
Waah!
[Laughter] That's not an angel.
It is.
See?
Don't you see the wings?
It just needs a head.
[Laughter] Now it has a head.
Nalu, voice-over: I was always the weird kid in high school.
Oh, my God, my face.
How much did that hurt?
Nalu, voice-over: I'm not completely gay, but I'm not really into guys, either.
Ha!
Sounds good.
Let's do this.
No more Hokey Pokey.
[Laughter] [Motor starts] You can try.
Aah!
Ha ha!
Hee hee hee!
Still good.
Woman: 1, 2, 3, go!
Oh!
We won!
Whoo!
Ha ha ha!
Ah... Nalu, voice-over: I am still in the closet, kind of.
I don't really tell anybody about who I am, what I am.
I really don't like to define myself as anything, just want to be me.
Aah!
Whoo!
Nalu, voice-over: A lot of people are against gays.
It's a religion thing, and I decided to move out of Gambell.
[Chiming] Man: Get up.
Get up.
[Indistinct shouting] Keith: When I first got here, they didn't have Internet, but then LTE came out about a year ago and then you just saw the explosion.
You know, I feel like I was a pretty well-known guy where I came from, but I may have had a few hundred friends.
People in Gambell have thousands of Facebook friends, and they know all of them from all the different villages from all around Alaska.
They love to stay connected.
People post their pictures of their kids, pictures of their hunts.
Chris was the striker for his dad's boat.
They got the whale in, and it was all over Facebook immediately.
[Chiming] Agra is the youngest person to get a whale, and everyone was really excited.
[Chiming] Woman: Adulthood is very different in our culture.
Whereas in the Western culture, you are considered to be an adult at the age of 18, in the Yup'ik way, it's when you become a provider, taking care of your people, living with wisdom, fixing things, making things.
You don't become an adult by age.
It's the way you live your life.
The moment Chris harvested his bowhead whale, he became a man.
He became one with the whale.
Chris: It's a Yup'ik way to share the catch.
It makes me feel very proud to be a striker and a hunter.
Keith: It was a huge deal.
A news agency in Anchorage posted an article about him.
Then all of a sudden, controversy just blew up.
Maria Downey: Family of a 16-year-old from Gambell says he's been sent hundreds of hate messages from followers of a well-known environmentalist Paul Watson.
Oh, I'm not sure I want to read this out loud.
Watson uses words I would not use in public.
"A piece of poop that Earth needs to flush down the toilet.
Your imaginary gods won't save you."
"You suck.
You are a monster.
"God's creatures don't deserve to die... "but YOU DO.
Dirty bastard."
"i hope you and your entire community [beep] die."
"[Beep] little bastard!
Hope you suffer in hell mother[beep]."
[Wind howling] Telling a 16-year-old from rural Alaska, where suicide rates are higher than any other part of the country, to go kill himself is insane.
[Indistinct] I am.
[Sighs] Rob, voice-over: Watson criticized Chris, and he had followers from his show, and he used that platform to attack a kid.
Chris is just doing something his ancestors have done for thousands of years.
It's not like they're going out and pulling hundreds of whales out of the ocean, not like Japan.
They're allowed two whales per year by the Whaling Commission, and this feeds the community.
Keith: It is a huge deal to get a whale.
You know, you eat every last thing out of that whale.
Without that meat in the freezer, this village could die off.
You want me to warm you up a hot pocket?
[Chime] [Typing] [Beep] [Chime] Daniel: Well, I'll probably get ready to go out.
Ahh... Tk tk tk tk tk tk tk.
Whoo ooh.
Uh!
[Yaps] Oh... Yeah.
[Whimpers] [Motor running] All right.
[Indistinct] Susan, voice-over: She has very close friends that live over there, and she wants to go spend the summer over there and hopefully find a job.
I worry about my daughter.
She's only 18.
She's very popular, and she has a lot of friends, so, I mean, I know they all drink.
I get worried that maybe someday someone will put something in her drink and take advantage of her.
She's my only daughter.
Yeah.
Ha ha ha!
Ha ha ha!
[Gulls squawking] Uh!
[Motor running] Hey.
[Gunshot] [Motor revving] [Gunshot] [Motor stops] Hey, come here.
[Gunshot] Think I hit the okul.
Oh.
Daniel: It's getting worse.
I thought last year was bad.
It's... just hardly any ice this year.
Daniel: The walrus and the seal migrate with that ice.
Without that ice, there's no game, and there's no food.
10 years ago, it used to be covered.
Even right off the beach of Gambell used to be ice.
Daniel: To those people that say that climate change is not happening, you got to live here to see it.
Now go.
I'll find the bolt.
Uh, the one next to it.
Man, voice-over: I like to ride with Daniel a lot.
We've been riding together for a while.
Our equipment isn't all that great.
Wiyu: Change all those-- No.
They're not sealing.
No matter how much you bang on them... Shoot, shoot.
Ooh...oh!
Right on the heart.
[Dog barking] Nalu: Hi.
I'm cooking mamoona right now.
I don't know what I should put it on, the heat, and how long I should cook it.
Medium high, so like in the middle?
OK. Bye.
Talking to my mom.
I haven't cooked walrus in a while, so I had to ask.
Ha ha!
[Gunfire on television] It's a little scary, but I love being here.
I have good friends.
I just need to find a job.
It's done.
My dad likes to put a bowl of rice and walrus broth, and it's really good.
I really like the way he makes it, and I miss that.
I've been craving this, and I haven't had it in a long time.
That's something I can't get here.
Ah.
I just ate McDonald's this morning.
Ha ha!
This is 10 times better.
[Indistinct conversation] Woman: Agra, you want fruit?
No fruit.
Ha ha ha!
Ina, voice-over: He was good.
He was always happy.
It was like he just changed.
I finally decided not to care anymore because of the way he was treating me, the way he didn't care.
It hurted me.
I decided to just leave.
[Dog barking] [Gulls squawking] Susan: I told him he had to graduate.
I told him that nobody will hire him for anything if he doesn't get his diploma.
To keep going hunting, he needs to buy gas.
He needs to buy bullets.
He needs to work to have a Honda.
It's not free.
[Hissing] [Hissing continues] [Hissing stops] [Exhales] Like... [Typing] [Beep] [Chime] [Typing] [Beep] I haven't been home in a while.
I know my brother, he's going through a tough time right now, and he's depressed.
He's asked me to help him, and I'm trying.
I really want him to graduate this year.
Nalu: Hey, Siri, take me to the museum.
Oh, what am I doing?
Siri: One possibility I see is Anchorage Museum on C Street.
Does that one sound good?
Yes.
Getting directions to Anchorage Museum.
[Turn signal clicking] Ah, [beep].
[Clicking continues] I'm going the wrong way.
[Beep], I got to wait for them.
Oh, it's a right of way, right?
I'm still learning that.
Ha!
Eh... Voice: Please take ticket.
Oh!
Oh, I've never done this before.
Ah, ha ha ha!
[Tires screech] Holy [beep].
I'm confused.
Do I keep right now?
Oh, I am going the wrong way.
I'm still learning.
Oh... Learning directions, being in a big city, I have to follow speed limits, and there's a lot of dumb drivers.
I could be one of those people.
Ha ha!
Ha... [Men singing in Siberian Yupik language] [Singing continues] Nalu, voice-over: Seeing all this stuff makes me feel kind of homesick, but it also makes me feel proud of who I am and where I'm from.
It's amazing not just that we survived on Sivuqaq for thousands of years, but we thrived, at least until the white man came.
Paul Watson's attack on my brother is really nothing new.
It started with the Yankee whalers who decimated our whale population and almost starved us to death.
Then came the missionaries with their crosses and boarding schools.
"Kill the Indian, save the man."
I think that was their motto.
Now they brought us climate change, so Paul Watson and his followers are just the latest in a long line of ass[beep].
This is what he wrote.
"People like the Yup'ik are despicable, murderous bastards, "and now some 16-year-old kid is a freaking hero?
I hope he chokes on the blubber."
I miss my family.
I love them.
I just can't be there.
[Gulls squawking] [Wind howling] No game.
All I saw was birds.
[Indistinguishable Siberian Yupik] No game all day.
The whales should be migrating by now.
[Clanking] Daniel: Chris was pretty much very natural at everything he did hunting.
I started bringing him out when he had diapers and a bottle.
Chris made me very happy that he loved to do what I used to normally do myself.
You know, I had to teach Chris at a very young age cuz when I was arrested for poaching back in the day.
The game was shared with many other families.
It wasn't really poaching, but I was probably set as an example more than anything else.
Susan: He was charged with a felony, so he went to prison in Oregon for nearly 3 years.
Yeah.
We had a hard time.
Nalu: It was bad.
I pretty much raised my brothers while my dad was gone.
My mom was drinking all the time.
My wife had a hard time with the kids, and they didn't have anything to eat at times.
You know, it was... probably one of my lowest point in life in seeing my family struggle to survive just because I was gone.
Susan: After he was released, Daniel wasn't allowed to use a gun anymore, so he taught his boys how to be hunters so they can take over.
Daniel is captain, and Chris is his front man.
Daniel: Being a provider as a hunter, it's hard to be cut off from that one thing that you only know how to do in life and love to do, and it's a blessing to have Chris as a partner to feed my family, the surrounding village.
[Wind howling] [Wind howling] Congregation: O victory in Jesus My Savior forever He plunged me to victory Beneath the cleansing flood "And now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling "and to present you faultless before the presence "of His holy glory and majesty, dominion and power, "both forevermore.
Amen."
All: Amen.
[Indistinct conversation] [Speaking Yup'ik] Susan, voice-over: The day I brought him to church, the woman prophesied that Chris will grow up to be known as the greatest hunter in all the world... Church lady: I invite You into my heart.
Chris: I invite You to my heart.
Susan, voice-over: and be known by people everywhere around the globe.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Amen.
OK. Welcome.
I love you.
[Motor running] [Copier printing] [Man shouting] [Wind whistling] Not so long.
There!
Right there!
[Indistinct] [Indistinct] Yep.
It's right there.
[Gunshot] Cusny?
Yep.
I harpooned it this way.
Oh, [indistinct] Ah, just look for ice anywhere.
[Indistinct] Ahhhwoop.
Ahhhwoop, ahhhwoop.
[Indistinct conversation] [Click] Daniel, voice-over: It's always a blessing to receive any animal you catch.
[Indistinct] Daniel, voice-over: As small as the game is, the game's dispersed with 4 or 5 other boats.
We don't ever say no to anybody.
[Indistinct conversation] Chris, voice-over: A seal is great to catch, but we need to get a whale soon.
A whale feeds a village for months.
Ha ha ha!
Chris: Right on top of the head, boy.
[Gunshot] Ooh!
Ah.
[Indistinct] [Gunshot] Ooh!
Aww!
Joana: Yeah.
Ha ha!
Try do it like way-- little more out.
Joana: Little more out?
Chris: Yeah, and if you do it, like, in the middle somewhere, you'll hit it.
Oh, OK. [Gulls squawking] [Sighs] I would rather be out hunting than going to school, but I need to graduate.
[Coughs] Oh.
[Knocks on door] Hey, how you doing?
You good?
Come on in.
Uh...
Right now, you can work on your English class and get caught up in that and see what you can do there.
OK. [Byron Nicholai's "Qaku Tayima" playing] Nicholai: [Singing in Yup'ik] [Dog barking] Ha ha ha!
[Laughter] Hi.
Ha!
Now you'll bring it back.
Nalu: Hi.
Mom.
Hee hee!
He wants the picture.
Is it blurry?
No.
Iyaaka, good.
Ian Eagle: [Indistinct] Handoff for Powell, turns a corner and knocked away by Lopez.
Oh, I love these.
Huh?
Thank you, bun.
Nalu: Agra out!
Time to get ready.
Come on.
[Bruno Mars' "Marry You" playing on radio] Nalu: Rinse your hands and your face.
I think my hair's too short.
Susan: Let me see, son.
Did you even try them on?
Yeah.
You can put a belt on.
[Both laugh] Maybe Dad could wear them.
They're huge.
Right here, son.
These were yours, remember?
OK. Come out.
Hmm... Wow!
Chase: Beautiful.
Daniel: You look perty!
[Click] [Indistinct conversation] Sorry.
Keith-- Whoa!
Oh, my God.
Hi, Nal.
I was like, "Stupid seniors.
Oh, wait."
Thank you, bun.
[Indistinct conversation] ["My Country, 'Tis of Thee" playing] [Cheering] [Applause] Good afternoon.
I'm glad to see so many of you here to honor our graduates of 2019.
One of the things I can say about this class is that they have grown to be adults who will honor their elders, who will help their fellow man, who will pitch in when stuff needs to be done, and who will be good members of the community, and I think you can be proud of each and every one of them.
[Applause] I want to thank you all for coming to celebrate the graduating class of 2019.
God bless you all.
Thank you.
[Applause] Rob: Will the Class of 2019 please stand?
[Applause] It is time to move your tassels from the left to the right.
[Cheering and applause] [Wind whistling] [Motor running] [Wind whistling] I saw it.
Not even a quarter mile out from the beach.
Big whale, perty one.
That's where the water is.
I think that looks like it's gonna head that way.
I'm gonna go get gas, and I'm gonna get mine ready to push into water.
Yep.
OK. Noice.
Ha ha ha!
Wait.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Lots of game today.
There's a s--bearded seal, a beluga, and a walrus.
It's a good sign.
[Indistinct chatter] [Indistinct shouting] [Wind howling] [Text chimes] [Beep] [Whistling a tune] [Wind howling] Distant man: Over there.
[Motor roaring] Right there!
Right there!
Straight ahead!
Well, bowhead whales stay down anywhere from, uh, 10 minutes to about an hour.
Where did it go?
[Boats creaking] [Sighs] [Distant thunder rumbling] [Motor revving] [Shouts indistinctly] Ah!
[Shouts indistinctly] [All clamoring and laughing] Oh, yeah!
Hey!
We took a whale shower!
Oh!
Aha, me too!
Oooooooh!
Yeah!
Hey, hey!
[Static] Ah!
[Indistinguishable Siberian Yupik] 12 miles!
12 miles!
34 degrees!
[Indistinct radio chatter] [Man speaks Siberian Yupik language] [Distant man speaks indistinctly] Girl: Got a whale.
Right now, boats are going out, too, help them tow it back home.
We're all so happy.
Whoo-hoo!
Child: Ha ha!
I just ran in the house and I'm going like this.
[Laughter] [Speaks indistinctly] Daniel, voice-over: I am at peace when I'm out hunting.
It's what we live for.
I wish I can go back in time with all of these people before us... our ancestors, how they survived.
[Distant cheering] [Distant shouting] [Shouting] [Texts chiming] [Shouting in Siberian Yupik language] [Dog barking] [Man shouting] It's moving!
[Indistinct] Susan, voice-over: It connects us to our past.
Nalu: Congrats on the whale.
How big is it?
You don't know?
[Distant, indistinct chatter] Holy cow!
60 feet?
Yeah, that's huge.
[Chuckles] [Distant person coughs] You gonna send me a care package?
[Laughs] You're gonna send me some?
OK. Nalu, voice-over: I am experiencing new things.
We're not gonna finish this.
Ha ha!
Ha ha ha!
Nalu, voice-over: I love eating new foods.
I love going to new places.
Don't laugh at me.
Ha ha!
Don't laugh!
Go!
Ha ha ha!
Ho ho ho!
Nalu, voice-over: I'm happy.
I got a job.
I'm working for an airline... and I found somebody who loves me.
Ha ha!
Nalu, voice-over: I love my new life.
[Bowling pins clatter] [Distant gulls squawking] [Surf crashing] [Indistinct chatter] [Speaking Siberian Yupik language] [Male singer vocalizing] [Shouts in Siberian Yupik language] Male singer: Let's go.
[Rapping] They'll never understand our sacred ways Take me back to my sister's days Take me back to my elders' wisdom... Seeing my boys doing their own thing out there, out at sea, feel, uh, happy and sad at the same time.
Then we'll rise Then we'll fall But we'll rise again And we'll stand tall 'Cause we will rise Background singer: Will rise And I will fall And we'll fall But we will rise again We'll rise again And we'll stand tall [Men chanting in Siberian Yupik language] Singer: Say we will rise [Chanting continues] Then we'll fall But we'll rise again And we'll stand tall [Chanting continues] [Drumming] Men: Hey!
[Chanting ends] [Woman vocalizing fades in] Senator Dan Sullivan: Today, Mr. President, I would like to recognize a young Alaskan named Chris, and he is our Alaskan of the week.
Governor Bill Wallace: Alaska is a great place because we are home to people like Chris, people who persevere-- [Applause] Woman: Chris Apassingok became a hero for his village.
Senator Lisa Murkowski: I want to make sure that a young man is able to continue to support his family, his community, and his culture.
It is an honor as the governor of this great state to give this award today.
I am part land, I am part water.
I am always Native.
Will you stand with me as we all continue our subsistence activity?
[Cheering and applause] Can't let nobody stop me from who I'm gonna be Ancestors will guide me towards who I need to be My people on my side, that is everything I need Now it's time to show you who I'm gonna be Can't let nobody stop me from who I'm gonna be Ancestors will guide me towards who I need to be My people on my side, that is everything I need Now it's time to show you who I'm gonna be Mama You taught me well I just want you to know That you deserve it
Passport
Follow Us