Month: May 2016

One-on-One with Idle No More co-founder Sylvia McAdam

Syliva McAdam (Saysewahum), a cofounder of the international movement Idle No More,
Syliva McAdam (Saysewahum), a cofounder of the international movement Idle No More.

 

By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News 

Sylvia McAdam (Saysewahum), a cofounder of the international movement Idle No More, recently spoke at the Spring World Issues Forum held at Western Washington University. Prior to her lecture, Sylvia held a special presentation at Northwest Indian College (NWIC) in Lummi to discuss her work to date and to share her mission of promoting Indigenous self-determination and knowledge.

Sylvia is a citizen of the Cree Nation who holds a Juris Doctorate (LL.B) from the University of Saskatchewan and a Bachelor’s of Human Justice (B.H.J) from the University of Regina. She is a recipient of the Carol Geller Human Rights Award, Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers Award, Social Justice Award, 2014 Global Citizen Award, and has received several eagle feathers from Indigenous communities. She remains active in the global grassroots Indigenous led resistance called “Idle No More”.*

Because colonization has dramatically caused the heartbreaking loss of Indigenous languages, customs, and inherent systems, Sylvia uses the oral tradition of her people to share with her fellow Indigenous peoples her dream to revitalize Indigenous nationhood. It is Sylvia’s dream, shared by many, that freedom, liberation, and self-determination will lead Indigenous peoples away from the pain of genocide and colonialism.

Following her truly riveting presentation, she sat down with Tulalip News staff to discuss several issues that are of importance to not just citizens of Tulalip, but all Native peoples.

During your presentation you mentioned as Indigenous peoples we shouldn’t identify as ‘environmentalist’ or ‘activist’, but instead view ourselves as defenders of our homeland. Why is that?

“When you begin to identify as an environmentalist or activist there’s a fear that arises because those terms can be associated with economic terrorists. The fear is rooted in the belief that environmentalism and activism affect the economy. That’s part of it, the other part is activism and environmentalism infers that there is no inherent connection to the land; you just show up and protest. However, when it comes to Indigenous people doing this kind of work, their connection, attention, and investment to the land is much different. Our history is written on the land, our ancestors are buried here, that land is our home. So we are defending and protecting our home. Being defenders of our homeland shifts the thinking, as it should, because our connection with the land is unique.”

Viewing ourselves as defenders of our homeland should also unite us as Native and Indigenous people with a set of common goals, right?

“Absolutely. When you are born you are born not only as a human being, you are born into lands. When we go home we have a very clear set of lands that we are born into and we have a responsibility and obligation to protect those lands. That’s what I continue to do every day and that’s why I tell people, ‘when you know your lands you will know your relatives.’ I’m not just talking about the human relatives, I’m talking about the land, the plants, and all the animals, the flyers, the crawlers and the swimmers. Those are all our relatives and right now they have no agency to defend and protect themselves. That’s where we need to step up because the forces that threaten our land and humanity are very identifiable right now. Those forces are the extractive corporations that are going into our lands, almost in a frenzy, to take the very things we need to sustain us.”

Some of the forces that continue to threaten Native culture and Indigenous identity are more covert than others. You mentioned the term ‘ethnocide’ earlier. Can you explain that?

“We speak about genocide, but people forget about ethnocide. Ethnocide is the death of the way of being of people; the things that we need to carry us on as a people. Ethnocide is the taking of our trees, the taking of our water, and the taking of our plants. What then do we have to carry our ceremonies on? The ceremonies are pivotal and integral in who we are as a people. If you could not have trees to make your canoes, what then? If there are no trees then there are no forests to harvest from. If the waters and oceans are poisoned and you can no longer perform your ceremonies, then what happens to your songs and the language? How does your culture live on? You lose who you are as a people. That’s ethnocide.”

The idea of disenrollment based upon blood quantum is gaining traction amongst many tribes. It’s based on a system of thought not of our own, but passed down from colonization. What are your thoughts on disenrollment?

“It’s so unfortunate because it seems we’re always in the realm of inadequacy. We’re always inadequate; its either we have too much culture or not enough culture. We’re always in that measure of inadequacy. Ultimately, we can turn to our ancestors to see we never throw away our relatives. We never throw them away, even the ones we have come to adopt. It’s against our culture and against our natural laws as Indigenous peoples. At the end of the day, if you can demonstrate and show to me where your lands and your relatives are, then doesn’t that speak for itself? Every child, every original peoples’ child is born into lands. They have an inherent right to protect and defend those lands. No human can take that away from them.

If you are dis-enrolling children, then you are taking away their inherent obligation and jurisdiction into the lands they are born into. No human being has that right. It’s against our laws to do that. For every Indigenous child born it’s the duty of the parents to make sure that child is connected into the land, so that when they grow up they will defend and protect their relatives who don’t have agency to defend themselves.”

What astounds you most when you look back at all you’ve experienced and achieved over the past few years with Idle No More?

“The amazing courage of grass-roots people when they set their minds to things. That’s what blows me away. The courage and determination of so many individuals who unite and come together for a common goal is what drives Idle No More. On a global scale, we got a message from the Amazon, from the original peoples there, and they told us they were trying to stop the development of a dam. While defending their homeland they were opposed by paramilitary brought in to keep them away from the dam site. On one occasion they were standing there with their spears and bow and arrows chanting ‘Idle No More!’ while the paramilitary pointed their guns at them. They told us Idle No More was their battle cry.

So when I start to feel discouraged or overwhelmed I remind myself of these stories to remember I’m not alone. I have to be a voice for those who can’t speak for themselves and continue this work. If I don’t, then what am I going to tell my grandchildren when they ask me, ‘what did you do to protect and defend our culture and homeland?’ I want to be able to tell them I did everything that I could. That’s why I’m here.”

*source: http://www.idlenomore.ca

 

Contact Micheal Rios, mrios@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov

sgʷigʷialʔtxʷ at 20: Building upon the past, visioning into the future

Young Nation Ka’ila Farrell-Smith (Klamath/Modoc). 2015. Oil paint, spray paint, wax crayon on canvas. “Young Nation is a painting using direct visual symbolism to create dialogue about the attempted erasure of Indigenous cultures through forced assimilation by violent European colonization in the Americas (and abroad). American mythologies of ‘manifest destiny’, ‘frontier expansionism’ along with the use of Christianity’s land claims via papal bull’s like the Doctrine of Discovery were utilized to enact agendas such as: Indian Boarding Schools, Termination acts, Relocation acts, Reservations, land theft and biological warfare. This systemic and environmental racism is still happening across Indian Country today. Young Nation asks the questions: is forced colonization worth the attempted erasure and destruction of Indigenous culture, art & paradigm? There is sadness and pain in recognizing the losses, but there is also an empowerment in acknowledging the injustice. When the dominant culture is unaware of the ugly horrors in our shared histories, such as the Indian Boarding schools whose motto was “Kill the Indian, Save the Man,” then I feel creating paintings that bring light to these cultural secrets are of the imperative.”
Young Nation – Ka’ila Farrell-Smith (Klamath/Modoc). 2015. Oil paint, spray paint, wax crayon on canvas.
   “Young Nation is a painting using direct visual symbolism to create dialogue about the attempted erasure of Indigenous cultures through forced assimilation by violent European colonization in the Americas (and abroad). American mythologies of ‘manifest destiny’, ‘frontier expansionism’ along with the use of Christianity’s land claims via papal bull’s like the Doctrine of Discovery were utilized to enact agendas such as: Indian Boarding Schools, Termination acts, Relocation acts, Reservations, land theft and biological warfare. This systemic and environmental racism is still happening across Indian Country today. Young Nation asks the questions: is forced colonization worth the attempted erasure and destruction of Indigenous culture, art & paradigm?
   There is sadness and pain in recognizing the losses, but there is also an empowerment in acknowledging the injustice. When the dominant culture is unaware of the ugly horrors in our shared histories, such as the Indian Boarding schools whose motto was “Kill the Indian, Save the Man,” then I feel creating paintings that bring light to these cultural secrets are of the imperative.”

 

 by Micheal Rios, Tulalip News 

The House of Welcome Longhouse Education and Cultural Center located at Evergreen State College in Olympia is celebrating 20 years of groundbreaking work. Work that emphasizes promoting indigenous arts and cultures through education, cultural preservation, and creative expression. The House of Welcome celebrates the essence of that work with its latest exhibition, Building Upon the Past, Visioning Into the Future.

Curated by Longhouse staff members, Erin Genia (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate) and Linley Logan (Seneca), the exhibition features the works of artists from this land, local Squaxin Island, Skokomish, Puyallup and many other Salish tribes. Tribes from across the nation are also represented, from Alaska, the Plains, and across the Pacific Rim, including Kanaka Maoli artists from Hawaii and Maori artists from New Zealand.

 

We Are Their Only Voice Scraped Bucket, Salmon and Beaver. Dawn Walden (Mackinac Band of Chippewa and Ottawa). Birch bark, cedar bark, cedar roots, sweetgrass, bass wood corded handle. “Essense of Birch Tree. Though I consider myself a Contemporary Native Artist, I look for the sacred in form and traditional materials, blending contemporary with traditional weaving. For me it is about showing respect for the tradition and spirit of the materials, always seeking a balance between myself, the materials, and the form they are creating. There is a sense that I am imbuing admiration, respect and belonging to the solid form of the tree, plants and the artwork as well. I would like the viewer to be removed from current time and space, and drawn into the work so they might experience what I have translated. It is no longer a thing, but a trigger for the expression of feeling.”
We Are Their Only Voice Scraped Bucket, Salmon and Beaver.
Dawn Walden (Mackinac Band of Chippewa and Ottawa). Birch bark, cedar bark, cedar roots, sweetgrass, bass wood corded handle.
“Essense of Birch Tree. Though I consider myself a Contemporary Native Artist, I look for the sacred in form and traditional materials, blending contemporary with traditional weaving. For me it is about showing respect for the tradition and spirit of the materials, always seeking a balance between myself, the materials, and the form they are creating. There is a sense that I am imbuing admiration, respect and belonging to the solid form of the tree, plants and the artwork as well.
I would like the viewer to be removed from current time and space, and drawn into the work so they might experience what I have translated. It is no longer a thing, but a trigger for the expression of feeling.”

 

“This exhibition reflects the twenty years of building relationships with artists locally, regionally, nationally and internationally,” stated exhibition co-curator Erin Genia. “Native artists are using so many different methods for expressing themselves and we really wanted to display as many of those methods as possible. The result is we have close to ninety beautiful pieces of art, treasures really, that make up this exhibition.”

The subjects and techniques exhibited by the Longhouse artists draw from a diverse range of stylistic traditions, which arise from cultural teachings, ancestral lineages, and each artist’s unique experiences as indigenous peoples. Works on display include paintings, drums, carving, beadwork, photography, baskets, and jewelry.

“As a curator of this exhibition it’s such an awe-inspiring experience to hear from the artists themselves as to the perspective and inspiration behind their artwork,” added fellow co-curator Linley Logan. “We have artists who are very traditional and roots oriented; artists who use the natural resources around them to showcase their creativeness. In a contemporary lifestyle in nature, we’ve continued to use the resources around us which now include materials other than natural materials. We’ve come full circle in our intent to build upon the past and vision into the future creatively and intellectually as indigenous people.”

 

hat
Cedar Bark Fedora. Patti Puhn (Squaxin Island). 2016. Red and yellow cedar bard, sinew, pheasant feathers.

 

Sustaining Traditions for Future Generations. Kelly Church. Grand Traverse Bay of Ottawa and Chippewa. 2014. Black ash, sweetgrass, Rit dye, black ash bark, black ash splints.
Sustaining Traditions for Future Generations. Kelly Church. Grand Traverse Bay of Ottawa and Chippewa. 2014. Black ash, sweetgrass, Rit dye, black ash bark, black ash splints.

 

I Believe in Falcons Kayeri Akweks (Upper Mohawk, Six Nations Reserve). 2015. Watercolor, graphite, prisma, red iron oxide on 100% rag paper. “I recognize that there are two cores of identity within me and at their fundamental, both have direct internal attachment to and beliefs in the land as a constant spiritual force. Indigenous people know things - the land gives authentic direction about how to live. The land can and will offer instructions about healing. In my experience, I’ve consistently found that all of nature communicates concerning their healing properties, that lying directly next to the earth will comfort you and send love into your pain, that there is strengthening power in expressing gratitude, that self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others is about cleaning one’s own soul. Lately, I have added these: that love can and does heal anything and everything, that connecting to Creator/Source daily makes more love, clarity, and cleans the earth - and somehow helps ancestors who in turn are more available to assist.”
I Believe in Falcons. Kayeri Akweks (Upper Mohawk, Six Nations Reserve). 2015. Watercolor, graphite, prisma, red iron oxide on 100% rag paper.
    “I recognize that there are two cores of identity within me and at their fundamental, both have direct internal attachment to and beliefs in the land as a constant spiritual force. Indigenous people know things – the land gives authentic direction about how to live. The land can and will offer instructions about healing.
    In my experience, I’ve consistently found that all of nature communicates concerning their healing properties, that lying directly next to the earth will comfort you and send love into your pain, that there is strengthening power in expressing gratitude, that self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others is about cleaning one’s own soul. Lately, I have added these: that love can and does heal anything and everything, that connecting to Creator/Source daily makes more love, clarity, and cleans the earth – and somehow helps ancestors who in turn are more available to assist.”

 

The exhibition was on display from March 31 – May 11. The House of Welcome was gracious to allow syəcəb staff a private tour of the exhibition so that we could share amazingly creative and exceptional Native art with our readers over the next couple issues.

 

Renee Marie Aguilar

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Renee Marie Aguilar, 45, of Tulalip, Washington passed away May 8, 2016. She was born October 16, 1970, in Bellingham, Wash. to Malescio Aguilar Sr. and Beverly Ann Tom. She was a loving and caring mother and great teacher. She was always happy. She worked at both Tulalip Casinos where she was a poker dealer. Her family was very important to her. She liked playing Sla-hal games. She is survived by her five children: James Aguilar, Elida”Lucy” Reeves, Josh Hamilton, Jeremiah Aguilar, and Diana Aguilar; brother, Malescio “Moe” Aguilar Jr; aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives. A visitation was held on Thursday, May 12, 2016, at 1:00 p.m. at Schaefer-Shipman Funeral Home with an Interfaith Service following at 6:00 p.m. at the Tulalip Gym. Funeral services were held Friday at 10:00 a.m. at the Tulalip Gym with burial following at Mission Beach Cemetery.

New MPHS cafeteria marks another milestone in community recovery

 

Photo/Micheal Rios
Photo/Micheal Rios

 

by Micheal Rios, Tulalip News 

Shovels and hard hats were on deck as ground was broken for a new cafeteria at Marysville Pilchuck High School (MPHS) on the afternoon of Friday, April 29.

“This is a proud day, a wonderful day, a day of new beginnings. It’s a day where we can celebrate starting anew,” announced Becky Berg, Marysville School District Superintendent. “This is a monumental day where we actually get to symbolically break ground. More importantly we get to come together as a community that’s been through something that not many communities understand and something that has made us stronger in the process. The young lives lost are not forgotten, ever, but the young lives currently attending the school will benefit from this wonderful structure. This is an amazing school district with a bright future ahead of us.”

It’s been 18 months since the MPHS shooting and the ripple effects of that fateful day are still being felt. However, the Marysville community continues to heal while visioning to the future. With the help of key state legislators and the backing by House Democrats, $5 million has been provided to build the new cafeteria. That will cover a very large portion of the estimated $8.2 million cost for the new building.

“Today we honor the wishes of our Marysville Pilchuck community and the needs of our Marysville Pilchuck students,” stated school board president Pete Lundberg. “We’re very thankful for the support of all those who let us know what they wished for us to do. I see this as a sign of the beginning of the future, positive steps in the Marysville School District that we can see going forward. As we keep our eye on the horizon, this new facility will be a wonderful accompaniment to not only the Marysville Pilchuck student and staff, but to our community as well.”

The old cafeteria, the scene of Jaylen Fryberg’s murder/suicide, has been closed since the shooting. School district leadership, along with community backing, has remained clearly in favor of not using that cafeteria ever again. The design for the new 16,000 square foot cafeteria, which is expected to open fall 2017, includes a kitchen, ASB office and community meeting space.

 

Don ‘Penoke’ Hatch, grandfather to shooting survivor Nate Hatch.
Don ‘Penoke’ Hatch, grandfather to shooting survivor Nate Hatch. Photo/Micheal Rios

 

“I want to thank each person who is here to witness the ground breaking of this structure,” said Tulalip tribal member Don ‘Penoke’ Hatch, grandfather to shooting survivor Nate Hatch. “I want to also thank my tribal members who are here because it’s not just the Marysville School District that’s struggling. It’s our parents in our Tulalip community as well. Hopefully, all of us can unite together to make this thing successful for everybody, for every one of the students in the school district.”

As the Marysville and Tulalip communities continue to heal, the ground breaking for an all new cafeteria was a step forward. The looks of anticipation and hopefulness that several students in attendance displayed are evidence of progress and recovery.

“When we look at the recovery process from an event like this there are several milestones along the way and I think this ground breaking represents yet another milestone in the recovery for the city as a whole, but most importantly for the kids and staff here at Marysville Pilchuck High School,” said Marysville Mayor John Nehring. “We are so grateful to all those who worked so hard to make the financing available for this project. I am so personally grateful for the strength of the leadership, staff, and kids here who continue to inspire us each and every day.”

Tribes prevail, kill proposed coal terminal at Cherry Point

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sided with Northwest tribes Monday in a decision to block the largest proposed bulk-shipping terminal in North America at Cherry Point.

 

Lummi hereditary chief Bill James, on the beach at Cherry Point, says saving it is to preserve "the tribe's very way of life." It's the site of an ancient Lummi village. (Alan Berner/The Seattle Times)
Lummi hereditary chief Bill James, on the beach at Cherry Point, says saving it is to preserve “the tribe’s very way of life.” It’s the site of an ancient Lummi village. (Alan Berner/The Seattle Times)

 

By Linda V. Mapes, Seattle Times 

The Lummi Nation has prevailed in its fight to block the largest coal port ever proposed in North America, at Cherry Point.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency reviewing permits for the deep water port project, agreed with the tribe Monday that it could not grant a permit for a project that would infringe on the Lummi Nation’s treaty-protected fishing rights.

The 34-page decision was celebrated by community groups and tribes all over the Northwest that opposed the coal port.

The developer, SSA Marine of Seattle, declared the decision “inconceivable” and political, rather than fact-based. Bob Watters, SSA senior vice president and director of business development, said the company was “considering all action alternatives.”

But legal experts said far from outlandish, the decisionfollowed federal obligation to protect tribal treaty rights and the habitat that makes those reserved rights meaningful.

“This is based on a long line of precedent,” said Robert Anderson, director of the Native American Law Center at the University of Washington School of Law. “You can’t have a right to fish without a decent environment.”

Lummi fishing rights and the associated habitat are property rights protected against interference by states, the federal government and private parties, Anderson noted.

Tim Ballew II, chairman of the Lummi Indian Business Council called the decision “a big win for Lummi and for treaty rights and for Indian Country.” The tribe argued the project was a killer for its crab fishery and would thwart rebuilding the herring run that was once the prize of Puget Sound.

The terminal would have brought some of the largest ships afloat into the usual and accustomed fishing waters of the Lummi up to 487 times a year to load and unload bulk commodities, principally coal, bound for Asian ports.

The project touched a nerve on both sides of the border among communities fighting coal and oil transport projects — none larger than the port proposed for Cherry Point, the last undeveloped bit of shore on a deep-water cove, between a smelter and two oil refineries.

The Lummi fought the project from the start. The tribe was opposed not only to increased vessel traffic and risk of pollution from the project, but any disturbance of the site of one of its oldest and largest villages and burial grounds, upland from the proposed shipping terminal.

Promises by the developer to minimize and scale back the landside footprint of the project did not interest the Lummi, who argued the project could not be mitigated.

While SSA voiced shock at the decision, some industry analysts said it merely put a project that was never going to be economically viable out of its misery.

“This is like cutting the head off a zombie; it stopped making economic sense years ago, and now it’s officially dead,” said Clark Williams-Derry, director of energy finance at the Sightline Institute in Seattle. With coal prices in a long slide and no recovery in sight, the project had no financial future, Williams-Derry said.

“They have no market for the coal,” agreed Tom Sanzillow, based in New York as the director of finance for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, a nonprofit think tank. Coal-export projects are “wasting a lot of investor capital and people’s time,” he said.

The campaign against the project was hard-fought and its foes implacable. Brian Cladoosby, president of the National Congress of American Indians and chairman of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community in La Conner, called coal “black death,” and vowed tribes would fight the project to the end.

Cladoosby said Monday, “Today was a victory not only for tribes but for everyone in the Salish Sea. I hope we are reversing a 100-year trend of a pollution-based economy, one victory at a time.”

Tribal opposition to the project from around the region was good news for citizens from Seattle to Bellingham and beyond, noted Cesia Kearns, based in Portland as deputy regional director of the Beyond Coal campaign for the Sierra Club. “Protecting treaty rights also protects everyone who calls the Salish Sea home. I feel just an incredible amount of gratitude,” she said.

Mel Sheldon, chairman of the board of directors for the Tulalip Tribes, which also have treaty-reserved fishing rights at Cherry Point, said the port would have taken away a way of life not only for those who fish, but for tribal and nontribal residents who treasure the environment. “This is a journey we are all on.”

The decision was made by the Seattle District commander, Cmdr. Col. John Buck. If in the future the Lummi withdrew their opposition, SSA Marine can restart the permitting process, the corps noted.

But Ballew made it clear that is not on the table.

“We have always made our treaty rights and protection of the Ancient Ones our first priority,” Ballew said. “And we always will.”