By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News; photos courtesy Maria Capili Photography
The Tulalip Resort and Casino (TRC) routinely displays all the reasons why it has earned the coveted AAA Four Diamond Award every year since 2009. Day and night the TRC staff are hard at work, dedicated to providing excellent customer service. As a Four Diamond Award winner, the TRC consistently delivers a luxurious experience, complete with a high level of service, amenities, and impressive surroundings. But, there is one event, held one weekend of the year where the TRC transforms itself from much, much more than the casino we often think of it as. In fact, this event has little to do with slot machines or table games at all.
The event is the annual Taste of Tulalip, Washington State’s coveted culinary festival of the year. More of a food and wine experience than an event, the two-day Taste of Tulalip showcases gourmet food and an assortment of fine wine hand-selected by Tulalip’s top-notch culinary team, led by Executive Chef Perry Mascitti and award-winning Sommelier Tommy Thompson. This year, the Taste of Tulalip celebrated its seventh anniversary over the weekend of November 13.
On Friday evening, Four-hundred and fifty guests filled the Orca Ballroom for the Taste of Tulalip’s 7th Annual Celebration Dinner. The theme of this year’s dinner was “La Famiglia”, which is Italian for “the family”. In sticking with the theme, the Orca Ballroom was completely decked out in Italian backdrops, tapestry, fountains, and even live performance art. If the visuals weren’t enough to have you thinking you were in little Italy, then the live musicians, from an opera singer to a mandolin player, definitely did the trick.
The evening’s inspiration came from the love of Italian grandmothers everywhere who have a special passion for cooking amazing food every day for their families. In tribute, Tulalip chefs recreated many of their beloved recipes, paired with a global offering of rare, top wines.
Tulalip traditions were also highlighted throughout the evening. Tulalip artists continue to use traditional tools and techniques, while also using computer graphics, power tools, laser cuts and more to bring both traditional and innovative forms of Coast Salish art to the 21st century. That’s why Tulalip artist Mike Gobin was chosen to design this year’s Taste of Tulalip logo. The logo he created was etched and printed onto wine glasses, dinner plates, and various marketing materials.
“The Taste of Tulalip logo was inspired by my father, Thomas J. Gobin, and my twin sister, Marilyn R. Lewis (Gobin),” says Mike of his unique, Coast Salish design. “The salmon represents the people of the Tulalip Tribes, “People of the Salmon’. My father’s Indian name means, ‘Man soars with Eagles’, and my sister’s Indian name means, ‘Aunty to all’. So the eagle represents my father and the hummingbird represents my sister. The eagle is hugging the hummingbird, so, with my father and sister gone now, this design represents my father meeting my sister in heaven and giving her a big hug. I’ve entitled this design, “A Father’s Heavenly Embrace”. I miss both of them a great deal.”
photo/Maria Capili Photography
Within the Tulalip community, giving has often been an expectation of individuals as a means of sharing and survival. As Tulalip has grown economically and prospered from several business ventures, the tribes’ charitable donation program has continued to grow in kind and gives to nonprofits around the region. On this night, Snohomish-based veteran’s organization Heartbeat – Serving Wounded Warriors received two checks for $10,000 each. Heartbeat provides emergency assistance, therapeutic services, support groups, and morale-building programs for wounded service members and their families in Washington State.
photo/Maria Capili Photography
“It’s critical that we serve those who gave up so much for our freedoms,” Tulalip Chairman Mel Sheldon said. “I was a Vietnam veteran, and if programs like this had been around back then, it would have changed everything. This is truly healing medicine.”
Friday evening’s celebration dinner was followed up with Saturday’s gourmet food and wine extravaganza, as more than 2,000 guests came from all over the region to attend wine seminars, cooking demonstrations and, of course, the Grand Taste. Attendees savored flavors of exceptional food and wine pairings from around the globe as they sauntered about lavish food stations by TRC award-winning chefs, countless winery samples from Washington, Oregon and California, craft beer selections, and even two separate lounges featuring their own hand-picked pours.
The only way to adequately describe the Grant Taste is to share photos, which as they say, are worth a thousand words. And if your mouth doesn’t water, then you’re not looking hard enough. The food was utterly fantastic, as every dish was prepared to wow the taste buds. Add in the wine selection, which encompasses the entire spectrum from once in a lifetime to perfect for a normal Tuesday, and we have a creative and fun atmosphere, free of snobbery and pretentiousness.
The two-day Taste of Tulalip is the annual opportunity for the Tulalip Resort Casino to drop the casino part and flex its culinary muscles as the Tulalip Resort, proving itself as a true destination in the Pacific Northwest’s food and dining scene. Both Friday and Saturday’s events sell-out every year, so be on the lookout for information regarding next year’s Taste of Tulalip at www.tasteoftulalip.com
Throughout the 3-Day fitness camp, Tulalip youth had conversations about how to properly workout and take care of their bodies, and learned the importance of a good warmup that includes stretching to avoid injury. Photo/Micheal Rios
By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
Dietreich Rios, Suquamish tribal member and owner/operator of Dietreich Fitness in Orlando, Florida, hosted a Native youth basketball camp and fitness clinic at the Donald Hatch Jr. gymnasium, November 23-25. The 3-day health expo was all about health and fitness, while promoting a tobacco-free lifestyle.
““I’ve trained a lot of athletes, from professional basketball players to body builders, but my passion is motivating and helping our Native peoples stay healthy and strong individuals,” says Dietreich while in the midst of a stretching routine he does before day one of the basketball clinic. “Over the past couple years I’ve become more involved in not only the fitness community, but in Native American health across the nation.
“I try my best to reach and help inspire, motivate, and teach as many people as I can. I preach fitness and basketball since that’s what I grew up doing; playing basketball was all I did as a kid then as I got older I got heavily into fitness. I try to integrate the two whenever I can.”
Dietreich Rios, a Suquamish tribal member and owner/operator of Dietreich Fitness in Orlando, Florida. Photo/Micheal Rios
Dietreich grew up in the greater Seattle area before moving to Florida to pursue dreams of opening his own fitness center. He has become a renowned personal trainer and basketball skills coach to many high school hoopers, D-1 college athletes, and has even added the likes of Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis (an NBA player) to his clientele.
We’ve all witnessed how the health and fitness movement has grown immensely over the past several years. Currently, there are no shortage of gyms and workout areas in Marysville, and it wasn’t too long ago that the Tulalip Teen Center and Tulalip Bay Crossfit opened their doors to our reservation based community.
“Getting Natives to keep their minds and bodies healthy through fitness, exercise, and sports is a big movement right now. We’ve always had basketball, rez ball you know, but from what I’ve been seeing there is more of an emphasis on overall fitness and health within tribal communities,” explains Dietreich. “Our people are getting inspired from seeing the Nike N7 movement and by seeing famous athletes like WNBA all-star Shoni Schimmel. More Native youth are seeing people who look like them have success on the professional level, especially young girls who look up to Shoni and her sister Jude, they are motivated play basketball.”
Preaching and advocating for a healthy lifestyle that includes being active through exercise and sports is nothing new for Native Americans. Natives have always been known for their athletic ability, but in the last couple generations the numbers say that athletic skill isn’t being utilized like it once was. Obesity, diabetes, and heavy alcohol/drug use have been running rampant through our communities, making it harder and harder to find the well-conditioned Native athlete above the age of 30.
Whatever the reason may be, tribal departments and communities nationwide have ramped up their focus on engaging Native youth to stay active through sports and fitness. Get them started when they are young and the hope is they’ll continue to maintain that healthy lifestyle and be a role model to others later in their life.
“The movement is definitely growing. Through my travels I’ve seen more community fitness centers and youth athletic centers being built on reservations,” reflects Dietreich. “Now there’s a big emphasis to have a gym, to have places for our people to work out and stay fit, and to have departments getting our young ones involved in sports and fitness.”
The Tulalip Tribes Youth Services Department has been monumental in creating activities, services, and teaching fitness based curriculum to our youth. Since opening the Tulalip Teen Center, the Youth Services Department has been steadfast in reaching out and bringing motivational speakers, fitness experts, and Native celebs to engage with our youth.
Shortly after we hosted the Gary Payton Basketball Camp, Youth Services, with the help of DeShawn Joseph, learned of Dietreich and his assortment of fitness skills he uses to motivate and energize Native youth. Within the past year Dietreich has taught fitness and basketball camps on the Jamestown S’Klallam Reservation and within the Navajo Nation. He is also preparing to do some fitness camps up north for a few First Nations tribes in Canada.
Throughout the 3-Day fitness camp, Tulalip youth had conversations about how to properly workout and take care of their bodies, learned the importance of a good warmup that includes stretching as to avoid injury, and covered tobacco prevention.
“Tobacco prevention is an interesting topic to me because it should be a no brainer for all athletes, but still there are so many young athletes who choose to smoke,” asserts Dietreich. “If you are going to play sports, then you shouldn’t smoke tobacco because it’s detrimental to what you’re trying to do.”
The exercises the kids enjoyed most during the camp were undoubtedly those that called for dribbling or shooting a basketball. They were all able to participate in a multitude of basic and semi-advanced basketball skill building exercises. Each exercise is something Dietreich hopes the kids will continue to make part of their fitness routine.
Following the fitness camp, Dietreich took to Facebook to thank the Tulalip community. “In the spirit of being thankful, I want to thank the Tulalip Tribes for hosting me this week while I put on this youth basketball and fitness clinic. I had a great group of kids! Hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.”
A woman reads a description of Leonard Peltier’s oil painting, “Steve Reevis,” center on wall in 2001. Peltier is serving two consecutive life terms for the murder of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
The Associated Press
TUMWATER, WASH. – A Washington state agency plans to remove four paintings by an inmate serving time for killing two FBI agents after former law enforcement officers complained about the artwork’s inclusion in a lobby art exhibit.
The paintings were done in prison by Leonard Peltier, 71, a Native American activist who is serving two consecutive life sentences in the deaths of two FBI agents during a 1975 standoff on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
The works were hanging near the front doors of the state Department of Labor and Industries’ headquarters in Tumwater, Washington, and part of an exhibit to mark National American Indian Heritage Month, KING-TV in Seattle reported (http://goo.gl/ckVGrA ).
An association representing retired FBI agents demanded the state agency remove the paintings.
“He’s nothing but a thug,” said retired FBI agent Ray Lauer. “He’s an unrepentant cop killer.”
Lauer is a member of the Retired FBI Agents Association, which wrote a letter to Labor and Industries demanding the paintings be removed.
“For the state of Washington to use taxpayers’ dollars to basically offer a free art gallery to somebody who is a convicted cop killer, I find it, as a law enforcement officer, appalling and quite frankly disgusting as taxpayer also,” Lauer said.
The state agency said it will replace the paintings this week with other artwork.
Displaying the work wasn’t meant as an endorsement of Peltier’s cause, said Tim Church, a state Labor and Industries spokesman. It was simply meant to be about Native American art, he said.
“We feel badly about the impressions that they’re taking from it. We truly do. That was in no way our intent,” Church said.
Peltier’s case has been a source of protest over the decades.
His son, Chauncey Peltier, said there is no evidence his father killed anyone. He has been exhibiting his father’s paintings around the country to raise awareness about his father’s attempt to gain a presidential pardon.
TULALIP — Last Thursday, the children in Sarah Poyner Wallis’ kindergarten class at Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary School filtered in after the morning assembly.
Maria Martin and Nik-Ko-Te St. Onge, teacher assistants with the Tulalip Tribes’ Lushootseed department, wish the kids good morning.
“haʔɬ dadatut,” they said. The children said it back to them.
The kids sat in a circle for their first lesson: a song, simply called “Hello Friend,” and sung in Lushootseed to the tune of “Frère Jacques.”
Andy Bronson / The Herald With the help of flash cards, kindergartners at Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary School speak the Lushootseed language with instructor Nik-Ko-Te St. Onge. From left: Jaycee Williams, Jesse Lozano,Tyler Hills and Joscelynn Jones-Lloyd.
For years Tulalip children have received lessons in their ancestral tongue at the Tulalip Montessori School and the Betty J. Taylor Early Learning Academy on the reservation. The written form of the language includes characters found in the International Phonetic Alphabet.
This year Lushootseed, or dxʷləšucid, the language of Coast Salish Indians around Puget Sound, was reintroduced to the Marysville School District for the first time since 2011. That’s when the old Tulalip Elementary in the heart of the reservation was closed.
About 50 kindergartners and first-graders — five total classrooms — are getting daily language lessons from Martin and St. Onge this fall.
The simple explanation for the reintroduction is that the Tulalip Tribes were able to hire more teachers.
“Our problem is we were short-staffed. We’ve never had a full crew,” said Michele Balagot, the tribes’ Lushootseed department manager.
Newly hired teachers start out by teaching pre-school kids, and ideally would remain with the same the class of students as they get older, she said.
That’s not very easy in practice, however.
“Some people we hired found out they didn’t like to teach, or weren’t teacher material, or found out they didn’t like working with little kids,” Balagot said.
Add to that the fact that most of the teachers hired have had to learn Lushootseed at the same time they taught it to the children, one of the aftereffects of the boarding school era in which the language was suppressed almost to the point of extinction.
Maria Martin, who is 25, represents a new generation of speakers. She started learning the language as a child in the Montessori school, but throughout her school years only learned the language in the Tulalip summer language camps.
The Lushootseed program sends new hires to Northwest Indian College in Bellingham for formal instruction before they are put in front of a class.
Martin said she feels reasonably fluent when in front of the class, although still consults with her superiors in the language program when she needs specialized vocabulary.
Still, she’s become fluent enough that she’s often delivered invocations and greetings in Lushootseed at official tribal functions.
In Poyner Wallis’ class, she gave instructions to the kindergartners in Lushootseed first, and only English if the kids didn’t appear to understand them.
In one exercise, she held up a flash card with a picture of a brown bear. “stəbtabəl̕,” the kids chimed together.
She held up a picture of a frog. “waq̓waq̓!”
Then she held up an orca, but the kids are unsure and need reminding. “qal̕qaləx̌ič,” Martin said, and the kids shape out the unfamiliar glottal consonants.
A picture of a salmon also stopped them cold, and Martin prompted then with the answer: “sʔuladxʷ.”
“That’s a hard one because it looks like qal̕qaləx̌ič,” one boy piped up. “I almost said ‘salmon’.”
The student body at Quil Ceda Tulalip is about 60 percent Native American, although the actual figure is likely higher once children of mixed marriages or parents who aren’t enrolled in a tribe are taken into account, said Chelsea Craig, a cultural specialist at the school.
All the schoolchildren have been getting a dose of native culture in the morning assembly, which includes singing and a drum circle. The school is also leading the charge in incorporating native history into its regular curriculum.
Craig said she hopes that by getting the kids into Lushootseed while still young, they will learn their ancestral language and come to associate it with a supportive and healing environment.
“My great-grandmother was beaten for speaking Lushootseed,” she said, referring to the boarding school era, which began in 1860 and didn’t truly end until the 1978 passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act.
When Craig was growing up, some tribal elders could still speak the language, she said.
“The elders spoke it but didn’t share it, because it was too traumatic,” she said. “My great-grandmother didn’t want me to go through what she went through.”
Some Lushootseed words are introduced at the morning assembly, but it’s the lessons in class that are moving toward making the language thrive again.
In Poyner Wallis’ classroom, the kids were split into groups. Nik-Ko-Te St. Onge used the children’s book “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” to help reinforce the vocabulary, and then moved on to flash cars with numbers.
St. Onge held up a card with the number six on it. Jordan Bontempo counted out loud on his fingers.
“č̓uʔ, saliʔ, ɬixʷ, buus, cəlac … yəlaʔc!” he said triumphantly.
Meanwhile, Maria Martin gave the kids pictures of a bear to color that also had a connect-the-dots tracery of the Lushootseed word “stəbtabəl̕.” Two kids colored the bear brown and one black, but others went for green, purple, rainbow stripes and one outside-the-lines expressionist squiggle.
When they were done with the bear, they moved on to a picture of a frog.
Carlee James-Jimicum waved her completed bear at Martin. “I’m ready for my waq̓waq̓,” she said.
Balagot said that there are about 40 people on the Tulalip reservation who can speak Lushootseed with some degree of conversational skill.
“We probably couldn’t hold a full conversation, but we could get the gist of what we’re saying,” she said.
The hope is the 50 kindergartners and first-graders will grow into older kids and teens who can add to that number.
Like Martin, perhaps some of them will return to teaching the next generation.
After finishing up in Poyner Wallis’ class, St. Onge and Martin split up. Martin walked down the hall into Lisa Sablan’s kindergarten class, where the kids were eagerly waiting for their lesson.
When she stepped into the room, they all called out together, welcoming their teacher and friend “haʔɬ dadatut syaʔyaʔ!”
Tulalip Tribes Chairman Mel Sheldon speaks at the rally. Photo courtesy Theresa Sheldon, Tulalip Tribes Board of Director.
Lummi Nation Chairman Tim Ballew II and other leaders rally in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2015, to oppose the Gateway Pacific Terminal, which would export primarily coal and expand railways. Ballew says that the project would disregard treaty rights and harm the environment. Grace Toohey McClatchy
WASHINGTON – A proposed coal terminal and affiliated railway for Cherry Point, Wash., has sparked concern about treaty violations and environmental degradation for many Pacific Northwest tribal leaders, 10 of whom rallied together in Washington, D.C., on Thursday morning against what they said is government disregard for their treaties.
About a block from the White House, three Lummi Nation sisters crooned a song referencing the 1855 U.S. treaty with Pacific Northwest Native American tribes, reserving certain rights for their fishing, hunting and sacred grounds. “What about those promises? Fills my heart with sadness, I can’t do this on my own, we’ve got to come together and be strong,” the women sang.
But Tim Ballew II, chairman of the Lummi Nation, said those rights are in jeopardy.
“All the tribes are standing here today in solidarity to protect not just our reservation community but everybody’s community from the impacts that cannot be mitigated,” Ballew said, standing in front of leaders from the Tulalip, Swinomish, Quinault, Lower Elwha Klallam, Yakama, Hoopa Valley, Nooksack and Spokane nations and the president of United South and Eastern Tribes.
The proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal, a subsidy of SSA Marine, would act as a trading hub between landlocked domestic companies and markets in Asia, said Joe Ritzman, vice president of business development for SSA Marine. The deepwater terminal would handle up to 60 million tons of commodities, primarily coal, and the project would coincide with a railway expansion.
OUR CURRENT FOCUS IS THE IMPACT ON TREATY FISHING RIGHTS, AND IT’S THE GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSIBILITY TO UPHOLD THE TREATY. Tim Balew II, chairman of the Lummi Nation
But the project’s designated land includes burial sites for Lummi ancestors and artifacts, Ballew said, and the coastal development would harm age-old fishing traditions within the tribe.
“The location of the pier will take away fishing grounds and the increase in vessel traffic would impede access of our fishermen to fishing grounds throughout our usual and accustomed areas,” Ballew said.
Washington state, Whatcom County and the federal government are reviewing the environmental impacts of the proposed export terminal and associated rail expansion, expecting to release state-local and federal environmental impact statements in 2017. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is the federal review agency, is also inspecting Native American treaty rights at play.
“Our current focus is the impact on treaty fishing rights, and it’s the government’s responsibility to uphold the treaty,” Ballew said.
The Lummi Tribe, whose reservation is minutes from Cherry Point, entered the Treaty of Point Elliot more than 150 years ago, which ensured the sovereign nation right to “fish at usual and accustomed grounds and stations is further secured to said Indians in common with all citizens of the Territory.”
JoDe Goudy, chairman of the Yakama Nation, said his tribe has faced similar treaty battles in Oregon, most recently when the governor halted a proposed coal export plant near their sacred ground and Columbia River fisheries. But now that decision is under appeal, putting their treaty rights at stake again, Goudy said.
“The recognition from us collectively (is) that those reserved rights go hand in hand with our sustained existence as peoples,” Goudy said. “A direct attack on such things, in our hearts and minds, is a direct attack on our sustained existence.”
Not only would the Gateway Pacific Terminal affect the Lummi Nation, Goudy explained, but the proposed railways would transport coal by the Yakama Nation’s portion of the Columbia River.
“This issue affects all of us, we’re connected in ways that the U.S cannot even imagine,” said Tyson Johnson, council member of Nooksack Indian Tribe.
SSA Marine will wait until the state, county and federal environmental reports come out, Ritzman said. But with plans for mitigation strategies and a 75 percent natural buffer of the 1,500 acres for the project, Ritzman said he expects his company’s proposal to meet all state and federal environmental requirements and not impact the fisheries.
President Barack Obama and his administration met with the tribal leaders and many more Thursday afternoon as a part of the White House Tribal Nations Conference.
“I credit the current administration for every year building on our efforts to help us rebuild our nations and I encourage them to continue that,” Ballew said. “We really want them to give this issue its due respect. It’s a human rights issue, it’s a treaty rights issue, and we need our sacred sites protected.”
Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article43286049.html#storylink=cpy
Leaders and members of the Lummi Nation and other Washington State tribes opposed to coal terminals in the Pacific Northwest are bringing their concerns to the other Washington, the U.S. capital, on Thursday November 5.
Eight tribes in total will call on Congress to honor treaties that safeguard both the environment and tribal members’ ability to fish and conduct other cultural and sustenance activities that would be compromised by proposed industrial development. They plan to speak on the issue at the Ronald Reagan Building courtyard during the White House Tribal Nations Summit, to be held
“Tribal treaty rights are being threatened by corporate interests and congressional interference,” said the tribes in a media release announcing the event. “As Lummi Nation fights to protect its fishing areas from North America’s largest coal terminal, other tribes have faced their own development pressures and stand united with Lummi against the terminal and the erosion of treaty rights.”
The Lummi have vociferously opposed the projects and have asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to review and reject the proposal for a coal rail terminal at Cherry Point, the ancestral village site of Xwe’chi’eXen.
The statement is signed by Lummi Nation Chair Tim Ballew II; Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Chair Brian Cladoosby (also president of the National Congress of American Indians, a post to which he was recently reelected); Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe Chair Frances Charles; Tulalip Nation Chair Melvin Sheldon Jr.; Yakima Nation Chair JoDe Goudy; Hoopa Valley Tribe Chair Ryan Jackson; Spokane Tribe Chair David Brown Eagle, and Quinault Tribe Vice President Tyson Johnston.
“Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) has led efforts in Congress to prevent the U.S. Army Corps from reviewing the impact of the terminal on the Lummi Nation’s treaty fishing rights—a central tenet of its trust responsibility,” the leaders said in the statement. “If successful, it could set a dangerous precedent for other projects in Indian country.”
Seattle has become the third major West Coast city to declare that homelessness has reached a state of emergency.
Mayor Ed Murray today declared a state of emergency due to homelessness in Seattle—following similar moves in Los Angeles and Portland—and King County Executive Dow Constantine did the same in the county.
To address the emergency, Murray announced $5.3 million in new one-time money that will go toward homelessness services over the next few months. Constantine also pledged $2 million total toward services like law enforcement diversion, housing vouchers, and shelter beds, though some of that is already included in his budget.
Government officials often declare states of emergency about natural disasters in order to “highlight the gravity of the challenge and make formal requests for assistance from the state and federal governments,” Constantine said at today’s announcement at the downtown YWCA. “Homelessness is not a natural disaster. It is a human-made disaster.”
The crisis is undeniable: During this year’s one-night count, 3,772 people were sleeping outside in King County and 2,813 of them were in Seattle. That was a 21 percent increase in the county and 22 percent increase in the city over last year. According to the mayor’s office, 66 homeless people have died in the county so far in 2015, 47 of whom lived on the streets or in homeless encampments, and 3,000 Seattle Public Schools students are homeless.
Constantine said 35,000 people in King County become “newly homeless” every year.
“Thirty-five thousand,” Constantine repeated. “That is the population of a city the size of Issaquah.”
YWCA CEO Sue Sherbrooke, who spoke in support of the declaration of emergency, said her organization provided case management or shelter for 7,500 people last year. She said homelessness falls “disproportionately [on] women, men, and families of color.”
Murray said he wouldn’t consider an end to the state of emergency until the region sees a “significant reduction in the number of people dying on our streets—and I mean significant—and a significant reduction in school-age homelessness.”
So, what exactly does it mean for the city to declare a state of emergency?
Declaring an emergency—a move usually reserved for “civil unrest, a natural disaster, or a terrorist attack,” the mayor said—allows the city to move more quickly to fund homelessness services and is basically a cry for state and federal help in addressing the problem. Service providers and local government officials have criticized the federal government for reducing the amount of money it spends on housing and homelessness services, leaving local government to shoulder those costs. As part of the emergency declaration, the mayor said he would also ask the federal government to make FEMA assistance available for homelessness.
“We must get this issue back on national agenda,” Murray said. “It’s foolish to believe cities alone in isolation can solve [homelessness].”
Both Constantine and Murray cited federal disinvestment along with increasing income inequality, a lack of services for mental illness, and a national heroin epidemic for worsening homelessness.
The new $5.3 million, which is a separate pot of money from the ongoing discussions about the mayor’s budget, will come from the sale of excess city-owned property on Myers Way South, according to the mayor’s office. It will be spent on a slate of servicesmostly focused on case management, outreach to people living on the street or in encampments (including illegal makeshift encampments), and 100 new shelter beds with limited hours for one year. The money will also fund some sanitation needs like Honey Buckets and trash removal, but where those will go remains unclear.
Technically, the property on Myers Way hasn’t yet been sold yet, according to the mayor’s office, so the city’s profit is estimated. That means the city is essentially lending itself the money for these homeless services and plans to repay itself after the sale of the property.
Murray called the declaration “risky” because “the orders you can issue under state of emergency are extensive,” including closing businesses or issuing curfews. He isn’t using those powers here, but did promise to consider bypassing zoning restrictions or speeding up permitting processes to create new shelter space for children.
The state of emergency declaration also allows the city to spend money more quickly by simply directing it toward service providers instead of going through the standard contracting process.
That puts most of the responsibility for figuring out the specifics—like where the Honey Buckets and new shelter beds will go or who will be hired for case management—on the city’s Department of Human Services. HSD Director Catherine Lester said after the mayor’s announcement that the shelter beds will be focused on a population that is currently unable to access already existing shelter, like couples, people with pets, or people with certain criminal histories. (Which population is yet to be decided.)
“We really want to make a dent on those things that are keeping people on the streets,” Lester said.
The city council will have to approve legislation authorizing how the $5.3 million is spent, which Council President Tim Burgess pledged to do quickly. Six council members, including Burgess, stood with the mayor at his announcement today. Council Member Mike O’Brien called homelessness a “tragedy in a city that can create so much wealth.”
The list of funding is largely focused on immediate needs—not that surprising for a state of emergency—rather than long-term preventative services, although both Murray and Constantine emphasized the need to address root causes of homelessness.
Constantine said he and Murray spoke directly with President Barack Obama about the issue when Obama visiting Seattle recently.
“He was very aware and concerned not just with increase of homelessness nationally…but also with the particular increase in homelessness in West coast cities,” Constantine said. “We are joining with other West Coast cities to say this time is different. Something different is going on here.”
During the evening of Friday, October 23, the Hibulb Cultural Center and Natural History Preserve held a small, intimate gathering to unveil its latest exhibit, Natural Wanderment: Stewardship. Sovereignty. Sacredness. An exhibition of Native American portraits and stories that honors and seeks to protect ancestral ways of life and lands in North America.
Matika Wilbur, of the Tulalip and Swinomish tribes, presented an extraordinary exhibition of Project 562 portraits of Native Americans devoted to the protection of the sacred and the natural. Project 562 aims to build cultural bridges, abandon stereotypes and renew and inspire our national legacy by documenting people from 562+ Tribal Nations in the United States.
“Project 562 is my offering to you. It is for the people. For each of us. It is with deep respect that I welcome you to my newest collection: Natural Wanderment: Stewardship, Sovereignty, Sacredness,” said Matika in a welcome pamphlet to all those who attended the opening night’s unveil. “This collection of images is meant to help us understand our relationship with the mother earth.”
Matika, one of the Pacific Northwest’s leading photographers, has exhibited extensively in regional, national, and international venues such as the Seattle Art Museum, the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, The Tacoma Art Museum, the Royal British Columbia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Nantes Museum of Fine Arts in France. Her photographs have been acquired for the permanent collections of the Tacoma Art Museum and the Seattle Art Museum.
“Most of the portraits are accompanied with excerpts from our interviews recorded on the road,” stated Matika. “The responses of the featured people provide a special opportunity to bring you closer what we have experienced and come to understand from so many Native Americans in their own lands. These speakers’ words allow imagination of identities and realities, history and places that are otherwise difficult if not impossible to experience. It is so important to us that people be able to tell their own stories from their own places.”
Matika studied photography at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography in Montana and received a bachelor’s degree from Brooks Institute of Photography in California. Her work led her to becoming a certified teacher at Tulalip Heritage High School, providing inspiration for the youth of her own indigenous community. She is unique as an artist and social documentarian in Indian Country. The insight, depth, and passion with which she explores the contemporary Native identity and experience are communicated through the impeccable artistry of each of her heartwarming photographs.
“This is just the beginning,” Matika concluded. “There are many miles of the journey left to travel, and many, many more stories to share. I offer deepest thanks to my family, the Tulalip Tribes’ Hibulb Cultural Center, the Project 562 Team…and other supporters for believing in and helping us continue our work. I am so grateful that you are here; my hands are raised to you!”
Project 562, with intense and widespread attention, will when completed produce a fine arts book series, curricula, documentary, project-derived fashion, and other cutting edge Native American aesthetic material distinct in creativity and quality, origin and insight. To learn more please visit project562.com.
The exhibit unveiling included a gathering at Hibulb’s longhouse, opening prayer by Tulalip Board of Director Marie Zackuse, welcoming songs by the Tulalip Canoe Family, and song and dance by Tlingit dance group, the Náakw Dancers,
Following the exhibit preview, Matika took to Facebook to express her overwhelming gratitude for all those who made her evening a special one.
“A great big thank you to the Tulalip Hibulb Cultural Center for hosting a beautiful opening for Project 562 last night! My heart is so full of love and gratitude… A million thanks to our Tulalip leaders, community members, singers and dancers that blessed us with your beautiful words and songs, I could hear your drum beat in my dreams last night! Thank you to my incredible family and friends for your unwavering support and uplifting encouragement– it was so good to see so many relatives! I’m overwhelmed with gratitude this morning- thank you for believing in this great big idea to ‘change the way we see Native America’. It took so many people to bring it all together, thank you for being a part of it. You make it possible.”
The 42-piece photographic exhibit, Natural Wanderment: Stewardship. Sovereignty. Sacredness, will be on display through June 11, 2016 at the Hibulb Cultural Center and Natural History Preserve.
Beginning this past spring, as part of the Tulalip Tribes trauma-informed care services, children at Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary have been learning Rainbowdance. Rainbowdance gathers children, teachers, and sometimes parents around a big parachute for one hour and helps them enhance social empathy, self-confidence, and self-regulation. The facilitator, in this case Christy Anana, Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary school counselor, blends storytelling, object lessons, and repetitious movements set to music. Consistency over many weeks and months lead to the mastery of movement, which promotes self-confidence, helping them to develop coping mechanisms for daily challenges and stressors.
By Niki Cleary, Tulalip News
Have you ever been rolled by a wave? First, it hits you. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it’s just a shock, but then you’re tumbling. Completely disoriented, you have no idea which way is up, or how to get out. You can’t stay where you are, you know that. Your lungs start burning. You can hear your heart pounding in your ears. Then there’s that magic moment when you find your equilibrium. You find the surface, and take that first sweet breath of air.
Last October the MPHS school shooting was a wave that rolled us all. The problem with waves is they never come alone. Over the course of the year, waves have broken over us repeatedly. Some were small, like the time some guy cut in front of you in the line at the coffee shop. Some are very personal, the time a loved one lied to you or told you they hated you. Some are huge and might include domestic violence, or a death in the family. Some happened within our families and some, like the automobile accident that killed four young people in August, happened to our entire community.
Every wave has hit each of us differently. Some of us were carried closer to shore and we’re almost walking on the beach normally again. Some of us were brought a step closer to drowning every time. Some of us found a life raft in the arms of our families, and some found it in addiction or dysfunction. A few of us have kept ourselves afloat by climbing onto someone else, and now we’re panicking as we watch them slip below the surface.
These are just the latest series of waves to wash over our community. One of Tulalip’s original tidal waves of trauma, the boarding school, scarred our community. It left a type of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome that was passed from generation to generation. That legacy made it more difficult for our people to cope with stressors, and when our community was rocked by the shooting, many of us were already at our limits.
What does trauma look like?
“Our people are hurting so bad,” said Sherry Guzman, Tulalip’s Senior Manager of Behavioral Health. “So many of our people have had so much trauma and it’s still going on. A lot of people don’t think of it as trauma. Maybe their father left or didn’t protect them, or mom or dad drank too much or mom had many boyfriends.
“Then they get older and fall in love with this person that said they loved them. Then there’s a baby and that person leaves. Then because they’ve never been taught to take care of a child, that child, who they do love, is taken. That is trauma, upon trauma, upon trauma. Trauma can be a boyfriend slapping you or making fun of you. One of the greatest traumas in our community is lateral violence, wanting to hurt someone else because it makes you feel bigger or better.”
Gina Skinner from the Tulalip’s Chemical Dependency Clinical Administrator pointed out a history of trauma in the clients that seek healing from addiction. The last year, she explained, has been particularly difficult.
“There is a lot of emotion in every session,” Gina described. “There was a core group of kids checking in. Nobody quite knows what to do with these wounded children. We get referrals from the school or summer youth program. But once they get a UA (urinalysis test), they were like, ‘Oh well, I don’t want the job,’ or, ‘I don’t want to go back to school.’ From my perspective we need to figure out how to get them engaged into services gently with us or child services.
“It’s almost easier to get them into my department [chemical dependency] because someone would rather be an addict than have mental health issues. Addiction is something you can recover from and mental health has this permanency stigma.”
Gina urged both children and adults to reach out, “Every feeling is valuable, no matter if you think it’s too little. If you don’t feel right or need to talk, if you don’t feel safe, tell someone. There is help here, come in, this is a safe place for you.”
The unthinkable
Like 9/11, or those who lived through Pearl Harbor, the people affected can instantly recall where they were and what they went through when they heard about the shooting.
“I felt like I couldn’t breathe,” reminisced Tulalip’s Child Advocacy Coordinator Leila Goldsmith. “I know that’s an anxiety attack.”
Now, like many community members, Leila doesn’t quite feel like she’s entitled to feel traumatized.
“No matter how bad it feels to me, it’s hard to give voice to it, because I didn’t have the worst thing happen. None of us feel like we’re allowed to feel, because someone had something worse happen, someone else lost a child. I know we need to acknowledge that even if you were on the periphery, it was devastating. What happened was unthinkable, and then it happened. Even if you are on the edges of it, it changes your world.
“For a while it was quieter. Things kind of came to a standstill. We didn’t have as much activity, I think, because everybody was just consumed with living.”
Leila runs the Child Advocacy Center, a program dedicated to helping heal victims of child abuse.
“Initially I was asked to help find resources to guide us through those first months,” Leila explained. At that time she reached out to colleagues on a national level to find professionals able to both provide the level of service needed in the aftermath, and provide it in a way that supports Tulalip culture, rather than trying to work around it.
“Lots of people want to come help you, but there aren’t very many people you want to have around,” Leila explained. “The phrase that rang in my mind is, this is the guy you want around after everyone else leaves.”
The ‘guy,’ was actually a team: the International Trauma Center, led by Dr. Robert Macy.
“He was incredible compassionate and gentle. I felt, if he came, he’d be here to help and not further his own interests. He agreed to a trip to meet and talk with us to see if we were the right fit. When Dr. Macy first came, that was the first time someone sat down with us and said there is a predictable set of stages that the community will go through. It was so comforting for someone to say, ‘I’ve seen this over and over and this is what you can expect.’ Because when you’re experiencing it, it feels like your brain is exploding, you can’t even think in a straight line. ”
Leila explained that, while it’s been a year, that guidance is still needed.
“We have some of the highest numbers we’ve ever had,” she said. “We know stressors in families mean more child abuse and less resilience. This has taken a toll on every single person, our reserves and our ability to cope.”
Her hope is that the community will continue to focus on healing and children.
“There is a safety net of professionals here who have a multitude of resources and are genuinely doing their work with heart. Sometimes, I feel like people give up on the truth, that healing is possible. Healing doesn’t come through the criminal justice system, it comes other ways. We’re working to offer more so that people can have that opportunity to walk towards healing. We have a long ways to go.
“If I could change one thing to make us healthier,” she continued. “I’d say choose children over adults, every day. Protect children before you protect adults. If people did that alone, everything would change.”
Healing takes a village
The International Trauma Center describes traumatic experiences as “dehumanizing, shocking or terrifying, singular or multiple compounding events over time and often include betrayal of a trusted person or institution and a loss of safety. Trauma can result from experiences of violence. Trauma includes physical, sexual and institutional abuse, neglect, intergenerational trauma, and disasters that induce powerlessness, fear, recurrent hopelessness, and a constant state of alert. Trauma impacts one’s spirituality and relationships with self, others, communities and environment, often resulting in recurring feelings of shame, guilt, rage, isolation and disconnection.”
The bright light in all this is that people can heal from trauma. A trauma or even multiple traumas doesn’t doom a person to a life of addiction, health issues and intergenerational violence. Which is why Tulalip has instituted a Trauma Informed Care model of services.
Tulalip Recovery Manager, Rochelle Lubbers described the model, “Trauma Informed Care (TIC) is a powerful way to help our tribal members manage and sustain important relationships in our personal and work lives by engaging in compassion, vision, social justice while at the same time decreasing the use of violence and aggression to negotiate those relationships.
“There are many ways Trauma Informed Care will be implemented throughout our community,” she continued. “One piece will be to educate the community and workforce about the impact of psychological trauma. Through the identification, assessment and treatment of trauma in individuals, families and community members we can significantly decrease the long term negative effects of violence exposure among our tribal members.”
The goal, she explained, is to create resiliency to all trauma, not just cope with the aftermath of the MPHS shooting. “We know we will continue to experience trauma in years to come and the Trauma Informed Approach gives us long-term effective tools to reduce violence in our community and to engage in consistent resilient behaviors for our children, partners and elders.”
Tulalip is not alone in this effort, Rochelle pointed out.
“’Unity’ was not only a message developed after Tulalip and Marysville experienced community violence, but it was an effort between all respective parties to communicate and heal together. Last November a recovery committee was formed and was very inclusive to the greater community; it includes the Tribe, City of Marysville and the School District as well as partnering agencies such as Victim Support Services and Volunteers of America Crisis Care in addition to many faith based communities and non-profit agencies.
“This group has produced many tangible community resources and events such as an inter-faith service, a multi-disciplinary trauma response team, a series of evidence based suicide prevention programs, an integrated community based resource website, multiple trauma informed care trainings and credentialing seminars, and, at the one year marker, a ‘Walk of Strength’.”
As we experience new waves of tragedy and the ripple effects of trauma, we don’t have to be at the mercy of the waves. The resources are available to teach us to swim through them.
“There can be long and short term effects to not dealing with trauma,” said Rochelle, “and the impact is different from person to person. The important thing is to be aware of change in behavior of your loved ones and seek help when you are worried. Watch for signs of isolation, anxiety/worry, increased risky behavior, and changes in sleep, amongst others. The Volunteers of America crisis line is a great resource for anonymous emotional support and can be accessed by phone or online chatting: 1-800-584-3578.
“In addition, Tulalip’s mental wellness teams have been receiving additional training in trauma processing and are always here to offer our community support. You can reach the adult program at 360-716-4400 and the children’s program at 360-716-3284. Please know that most of us cannot process this tragedy on our own and it is okay to get the help you need from a professional.”
Additional Resources
MTUnited.org
Chemical Dependency Crisis 24 hour Line 425-754-2535
Care Crisis Line 24 hours 800-584-3578
National Suicide Prevention Line: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
YAKIMA, Wash. — Federal officials have accepted a petition that will give Yakama Nation authorities exclusive jurisdiction for certain cases on tribal land, and will have the State of Washington withdraw from any authority.
The United States Department of the Interior said in a news release Monday that ‘retrocession’ has been granted, and tribal police and courts will have full authority over civil and criminal cases involving members of the nation.
The federal government will retain their authority over the Nation, and Yakama Nation authority will remain the same. The removal of state authority over tribal persons is the only change to come from this decision.
The state will keep jurisdiction over those involving non-tribal defendants, plaintiffs or victims.
As part of the agreement the federal Office of Justice Services (OJS) assessed the Yakama Nation’s court system and offered recommendations for improvements to their tribal court operations, as well as helped develop a 3-5 year plan.
The Yakama Nation also created ten new police officer positions, in preparation of having more cases to handle.
OJS also donated $149,000 to the help bolster the tribal court system by improving the court’s infrastructure, increase pay for law-trained judges, hire a legal assistant and court administrator, and provide training to tribal judges, prosecutors, and defenders on issues like domestic violence, child abuse, and neglect.
Washington lawmakers established a process for tribes to ask for exclusive jurisdiction in 2012. Washington has become the sixteenth state to rescind its authority over tribal court proceedings involving only tribal members.
Governor Jay Inslee agreed to the Yakama Nation’s petition last year. The change will officially take effect in April.
