Tulalip News

Can you stand the heat?

Tulalip Bay Fire Department runs house fire drill

Tulalip Bay Frie Chief Teri Dodge uses an infrared sensor to measure the temperature of the burning room.Photo: Andrew Gobin/ Tulalip News — Tulalip Bay Frie Chief Teri Dodge uses an infrared sensor to measure the temperature of the burning room.
*Photo: Andrew Gobin/ Tulalip News*

By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News

TULALIP – A ceiling of dense smoke hung inches above our heads as Tulalip Bay Firefighters and I crouched in the burning house. Removing my glove to snap a photo from the inside, I instantly felt the intense heat that filled the room around us. Crawling towards the burning room, my hand began to burn from the heat, forcing me to put my glove back on. Sensors measured the heat in the room where the flames were to be above 600^o Fahrenheit, so Tulalip Bay Fire Chief Teri Dodge splashed the flames with the fire hose. Even through protective bunker gear I could feel the heat from the blast of steam that shot out from the doorway of the room. My air tank was out so I had to get outside.

The Tulalip Bay Fire Department burned a house slated for demolition on June 14 on Mission Beach Road, across from the cemetery. They let me join them for the drill for an exclusive look at what they do, fitting me in bunker gear (firefighter boots, pants, coat, helmet, etc.) complete with an air-pack so I could safely be in the house to observe them in action.

What good is any drill without pizza? We enjoyed a lunch of four different kinds of pizza after the first round of drills were finished. Then on to the second drill, flashovers.

Fireman Eric Brewick punches out portions of the wall for ventilation.Photo: Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News — Fireman Eric Berwick punches out portions of the wall for ventilation.
*Photo: Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News*

I didn’t understand the term, but it sounded exciting. Once more I geared up to go in, though I could only stay in for one round due to safety concerns. There we were, crouched down. A second room was set on fire during lunch and had grown to a good size blaze. I couldn’t get any pictures, having to keep all of my protective gear on. Site commander Tom Cohee was my guide for this round, taking the time to explain what firefighters look for in a fire. Going in we had to crawl. The temperature in the smoke above us was upwards of 200^o, much hotter than the 110^o on the ground where we were. A firefighter would spray water at the ceiling, and depending on how much came down, they could gauge the temperature of the air above. As things heated up, another ceiling spray, and a cloud of steam surged downward, making visibility so low I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.

They didn’t spray again for a few minutes, letting the gasses and flames build for the flashover. Cohee explained that flashover is when the air above, which is filled with gasses from things burning, gets so hot that they catch fire and flash, allowing flames to extend out of the burning room, the length of the house ceiling. No sooner had he explained than a flame whipped across the ceiling, rolling down the back wall I was leaning on. A few ceiling sprays cooled the air enough to contain the flashover. I exited with the team. I was heating up in all the gear, but I didn’t realize how hot it actually was in the house. Once outside, I removed my gloves and grabbed my helmet. That was a mistake. I couldn’t touch it any more than I could touch a skillet.

I have a new appreciation for the work firefighters do.

“We train this way because we have to,” said Chief Dodge. “In a real fire, we can’t choose or control the situation we walk into. So here, we have to practice multiple scenarios. Even though it’s practice, these drills are as dangerous as a real house fire.”

Tulalip Bay Fire Department is committed to the Tulalip community. In addition to responding to emergency calls, they can be found handing out fire safety information and tips at different events, like the health fair at the Tulalip Karen I. Fryberg Health Clinic. If you see them out in the community, be sure to say hi.

Andrew Gobin: 360- 716-4188; agobin@tulalipnews.com

Tulalip tribal Chair and Vice Chair participate in annual Strawberry Festival Fashion Show

By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News

The Marysville Strawberry festival offers much more than a parade and carnival. Every year, junior and senior high school students are selected to participate in Strawberry Court, receiving academic sholarships from the April Friesner Scholarship fund. The royalty luncheon and fashion show is an entertaining way for the community to come together to raise funds.

Royalty past and present are welcome at the event, and many people form the community seek donated clothing from local businesses to show off at the event. This year, Tulalip Chairman Herman Williams Sr. and Vice Chairman Les Parks volunteered in the show. Tulalip elder Jeannie McCoy was present, along with the Tulalip Strawberry King and Queen, Hank and Geraldine Williams. Pauline Nolan, a Tulalip elder who is involved with the strawberry festival every year, also modeled, along with our own Nicole Sieminski.

Check out the photos.

Tulalip Salmon Ceremony

Helen Fenrich and Joanne Jones perform the blessing of the fishermen.Photo courtesy of the family of Stan and Joanne Jones — Helen Fenrich and Joanne Jones perform the blessing of the fishermen.
*Photo courtesy of the family of Stan and Joanne Jones*

Salmon Ceremony is tomorrow, June 21st, at 10:30 in the morning. Members of the Tulalip community will gather to celebrate the return of the King Salmon, and to bless the fishing fleet. The ceremony today was revived from the traditions of old, as remembered by Harriette Shelton Dover, Morris and Bertha Dan, Molly Hatch, and Daisy Williams, and others.

Prominent leaders of the Salmon Ceremony, Bobby Moses, Stan Jones Sr, Neil Moses, and Louie Moses.Photo courtesy of the family of Stan and Joanne Jones — Prominent leaders of the Salmon Ceremony, Bobby Moses, Stan Jones Sr, Neil Moses, and Louie Moses.
*Photo courtesy of the family of Stan and Joanne Jones*

Canoe Journey’s message: ‘We need to wake up to what’s happening to Mother Earth’

The canoe from Suquamish embarks on this year's journey to Bella Bella.— image credit: Richard D. Oxley / North Kitsap Herald — The canoe from Suquamish embarks on this year’s journey to Bella Bella.
— image credit: Richard D. Oxley / North Kitsap Herald

By Richard Walker, North Kitsap Herald

LITTLE BOSTON — Pullers in the 2014 Canoe Journey are in for a long one, a 500-miler to the territory of the Heiltsuk First Nation — Bella Bella, British Columbia. They’ll be richly rewarded for the experience.

They’ll travel through territory so beautiful it will be impossible to forget: Rugged, forested coastlines; island-dotted straits and narrow, glacier-carved passages; through Johnstone Strait, home of the largest resident pod of orcas in the world; along the shores of the Great Bear Rainforest, one of the largest remaining tracts of unspoiled temperate rainforest left in the world.

They’ll also travel waters that are increasingly polluted and under threat.

Pullers will travel the marine highways of their ancestors, past Victoria, which dumps filtered, untreated sewage into the Salish Sea. They’ll travel the routes U.S. energy company Kinder Morgan plans to use to ship 400 tanker loads of tar sands oil each year. Canoes traveling from the north will pass the inlets leading to Kitimat, where crude oil from Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline would be loaded onto tankers bound for Asia; Canada approved the pipeline project on June 17. Canoes from the Lummi Nation near Bellingham will pass Cherry Point, a sacred and environmentally sensitive area where Gateway Pacific proposes a coal train terminal; early site preparation was done without permits and desecrated ancestral burials.

Young activist Ta’kaiya Blaney of the Sliammon First Nation sang of her fears of potential environmental damage to come in her song, “Shallow Waters”:

“Come with me to the emerald sea / Where black gold spills into my ocean dreams.

“Nothing to be found, no life is around / It’s just the sound of mourning in the air.”

Native leaders hope the Canoe Journey calls public attention to the fragility of this environment.

“We need to wake up to what’s happening to Mother Earth,” said Cecile Hansen, chairwoman of the Duwamish Tribe and a great-great-grandniece of Chief Seattle.

“We’re the indigenous people of the land. If anybody should be raising that flag, it should be Native Americans.”

Suquamish Chairman Leonard Forsman is pulling in the Suquamish canoe to Bella Bella.

“The Journey is a cultural, spiritual, ceremonial and social event,” he said. “The Journey can provide a platform for expressing our Tribal values that include habitat protection and improving or protecting water quality. Decisions on if and how to participate in political expressions are decisions made by each Tribal canoe family individually.”

Micah McCarty is a former chairman of the Makah Nation and a member of the board of First Stewards, which seeks to unite indigenous voices to collaboratively advance adaptive climate-change strategies.

He sees the Canoe Journey as an exercise in Tribal sovereignty, particularly in the realm of environmental education.

U.S. v. Washington, also known as the Boldt decision, reaffirmed that Treaty Tribes had reserved for themselves 50 percent of the annual finfish harvest; a later court decision extended that to include shellfish. In addition, Boldt established the state and Treaty Tribes as fisheries co-managers.

“The state-Tribal co-management relationship relative to … US v Washington is more effectively built on Tribal governments assuming more and more of the federal trust responsibility in the spirit of self-governance and by directly investing in Tribally determined education,” he said.

“Native sovereignty is as good as it is practiced and implemented. No one else can do this for us, and the best investment in sovereignty is education by Indian sovereign design — including curriculum pertaining to treaty resource damages [caused by] climate change and carbon pollution, particularly in the form of carbonic acid.”

The Canoe Journey is itself a tool to monitor the health of the sea. In each Canoe Journey since 2008, in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey, several canoes carry probes that collect water data and feed the data into a recorder aboard the canoe. The data measures water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH and turbidity.

The USGS is using the data to track water quality and its effects on ecosystem dynamics. You can read the results from 2008-2013 at http://wfrc.usgs.gov/tribal/cswqp/.

It’s the Canoe Journey’s first return to Bella Bella since 1993, when canoes made the long journey north to fulfill a vision of Canoe Journey founders Emmett Oliver and Frank Brown in 1989 after the Paddle to Seattle that was held as part of Washington’s centennial celebration. That 1993 journey sparked a revival in indigenous travel on the marine highways of the ancestors.

En route to the final destination, canoes visit indigenous nations along the way, each stop filled with sharing: traditional foods, languages, songs, dances and teachings. Pulling great distances can test physical and mental discipline. Traveling the way of the ancestors can be a spiritual experience, and songs often come to pullers on the water.

This journey will be as challenging as the 1993 journey. From Little Boston, canoes travel west to Port Angeles, then cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Vancouver Island. They’ll travel north along the east side of the island to Port Hardy, then cross big water from Vancouver Island to the B.C. mainland. As they head north, they’ll pull through passages and channels and will have to time each transit right so they’re not pulling against tides.

More than 100 canoes participated in last year’s journey to the Quinault Nation. The distance and isolated destination in this year’s journey requires a month off for peninsula and South Sound pullers and support crews. Heiltsuk is expecting 54 canoes.

Three Suquamish canoes and one Nisqually canoe departed from Suquamish on June 17, moored overnight in Kingston, then arrived at Point Julia on June 19. Those canoes and one from Port Gamble S’Klallam will depart for Jamestown S’Klallam on June 20, then meet up with canoes from Pacific Coast Tribes at Elwha Klallam. Canoes will cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca on June 22 for Vancouver Island and points north. All are scheduled to arrive in Bella Bella on July 13.

Among those traveling part of the journey: Marylin Bard of Kingston, Emmett Oliver’s daughter. She will travel in a five-person river canoe that was gifted to her father by the Quinault Nation last year.

“We will be traveling the ‘Old Way,’ carrying our own supplies on the canoe,” she wrote in an email. “No support boat, no hosting, just camp along the way. [We] plan to fish and crab for food.”

Get more information about the 2014 Canoe Journey/Paddle to Bella Bella: www.tribaljourneys.ca.

Shoot Hoops, Not Drugs: Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations Teaches Prevention on the Basketball Court

Jack McNeelCoach Lee Adams demonstrates defense as youngsters and other coaches look on. — Jack McNeel
Coach Lee Adams demonstrates defense as youngsters and other coaches look on.

Jack McNeel, Indian Country Today

The gymnasium floor at Paschal Sherman Indian School on the Colville Reservation was filled with young basketball players, dozens of players, all between the ages of 6 and 11. Each wore a T-shirt which will become a prized possession.

Older players, from 12 to 18, would fill the gym the following day. One-hundred-and-thirty kids, boys and girls, would attend during the two days.

Several coaches worked with the youngsters, teaching passing skills, defensive maneuvers, shooting techniques and footwork.

Craig Ehlo signs shirts and photos as Tavio Hobson looks on. (Jack McNeel)

Former NBA basketball player Craig Ehlo was also there to talk with them and sign autographs, but the day and Ehlo’s presence was about much more than just basketball. It was also about drugs and the negative impacts they can have on one’s life and how a passion for sport can help avoid those negatives.

The clinic was jointly sponsored by The Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations in Spokane and a Seattle organization called A Plus Youth Program. Dr. Martina Whelshula is Executive Director of the Healing Lodge and she commented on how the two programs have complimentary missions and similar programs in many respects. The Healing Lodge works primarily with Native young people dealing with drug addiction while A Plus uses sport to surround kids with character development, mentoring, and educational services.

During the day the youngsters were asked to answer a brief 6-question survey. “It’s an assessment tool to measure the risks of addiction for children,” Dr. Whelshula explains. “There’s an adult there to help if they have questions about the questions.”

“Harvard Medical School folks attended one of our clinics on the Spokane Reservation,” Dr. Whelshula said. “They loved it and thought it was an amazing tool on so many different levels.” So now the information gathered at the basketball clinics is sent to Harvard, they analyze it, and it’s returned to the tribe and Indian Health Service.

Tavio Hobson, Executive Director for A Plus, founded the organization five years ago with funding coming mostly from private individuals, grants and corporate sponsorships. They have some major contributors and are expecting significant growth in coming years. “One of the goals was to look at ways we could continue to expand programming in areas where there was high need and have folks with similar visions, passions, and missions. Areas where we felt we could make a significant impact. That’s where our Native Initiative came from. Our ultimate vision is to have this program on every reservation.”

Kids listen attentively as former NBA player Craig Ehlo tells of his career. (Jack McNeel)

They will be going to New York City this fall. “There are 60 to 70 thousand kids in public high schools with zero access to sport. They need mentoring support, including character development, financial literacy, leadership skills and implement substance resistance and prevention, in addition to adding sports,” Hobson explained.

Speaking of partnering with Healing Lodge, he said, “We want the exact same thing for Native youth. The power of sport is transformative. Being able to tie in with the Healing Lodge and their expertise, especially around substance abuse resistance, education, and prevention is something we’re passionate about.”

Three more reservations in the northwest, Umatilla, Kootenai of Idaho, and Kalispel, will have similar basketball clinics this summer. Puyallup has already signed up for the next fiscal year which begins in September. There is no charge to tribes. It’s funded with a grant from Indian Health Service. “Now that funding is done, this is where sustainability comes in because of our partnership with A Plus Youth Program and their financial backing. With the merging of the two programs we can go national,” Dr. Whelshula said.

Left to right: Tavio Hobson, Dr. Martina Whelshula, and Brad Meyers are persons most responsible for these basketball clinics. (Jack McNeel)

The interaction with professional athletes adds to the excitement for the youngsters. “Just about every professional athlete out of Seattle who played basketball has supported us at one time or another,” Hobson said. Magic Johnson was keynote speaker at a dinner two years ago, talking of the need that exists in many communities across the nation.

Craig Ehlo encouraged the youngsters at Paschal Sherman Indian School to develop a strong work ethic, as he did in watching his parents and which carried over into his basketball career. “Listen to your parents and to others like your coaches. They have wise words for you. Everything you learn now is going to shape your life.”

Dr. Whelshula and Hobson strongly agree that to reach young people one needs to start with what the kids are passionate about. “You’ve got to go meet them,” Hobson said. Sport is one of those passions for many young people.

First Nations leaders urge natives and non-natives to unite against Northern Gateway

A Protest sign hangs from a building in the town of Kitimat, British Columbia, April 12, 2014. Residents of the town voted against the Northern Gateway pipeline project in a blow to Enbridge Inc’s efforts to expedite the flow of crude from Canada’s landlocked oil sands to high-paying markets in Asia. Photo taken April 12, 2014.

Globe and Mail Jun. 17 2014

The federal government’s decision to go ahead with the Northern Gateway pipeline brought chiefs and elders to tears when news reached them at a scientific conference on ocean health in the Great Bear Rainforest.

Shaking with anger, their voices trembling with emotion, native leaders brought the conference to a standstill Tuesday as they spoke of their dismay over the decision – and of their commitment to fight to stop the project from ever getting built.

“Pretty shocking … it’s a tough, tough piece of news,” said Wigvilhba Wakas, a hereditary chief of the Heiltsuk Nation.

“We see this all over the world, where corporate interests are overriding the interests of the people,” said Guujaaw, past president of the Council of Haida Nation and one of the top political leaders among native people in B.C.

“It’s way out of control and it’s probably going to take decisions like this for people to stand up [together]. I think this is a test of humanity now to stand up and fight back,” he said.

Wickaninish, former president of the Nuu-Chah-nulth Tribal Coucil, said the federal government had made “an ominous decision” that he hoped would unite native and non-native people in a common cause, as the battle over Clayoquot Sound did in his traditional territory on Vancouver Island, where mass arrests stopped logging near Tofino.

“This is not just an Indian fight … it’s all the people,” he said.

Wahmeesh, vice-President of the Nuu-Chah-nulth, said he felt an emotional blow when he heard the decision, which spread around the conference as participants read the news bulletins on their smartphones.

“My heart kind of sank, like I’d lost somebody. Like a death in the family,” he said.

Wahmeesh said he was going to return to the Nuu-Chah-nulth, a large collection of 14 tribes on the west coast of Vancouver Island, for an urgent meeting on the pipeline project. And he promised that the chiefs would be united in pledging support to those tribes along the pipeline route across Northern B.C.

“This is probably the biggest decision this government will ever make in my lifetime [affecting First Nations],” he said, struggling to find a way to describe the magnitude of the decision.

Wahmeesh echoed those who urged a coalition between native and non-native people to fight the pipeline.

“We’ll stand together as Canadians,” he said.

Margaret Edgars, an elder from the Haida Nation, was in tears as she spoke to the gathering of scientists and native leaders from Alaska, B.C., Washington, Oregon and California who had gathered for a conference to discuss the resurgence of sea otters on the West Coast.

“I was hurt a bit when I heard it,” she said of the news of Ottawa’s support for the project. “But with everyone speaking out about it here I’m feeling a little stronger. … I think we’ve had enough of what they’re doing. It’s time to stand together united. … We have to continue with the fight.”

After Alaskan delegates had reminded the gathering of the long, enduring impacts of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Ms. Edgars said tankers pose too great a risk to coastal B.C.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/first-nations-leaders-urge-natives-and-non-natives-to-unite-against-northern-gateway/article19214189/?cmpid=rss1

State asks courts to grant restraining orders in Rolling Hills dispute

A Tribal Police force took up positions around Rolling Hills Casino in Corning June 9 and remained in a standoff with casino security guards for a week before leaving the grounds on Monday. (DAILY NEWS FILE PHOTO)

Calls situation imminent threat to the public health and safety

By Rich Green, Red Bluff Daily News

SACRAMENTO >> The California Attorney General’s Office asked the federal court system Tuesday to grant a temporary restraining order and other protection orders in the tribal dispute over Rolling Hills Casino.

The complaint for injunctive and declaratory relief was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of California and also asks for a finding that the tribe has breached its gaming license contract.

The complaint says the state of California is seeking emergency and other appropriate injunctive relief to prevent an imminent threat to public health and safety resulting from opposing tribal factions of the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians dueling claims to control of Rolling Hills Casino.

Among the relief requested is for a temporary restraining order providing any tribal faction and hired officers, agents and employees to attempt to take control of the casino and a ban of armed personnel of any nature within 100 yards of the casino or on tribal properties.

The complaint also asks the court to find the tribe has materially breached its compact with the state to operate a class III gaming casino.

The complaint says that compact was and is currently being breached because the safety of patrons and employees has not been ensured.

The complaint quotes email exchanges from government officials and attorneys advising of the unfolding situation of the ousted Tribal leadership attempting to gain control of the casino through force.

An armed “Tribal Police” left the casino grounds Monday, after a week-long standoff with casino security.

Tehama County Sheriff’s deputies have stayed at the casino since June 9.

The standoff reached its peak June 11 when the four ousted members of the Tribal Council attempted to enter the casino and were kept out by casino security and about 100 tribal members aligned with Andrew Freeman.

Casino operations have continued despite a cease and desist letter sent by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that recognized the four ousted members as part of the last uncontested Tribal Council.

The remaining tribe has filed an appeal of that decision.

Children can’t be what they can’t see

Speakers encourage and honor students at annual graduation banquet

Graduates at the Tulalip Graduation banquet received a print designed by James Madison in recognition of their accomplishment. *Photo: Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News*

By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News

TULALIP – The Tulalip Tribes honored all tribal members that graduated this year, as well as all other Native students who graduated from the Marysville School District, on June 13 at the Tulalip Resort. Ninety nine students graduated from high school and post-secondary education. Tribal leaders recognized the academic achievement of the students, and former Chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission, Tracie Stevens, gave an inspirational keynote speech. Student speakers expressed gratitude for many years of support, telling of their struggles and achievements.

Leticia Bumatay of the Shool Home Partnership Program (SHOPP) said, “Seven years ago, I couldn’t see myself standing here. I say seven years because that was when I lost my mom. I was bounced around with beda?chelh, so I am 21 years old getting my high school diploma today. The one thing I have to tell everybody is to never give up. Never give up on what your dreams are, never give up on your hope, and never give up on your faith. My grandma taught me that.”

Tulalip Treasurer Glen Gobin encouraged graduates to go out and see the world without the fear of losing their roots.

“You graduates here today, your whole world is out there. You can get an education or you can go to work. But one thing I just want to encourage you all, because it’s the one things that has kept us who we are today, is stay grounded in your culture, stay grounded in who you are, stay grounded and come back and help your tribe, because that what our past people have done,” he said.

Keynote speaker Tracie Stevens took the stage, introducing herself in a traditional manner. She highlighted the importance of education, and what that empowers students to accomplish for their tribe and for themselves.

“I didn’t understand what the purpose of education was, and what it would do for me later in life. I was the first person in my immediate family to graduate high school and began a 21 year journey to get a four-year degree. I worked for Tulalip from 1995 to 2009. I just decided to finish school one day. I figured out that if I went to school, at night, full time, I could finish in one year what I had been trying to for the last 20 years. I was the first in my family to get a four-year degree. The lack of a question I had when I was younger, about what education would do for me; I found later that education would expand my universe, a great deal. Which eventually led to my passion, this policy nerd that I am, which is helping my people, in any way that I could.”

Education is a journey for finding passion. In high school, some students dare to move on to college to chase their life’s passion. Others find their passion in jobs or job training. It’s all about doing what you love in the long run.

Mekalani Echevarria of Marysville Getchell High School said, “Find a passion and go with it. Life without passion is utterly boring. But don’t forget where you come from. Remember your teachings from elders and use them in daily life. Stay humble, respectful, and honest.”

Tulalip graduates were recognized for the example they are for their people.

“What kind of auntie would I be if I didn’t graduate. I had to be an example for my nieces and nephews. Not only for them, for the next generation,” said Tulalip Heritage High School graduate Santana Shopbell.

That need to be an example continues on long after graduation. Stevens talked about how she struggled with the choice of accepting the nomination to chair the National Indian Gaming Comission, knowing it would extend her time away from home.

“A woman I worked with, Rene Stone, told me, ‘How will all those Indian boys and girls, that are growing up now, ever know that they can come this far and do this kind of work if they don’t see you out front leading? Children can’t be what they can’t see,’” Stevens recalled. “You all have reached an important benchmark, and with that you are breaking a cycle of an old failed Indian Education policy that was meant to take the Indian out of you. We can do more than just survive, we can thrive and prosper. You’ll use your education, your knowledge, to pass that on to the next generation, to change the history of Indian Education so that we control our own destiny. Be the example, be the change, and be the one that passes that on.”

Girl and Boy Students of the year, mekyla Fryberg and Jaren Muir Johnson — Girl and Boy Students of the year, Mekyla Fryberg and Jaren Muir Johnson. *Photo: Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News*

Ninety nine graduates this year. Ninety nine examples of hard work and dedication. Ninety nine examples of success and achievement, overcoming adversity in so many ways. Congratulation to all graduates of 2014.

Andrew Gobin is a staff reporter with the Tulalip News See-Yaht-Sub, a publication of the Tulalip Tribes Communications Department.
Email: agobin@tulalipnews.com
Phone: (360) 716.4188

Traditional Cooking, the Salish Way

By: Dina Gilio, Indian Country Today

The Pacific Northwest is known by indigenous peoples for its natural bounty, spanning from the rich mountain forests and salmon-filled rivers to the vast abundance of seafoods provided by Mother Ocean. Such a wide nutritional variety paves the way for a cuisine that is distinctly Salish, showcased in the recently released second edition of an ebook called Salish Country Cookbook: Traditional Foods & Medicines from the Pacific Northwest. Written by Rudolph C. Rÿser (Taidnapam Cowlitz) originally in 2004 and published by Daykeeper Press, the updated version includes new dessert recipes, expanded information about ingredients (in their Latin and Native names), and additional full color photos. The author draws on his experience growing up eating traditionally gathered and hunted foods such as deer, elk, bear, duck and beaver.

The 146-page volume features recipes for everything from appetizers to salad dressings, and main dishes to sweet treats. There is also a section for teas and juices. As a holistic project, however, it also includes sections dedicated to traditional Salish cooking knowledge, the basic Salish pantry, the importance of Oolichan oil, the cultural aspects of Salish cooking, and the dangers of modern contamination. The book wouldn’t be complete without a compendium of commonly used plants in Salish country, with details about harvesting techniques and culinary and medicinal uses.

With a forward written by Leslie Korn, Ph.d., MPH, author of Rhythms of Recovery: Trauma, Nature, and the Body and director of the Center for Traditional Medicine in Olympia, Washington, the central organizing theme of the book is restoring Native health and community through a return to traditional foods. Recognizing the connection between escalating rates of modern illnesses like diabetes and heart disease and the loss of traditional foods, the book emphasizes the destructive force of many modern ingredients. As Korn writes: “We have tried to maintain the integrity of each dish by using foods that do not raise the glycemic level or use gluten-based products, both sugar and gluten being harmful to most indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere (as well as peoples from other parts of the world including Europe).”

Food gathering and preparation is a central aspect of traditional knowledge, as Rÿser writes. For example, being in the right frame of mind is imperative for the life-giving force of traditional foods to ensure that food is infused with happiness and calmness. Cooking methods further contribute to the health-imparting benefits of traditional foods. Microwave ovens and high temperature cooking, for instance, should be avoided in favor of slower, lower temperature cooking to protect food’s nutritional integrity.

Adapting traditional foods in a contemporary context is also a creative process and is reflected in the recipes offered in the book. You won’t find fry bread here, but you will find healthy ingredients such as stevia and berry juices (instead of refined sugar), rice or cattail flour (instead of processed white flour), and coconut or olive oil (instead of conventional vegetable oils).

Salish Country Cookbook can be purchased for $9.99 through the Center for Traditional Medicine at www.centerfortraditionalmedicine.org.

Redskins Lawyer Claims There Is ‘No Momentum’ for Name Change

AP Photo/Jim MoneAmerican Indians and their supporters gather outside the Metrodome to protest the Washington Redskins' name, prior to an NFL football game between the team and the Minnesota Vikings, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) — AP Photo/Jim Mone
American Indians and their supporters gather outside the Metrodome to protest the Washington Redskins’ name, prior to an NFL football game between the team and the Minnesota Vikings, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

Indian Country Today

The changing of the racist name of the Washington Redskins football team is looking more and more certain — to everyone, that is, except the team’s own honchos. Owner Dan Snyder stated just over a year ago, “We will never change the name of the team … It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.” Sportscaster Al Michaels, who has talked with Snyder on the subject, says the owner “basically said [the team would change its name] ‘over my dead body.’”

Yesterday, following the announcement that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was rejecting six of the team’s trademarks, the team’s lawyer offered a similarly stubborn statement. Unlike some previous feeble attempts from Redskins representatives to assert that the name “honors” American Indians, attorney Bob Raskopf stuck to the legal-ese:

“As the district court’s ruling made clear in 2003, the evidence ‘is insufficient to conclude that during the relevant time periods the trademark at issue disparaged Native Americans…’ The court continued, ‘The Court concludes that the [Board’s] finding that the marks at issue ‘may disparage’ Native Americans is unsupported by substantial evidence, is logically flawed, and fails to apply the correct legal standard to its own findings of fact.’ Those aren’t my words. That was the court’s conclusion. We are confident that when a district court review’s today’s split decision, it will reach a similar conclusion.”

So… is the team’s name racist? Should it be changed? Those are not questions Raskopf is paid to address, nor are they questions Snyder and his surrogates ever really address. It’s all about what they can get away with, legally, not what is right or wrong.

It’s not about reviewing the facts — it’s about selling their version of the facts, a tactic demonstrated in a comment of Raskopf’s that surfaced in an AP story titled “Ruling adds momentum for Redskins name change”:

“There’s no momentum in the place that momentum matters,” Raskopf said. “And that’s in Native America.”

No momentum?

This is an attempt to sell two false narratives. One is that American Indians don’t care about the issue. And the other, implied, false narrative is that the opinions of American Indians matter, at all, to the Redskins organization. (“We would change something, but we’ve looked around and nobody seems to be upset. Just kidding, we didn’t really look. And also just kidding, we wouldn’t change anything anyway.”)

Really… no momentum?

Evidently he’s not getting his news from this website, where we’ve reported that “67 Percent of Native Americans Say Redskins Is Offensive”. Raskopf may also have missed the story about the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation buying a TV ad during the NBA Finals. He may have missed the National Congress of the American Indians’ statements (there have been a few) condemning the name, as well as the activism of Native American Olympian Billy Mills (both Mills and NCAI Chairman Brian Cladoosby praised yesterday’s ruling.) He may have missed ICTMN columnist Gyasi Ross — who not long ago professed not to care about the issue — joining Oneida Indian Nation Representative Ray Halbritter on ESPN’s Outside the Lines.

Ross appeared on MSNBC and HuffPo Live in the wake of yesterday’s news — Raskopf might have missed those clips as well.

He may even have missed the uproar over the Navajo golf tournament the Redskins sponsored — a sneaky move that caused the Notah Begay III Foundation and the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) to sever ties with the event. The debacle happened to be preceded by a condemnation of the name by the Navajo Nation Council.

No momentum in Native America? Here’s a tip for Raskopf, Snyder, and the Redskins organization: If you don’t see “momentum” against your team’s offensive name in “Native America,” it’s because you’re not looking. Try looking in Indian country. That’s what it’s called. Learn to call it by its name and you might start learning a whole bunch of other things.

(Yes, it’s called Indian country. You weren’t thinking Redskinland, were you?)