Racism is a Moral Issue in Your Town, Too

The town of Port Angeles, WA is blessed with fabulous natural riches, a few rags, and a certain number of racists.  Today's headline concerns the attempt of some in the community to punish the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe for getting in the way of white man's moneymaking, with their historic request to leave a 1,700 year old graveyard at rest.

The article in the Peninsula Daily News:

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/sited/story/html/183006

What you can do about this, below:

Any Kossacks out there who like seafood?  The racist boycott of the tribe's new enterprise, a gourmet cannery, is meant to strike at their economic presence on the downtown waterfront.  But the InternetS are the true home of commerce nowadays, and the tribe has a fine website promoting their wares.

http://sf2000.registeredsite.com/~user1086796/index.html

Show your support for a tribe who has made the right decision in protecting their spiritual health, in the face of an angry cadre of locals who just won't accept the presence of uppity "Injuns" getting between them and their dollars.

As the great t-shirt says:  "Native Americans: Homeland Security Since 1492!"   Here's another background article from the Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002116942_elwha12m.html The racism is subtle, so is the local coverage of it. The flyers have been turned over to the FBI for criminal investigation - the local paper did not quote the contents of the flyers, I am just assuming that hate language of a racial nature was involved, as windshield protests don't usually stir up the Feds. I'm not native -the minority has the final say on whether or not an action or expression is racist, IMHO. The public statements I have read from the tribal leadership seem to indicate they have been receiving threats of harm that are specifically anti-Indian. By the way, the native community explains their position in a petition to halt excavation (out of date, as the project has been halted by the state) http://www.petitiononline.com/village/petition.html Now go order some smoked salmon!

•  an additional fact list

  for perusal.

  • The project in question was State-funded. It was intended to construct pontoons for major bridge projects in the Seattle area.

  • A private contractor surveyed the site beforehand but found no evidence of a graveyard or site of archaelogical value.

  • In 2003 remains were first found, but it was thought to be a minor gravesite of about 25 bodies. The tribe agreed to relocate the remains and was awarded money for a new gravesite.

  • Further digging since has revealed it to be a major grave site and additionally a remarkably intact village has been unearthed.

  by Sandals on Tue Jan 11, 2005 at 04:32:01 PM PDT

•  Recommended!

  Will also check out the link for purchasing seafood.

  Do you mind if I also mention the latest installment in my diary series on Martin Luther King?  Writing a diary series on MLK this week in preparation for the King Holiday.  

  by grannyhelen on Tue Jan 11, 2005 at 04:40:05 PM PDT

•  when i was back home in forks @ xmas

  there was some discussion of this.  i mostly listened because i am not familiar with the details.

  what someone said was that (i think it was supposedly the same but perhaps a different) tribe had found another burial ground where they'd planned to build a native cultural center, and they'd just said some prayers over the place and moved forward with the plans.  i'm not sure if that's true, do you know?

  still, plenty of anti-native racism going around in forks.

  by joewlarson on Tue Jan 11, 2005 at 04:46:27 PM PDT

•  I'm going to get yelled at for saying this

  ...but can you explain how this incident is racism and not just an economic dispute between a group of people who happen to share the same race/ethnicity, and others in the community where they live?  (And I'm not asking about whether Native Americans have been horribly oppressed, because obviously they have been, almost by definition.)  I mean, if I lived in that town, I'd probably support protecting the sacred sites too, but if I had been out of work for awhile and had a family to support, I could certainly understand how someone might want to boycott them out of revenge, without it having anything to do about race.  Could you flesh out this story, ideally with some content from actual Native Americans (if you are not), showing how this is more than just a local economic argument?  Or maybe give us some more details about how bad these flyers calling a boycott are and who is behind them (local flyers won't have as much effect anyhow, if they are a web-based business).

  by Subversive on Tue Jan 11, 2005 at 05:38:21 PM PDT

•  anti-Native American racism

  When I went to college in Montana (and spent a lot of time in Washington and Idaho as well), I was shocked at how anti-Native American many of the locals were in the Northwest. It was still the cowboys vs. Indians mentality. In just one sad story, one Nat. Am. guy told me that when he walked down the street in his small Washington town, the local white guys (many of whom I met and were macho cowboy types) would often come up behind him and kick him in the butt, calling him derogatory words. He said it was extremely humiliating and there was really nothing he was able to do about it.

  Where I'm from, near Philly, we esteemed anyone with even a drop of Native American blood, and I was shocked that such blatant racism was still alive and well, even thriving. I wanted to rescue this guy back to my hometown! (He was cute, too.)

  by chantedor on Tue Jan 11, 2005 at 05:49:12 PM PDT

  •  The Northwest

    Small towns in the Northwest are more likely to be home to white supremacist sentiment that specific racism, in my opinion. There is a subtle difference, although the end results are pretty much the same.  Still, in this particular case, I think it was more anger stirred up at this specific tribe owing to loss of jobs/money than it was racism.  (Just to be clear; I absolutely support the work stoppage.)

    I wouldn't say anti-Native sentiment is something alive in the Northwest. I've never heard of such in the news. However, my visits to small towns have been limited mostly to tourism loops, so take that with a grain of salt.

    by Sandals on Tue Jan 11, 2005 at 06:05:57 PM PDT