Enrolled HR 11: Supporting the renaming of Saginaw Bay as Skanx Bay.
00Enrolled HR 11 01 Supporting the renaming of Saginaw Bay as Skanx Bay. 02 _______________ 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: 04 WHEREAS the bay that is situated on the north coast of Kuiu Island in the Alexander 05 Archipelago and is located across the Keku Strait from the community of Kake is currently 06 named Saginaw Bay; and 07 WHEREAS the bay is currently named for the USS Saginaw, a United States Navy 08 ship that shelled the village of Kake in 1869, destroying three civilian villages and three 09 smaller campsites; and 10 WHEREAS, after the USS Saginaw shelled buildings, canoes, and food storages at all 11 of the village sites, the United States government proceeded to name a nearby bay after the 12 USS Saginaw; and 13 WHEREAS the destruction from the shelling led to an unknown number of deaths by 14 starvation and exposure that winter, and survivors were forced to disperse and live with other 15 tribes; and 16 WHEREAS the bay's current name is an affront to the local Tlingit community and a 17 source of great discomfort for many residents of the City of Kake and the Organized Village
01 of Kake; and 02 WHEREAS the City of Kake and the Organized Village of Kake each passed a 03 resolution in support of renaming the bay from Saginaw Bay to Skanáx_ Bay, the bay's Tlingit 04 place name since time immemorial; and 05 WHEREAS the renaming of the bay as Skanáx_ Bay would be a constructive step 06 toward the healing of local Tlingit communities and would celebrate Tlingit language and the 07 first peoples of Southeast Alaska; 08 BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives supports renaming Saginaw 09 Bay as Skanáx_ Bay.