TULALIP, Wash- On Thursday evening, as part of the Hibulb Cultural Center & Natural History Preserve’s Lecture Series, staff from the Tulalip Lushootseed Language Department provided a presentation on the “Lushootseed Calendar”. Natosha Gobin and Michelle Myles, Lushootseed language teachers, explained how Coast Salish people kept track of time by observing weather and nature.
Today our lives are dictated by the calendar. Our agendas are arranged by what day, week, or month it is. Not too long ago, native people of this area did not think of days as Tuesday or Wednesday, or if it was February 3rd or the 4th, rather they witnessed the conditions in their surroundings, or environment, which would indicate what tasks need to be done, or what events need to be prepared for.
“We don’t have an exact translation for each of the months,” Natosha Gobin explains. “But what we have is each particular thing that happens around that time.“ For example, for what we know as April, one thing that happens is slihibus, or the time when the swans/cranes migrate, referring to the time you would see large white birds migrating back to the area. This was a reminder that the weather is starting to get warmer; the “season” is changing.
For more information on the Lushootseed Calendar, or the Lushootseed Language department, log on to www.tulaliplushootseed.com call (360) 716-4495.
Considering American Indian and Alaska Native Veterans have served in every branch of the U.S. Military for well over the past 200 years, It goes without saying that their efforts and histories of distinguished services should be recognized.
In addition to any recognition, while studying the facts surrounding Native Veterans through such reports as released by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or the historical accounts of War Department officials, you will discover some interesting facts about Native Veterans outside the fact that American Indians serve at a high rate and have a higher concentration of female servicemembers.
Here are 10 interesting and surprising facts we found:
Detail from cover of The Blue, the Grey and the Red, still one of the under-told stories of the U.S. Civil War.
An Active Role in the Civil War
According to an extract from ‘A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer’ In 1862, several Indian Home Guard Regiments were organized and expedited in Indian territories and utilized for several years by the Union Army during the Civil War. Statistics show just fewer than 3,600 Native Americans served in the Union Army during the war.
Stan Watie, left, & Ely S. Parker (Courtesy Wikipedia)
Two Civil War Generals of Distinction
Stan Watie (Cherokee) joined the Confederate Army to become a notoriously fearsome General and the last Confederate General to Surrender. Ely S. Parker (Seneca) whose father fought in the War of 1812, enlisted into the Union Army rose to become General and served on the staff of Ulysses S. Grant.
Cherokee patient, World War I. U.S. Base Hospital No. 41, Paris, France, c. 1917-18. (Courtesy U.S. National Library of Medicine)
12,000 for World War I
When World War I started, American Indians were not considered U.S. citizens, but that did not stop approximately 12,000 Natives from volunteering to serve in the U.S. military. In addition, four American Indian soldiers serving in the 142nd Infantry of the 36th Texas-Oklahoma National Guard Division received the Croix de Guerre medal from France.
Courtesy womensmemorial.org
Native Women Doing Their Part
During WWI, 14 American Indian women served in the Army Nurse Corps, with two of them serving overseas. Mrs. Cora E. Sinnard, (Oneida) and Charlotte Edith (Anderson) Monture (Mohawk) both served as Army Nurses in France at a military hospital to lend their skills toward the war efforts overseas. Monture, who referred to her service as ‘the adventure of a lifetime,” died in 1996 at the age of 106.
October 29, 1940, U.S. Attorney General Robert Jackson draws the third draft lottery number from a large jar, as President Franklin Roosevelt looks on. (Courtesy nationalww2museum.org)
A Draft Could Have Been Avoided
War Department officials have stated, that during WWII, if the entire population had enlisted at the same rate American Indians did, Selective Service would have been unnecessary. According to the Selective Service in 1942, at least 99 percent of all eligible Indians, healthy males aged 21 to 44, had registered for the draft. The annual enlistment for Native Americans jumped from 7,500 in the summer of 1942 to 22,000 at the beginning of 1945.
In a file photo U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment of the Fifth Division raise the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, on Feb. 23, 1945. Joe Rosenthal, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his immortal image of six World War II servicemen raising an American flag over battle-scarred Iwo Jima, died Sunday. He was 94.
The Ten Percenters
By the end of the WWII, 24,521 reservation Indians and another 20,000 off-reservation Indians had served in the military effort – or 10 percent of the American Indian population. This combined figure of 44,500 represented one-third of all able-bodied Indian men from 18 to 50 years of age. In some tribes, the percentage of men in the military reached as high as 70 percent.
The Native American Marine Corps Women Reservists are pictured at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina on October 16, 1943. Pictured, from left, are: Minnie Spotted Wolf (Blackfoot Tribe), Celia Mix (Potawatomi Tribe), and Viola Eastman (Chippewa Tribe). (Courtesy U.S. Marine Corps)
800 Native Women Warriors Strong
Throughout WWII, nearly 800 American Indian women served in the U.S. military. Elva (Tapedo) Wale, Kiowa; Corporal Bernice (Firstshoot) Bailey of Lodge Pole, Montana, Beatrice (Coffey) Thayer and Alida (Whipple) Fletcher are just a few of the servicewomen that served during WWII. These brave women served with such units as the Army Corps, the Army Nurse Corps and as WAVES, ‘Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service.’
U.S. Army troops taking a break while on patrol in Vietnam War (Courtesy R.W. Trewyn, Ph.D./U.S. Army Operations in Vietnam
90 Percent Volunteer Through Vietnam Era
Throughout the Vietnam Era, American Indians enlisted in the military to the tune of more than 42,000 – 90 percent of them were volunteers, with the others serving trough draft selection. After Vietnam, Natives have continued to serve in high numbers. Since that time, Native servicemembers have seen military action and combat in Grenada, Panama, Somalia, the Gulf War, and in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation New Dawn (OND).
Navy Warriors
According to the 2012 VA report, nearly 50 percent of Native servicemembers served in the Navy in comparison to 14 percent of all other servicemembers of other ethnicities.
Five Years and You’re Out – Less for Officers
The VA also states that approximately 70 percent of Native servicemembers served five years or fewer and about 27 percent serve between six and 20 years. In terms of officers, only 6 percent of Native servicemembers were officers, while other ethnicities are roughly 2.5 time that rate.
The Washington Emergency Operations Center is advising that there is a Gail Warning in effect from now until 0900 and a Flood Watch from now until Saturday evening. Stay safe everyone.
EVERETT — Three Everett police officers are suing the city alleging that they were denied promotions based on their race and subjected to a hostile work environment when they complained about being passed over.
One officer, retired Sgt. Richard Wolfington, alleges that he was forced to quit in February after 20 years with the department. He claims that he was repeatedly skipped over for promotions in favor of white officers. Wolfington is Native American.
He also alleges that Capt. David Fudge retaliated against him when Wolfington complained that Fudge was violating department policies. He said the mistreatment caused his health issues.
Two other officers, Sgt. Manuel Garcia and Sherman Mah, also allege that their civil rights were violated when they weren’t promoted.
“Everett’s police department is in charge of upholding the law, not breaking it,” Bellevue attorney Victoria Vreeland said. “City leaders were informed about these repeated civil rights violations and retaliation, but did nothing to correct it.”
Garcia was the first Hispanic and bilingual officer in the department. He started in 1988 and has been a sergeant since 2002. Mah has been with Everett since 1995. He has sought promotions for 15 years and has been skipped over multiple times, according to the lawsuit. He claims he wasn’t promoted because he is Asian-American.
All three officers allege that the city ignored and failed to investigate their complaints.
Police Chief Kathy Atwood and Fudge also are named in the lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
Attorneys for the complaining officers initially filed a claim for damages with the city on Oct. 10. The documents say each officer could seek $1 million or more.
The city plans to fight the lawsuit, spokeswoman Meghan Pembroke said Wednesday in a prepared statement.
“The city investigated the plaintiffs’ allegations and determined they were without merit,” she said.
The Everett Police Department conducts employee evaluations and promotions based on officers who are the most capable and effective leaders, she said.
“It is important to underscore that the Everett Police Department’s core values include integrity, professionalism and honor, and the department is dedicated to providing a supportive, nondiscriminatory work environment,” she said.
Garcia alleges that he has repeatedly reported to his superiors derogatory remarks made about his race. In the initial claim, Garcia alleged he was told by supervisors not to attend National Night Out events in a neighborhood where “rich people” live, but to instead stick to an event sponsored by a Hispanic community group.
Garcia in 2010 ranked first on the eligibility roster for a lieutenant position. He said he was passed over for a white officer who was ranked third on the list.
In 2011, he was promoted to lieutenant and placed on a standard six-month probation. He alleges that Fudge “treated him more harshly and put extreme pressure and unreasonable expectations on him which Fudge did not place on Caucasian lieutenants on probation or otherwise,” Vreeland wrote in the lawsuit.
Garcia reported to his chain of command that he believed he was being unfairly targeted. He claims neither the city nor the police department investigated his complaints of unfair and unequal treatment.
At the end of the probationary period, Fudge recommended that Garcia be demoted back to sergeant. The lawsuit says that Atwood was aware of Garcia’s work history, good performance and “long-time work dedicated to improving the Everett (Police Department’s) relationship with the minority community.”
Garcia is well-known in Everett as the face of the annual Casino Road Futbol Academy. The camp offers soccer lessons and mentoring to hundreds of children primarily from low-income or minority families, especially from south Everett. Before coming to the U.S., Garcia played professional soccer in Mexico.
Atwood approved the demotion without any further investigation, according to the lawsuit. Garcia claims that he is the only officer in at least the last 20 years to be demoted immediately after the expiration of the probationary period. He alleges white officers have been given extensions or transferred to different supervisors.
Wolfington and Mah also allege that promotions were given to white officers who ranked lower than them on the eligibility list. They also say that they weren’t appointed to acting positions to gain experience for higher levels.
In one instance, Wolfington alleges that another sergeant was promoted to acting lieutenant over him even though the other officer hadn’t sought the promotion and wasn’t on the eligibility register, according to the lawsuit.
Wolfington claims that Fudge retaliated against him when he reported that the captain was engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate female officer. Wolfington said he complained about Fudge treating him and Garcia more harshly. He said the city ignored his complaints.
Wolfington said he “forced to call in sick numerous times” because of ongoing mistreatment. He said he was disciplined for his increased use of sick leave.
WASHINGTON, DC – In response to the news that President Obama included the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma in his Promise Zones initiative, National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) President Brian Cladoosby issued the following statement:
“It will be exciting to see how the already innovative Choctaw Nation utilizes the Promise Zones resources to achieve even greater successes in tribal job creation, education, and resource development. I want to congratulate the Choctaw on their inclusion in the initiative and thank President Obama for making Indian Country a priority in this new program.
President Obama’s Promise Zones initiative gives a clear roadmap for how the administration plans to support and invest in communities across the country. The goals of the program are in line with the goals tribal leaders have set forth for decades: investing in tribal economic development and growth is beneficial for the surrounding communities and the rest of the country.
Indian Country faces many challenges but also has great potential for success. Investing in tribal lands through this program is just the first step towards realizing that potential.”
BLAINE, Wash. – Washington State Fish and Wildlife officers and Lummi Tribal police teamed up this week to bust an alleged illegal seafood ring that involves distributors, commercial outlets and fishermen in three counties.
Officers simultaneously swooped in on 16 commercial fishermen, two wholesale fish companies and 10 retail establishments in Whatcom, Snohomish and King Counties. Investigators said the fishermen captured undocumented and undersized crab and sold them through the back doors of businesses that included some restaurants and nail salons.
The crab were taken before they could mature enough to spawn, stealing a future generation from a delicate and wild population.
Undercover video shows illegal crab being sold through the back doors of businesses.
“If you’re buying your shellfish from a nail salon, chances are it’s illegal,” said WDF&W Deputy Chief Mike Cenci who joined in the arrest of two fishermen at the Blaine Marina.
In that case, officers watched as the fishermen loaded two, 55-gallon buckets into the back of a pickup truck. They surrounded the vehicle and counted 60 undersized crab in large 55-gallon cans.
Officers spent several months recording illegal crab sales in back alleys and behind businesses involving tens of thousands of dollars worth of crab.
Lummi Tribal Police assisted in the arrests of tribal fishermen and the seizure of boats and vehicles used to carry out the alleged illegal transactions.
Some of those arrested face crimes ranging from civil charges to class ‘C’ felonies that carry fines and possible jail time
From Darryl Madden, Director of FEMA Ready Campaign
For many, the New Year is a time for setting goals and making new resolutions for the year to come. If you are anything like me, each year you find yourself resolving to achieve a healthier lifestyle – eating right, exercising more, losing a few pounds.
Setting personal health goals in the New Year is great, but improving overall well-being involves taking actions to be prepared. Knowing what to do in an emergency is vital to the health and safety of you and your loved ones.
This year, the Ready Campaign is challenging you to be Prepared in 2014. Start the New Year by connecting with family and friends on the importance of preparedness. Not only can the information shared potentially save a life, connecting with those you love has an added benefit. People who have strong social connections tend to be healthier and more resilient.
I know the hardest part of keeping a resolution is sustaining it after those first few weeks of the year, but you don’t have to do it all at once.
First, start by simply having the conversation: who to call, where to meet and what to pack in an emergency.
Build your family’s emergency supply kit by picking up recommended emergency items over the first month or two of the year.
Create a preparedness checklist. This should include things such as emergency phone numbers and copies of important documents, and information on how to register for programs such as the American Red Cross Safe and Well website.
Set reminders throughout the year to talk about and update your family emergency communication plan. If you have children, include them in conversations and planning activities. The Ready Campaign has age-appropriate tools and resources you can use to introduce disaster preparedness to them. And you can learn more about talking with kids after disasters so you’re ready to help them through tough situations.
Have pets? Make sure they are a part of your planning process. Create a pet go-bag to help keep them safe during an emergency. Find helpful tips from FEMA on how to plan for your furry friends
Older adults often have special needs in a disaster and may depend on medications or other special requirements. If older adults are a part of your social connection, be sure to include them in your preparedness planning efforts.
Emergencies can and will happen, but being ready can minimize the impact they have on the overall well-being of you and your family.
This year, make disaster preparedness part of your New Year’s resolution. On January 1st 2014, join the Resolve To Be Ready Thunderclap to promote a message of preparedness to your social connections on New Year’s Day. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #Prepared2014 whenever you discuss family preparedness on Twitter.
A multinational banking giant is backing away from a proposal to build the West Coast’s biggest coal export project near Bellingham, Washington.
New York-based Goldman Sachs has sold its stock back to the companies proposing to build the Gateway Pacific Terminal. If built it would transfer 48 million tons of Wyoming coal each year from trains to ocean-going vessels bound for Asia.
Before the stock transfer, Goldman Sachs had a 49 percent stake in the Gateway Pacific project. The company proposing the project is SSA Marine. Its parent company is Carrix, Inc.
SSA Marine President Bob Watters said in a statement that after Goldman Sachs sold back its stock, a Mexican businessman named Fernando Chico Pardo made an investment in SSA’s parent company that gives him a 49 percent ownership.
Coal-export opponents said the departure of Goldman Sachs as an investor is the latest sign that Wall Street no longer sees a profitable future in mining, shipping and burning coal – considered the dirtiest sources of energy and one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change.
“Goldman Sachs’ stepping away from coal export is yet another sign from Wall Street that coal export is a losing investment,” said anti-coal activist Crina Hoyer, the executive director of Bellingham-based RE Sources for Sustainable Communities.
SSA Marine and Carrix, Inc., sought to cast the departure of Goldman Sachs in a more positive light. According to their press release, Chico Pardo and the project’s original investors had stepped in with a “substantial capital injection” and remained committed to the coal export project.
Overall, the push to export Montana and Wyoming coal through the Pacific Northwest’s has struggled. Of the six coal export terminal originally proposed in Washington and Oregon, three have been dropped. In addition to the Gateway Pacific terminal on the northern shore of Puget Sound, the two other terminals still being considered are proposed for ports on the Columbia River in Washington and Oregon.
Seattle-based SSA Marine wants to build a terminal within the Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve. It would ship millions of tons of coal from Montana and Wyoming to Asia. The company says it would create thousands of jobs and generate millions in tax and other revenues.
Players: SSA Marine, Peabody Energy, Gateway Pacific, Korea East-West Power
Full Capacity: To be reached in 2026
Export Plans: 48 million tons/year
Train: 18 trains/day (9 full and 9 empty)
Train Cars: 1,370/day
Vessels: 487/year
What’s Next: Environmental review of the project is expected to take two years. In July 2013, Washington Department of Ecology, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Whatcom County, Wash. announced they will consider climate change, human health and the environment. They will also look at the entire route from Western mines to coal-burning plants in Asia. The public’s input was a factor in the decision for a broad review. Government agencies took in public comments from close to 125,000 people from September, 2012 to January, 2013. As part of the public-input process, 9,000 people attended seven meetings in Washington in 2012. The government agencies are required to solicit public input before they issue an environmental impact statement and from there, approve development permits. A summary of the public comment can be found here.
BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Dozens upon dozens of crab pot buoys dot the waters around Jay Julius’ fishing boat as he points the bow towards Cherry Point. The spit of land juts into northern Puget Sound.
SSA Marine says Cherry Point is an excellent location to build a terminal because it’s surrounded by deep water with quick access to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean. If the company has its way, up to 48 million tons of coal could move through these waters each year aboard more than 450 large ships bound for the Asian market.
But if the Lummi and other tribes exercise their treaty fishing rights, there may not be any coal ships servicing American terminals in these waters.
Watch: Tribal members talk about coal exports and their fishing rights:
‘People of the Sea’
One out of every ten members of the Lummi Nation has a fishing license. Ancestors of the Lummi, or “People of the Sea” as they are known, and other Salish Sea peoples have fished the waters surrounding Cherry Point for more than 3,000 years. Today Lummi tribal officials are sounding the alarm about the impacts the Gateway Pacific Terminal could have on the tribe’s halibut, shrimp, shellfish and salmon fishery, which is worth a combined copy5 million annually.
“You have numerous fishermen up here right now,” says Julius, a member of the Lummi tribal council. He’s gesturing at the nearby crab pots as his boat idles a little more than 50 yards from the proposed site of the Gateway Pacific Terminal, one of three coal export facilities under consideration in Oregon and Washington. “What does that mean to our treaty right to fish? This would be no more.”
Tribal treaty fishing rights could play a major role in the review process for the Gateway Pacific Terminal. According to the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, nine tribes’ treaty fishing grounds would be impacted by the Gateway Pacific Terminal and the vessel traffic it would draw.
‘Usual and Accustomed’ Fishing Areas
In the mid-1800s tribes in this region signed treaties with the federal government, ceding millions of acres of their land. Native American populations plummeted and the survivors were relegated to reservations. But the tribal leaders of the time did a very smart thing, says Tim Brewer, a lawyer with the Tulalip tribe in northwestern Washington.
“They insisted on reserving the right to continue to fish in their usual and accustomed fishing areas. It is an extremely important part of the treaty,” Brewer says.
Lummi tribal fishermen at the end of a day on the water. (Ashley Ahearn)
Those treaty rights weren’t enforced in Washington until a landmark court decision in 1974 known as the Boldt Decision. It forced the state to follow up on the treaty promise of fishing rights that were made to the tribes more than a century before.
Brewer says the phrase: “usual and accustomed”—language that appears in the treaties signed by the Lummi and many other Northwest tribes—has implications for development projects, like coal terminals.
“If a project is going to impair access to a fishing ground and that impairment is significant that project can not move forward without violating the treaty right,” he says.
Since the mid-‘70s, tribes have begun to flex those treaty muscles.
In 1992 the Lummi stopped a net pen fish farm that was proposed for the waters off of Lummi Island by a company called Northwest Sea Farms.
The Lummi demonstrated that constructing the floating net pens would block tribal access to their usual and accustomed fishing grounds. “In that case the (U.S. Army) Corps of Engineers denied that permit on that basis,” Brewer says. “There was no agreement that was able to be worked out there.”
But, in other situations, agreements have been made.
Dwight Jones, general manager of Elliott Bay Marina. (Ashley Ahearn)
Though it’s a ways away, the iconic Seattle Space Needle peeks out amongst the masts of hundreds of sailboats neatly tucked into their berths at the Elliott Bay Marina, just north of downtown. It’s the largest privately-owned marina on the West Coast. And it was built within the usual and accustomed fishing area of the Muckleshoot tribe, back in 1991.
It took 10 years of environmental review. The Muckleshoot fought the project.
“It was contentious, I guess would be the right word,” says Dwight Jones, the general manager of Elliott Bay Marina. The Muckleshoot “could have stopped the marina from being built.”
But instead the tribe came to an agreement with the backers of the Elliott Bay Marina.
Muckleshoot tribal members contacted for comment on this story did not respond.
Jones says the owners of Elliott Bay Marina paid the Muckleshoot more than copy million up front and for the next 100 years they will give the tribe 8 percent of their gross annual revenue.
“Anyone who’s in business can tell you that 8 percent of your gross revenues is a huge number,” he says. “It really affects your viability as a business.”
When asked if he had any advice for companies that want to build coal terminals in the Northwest, Jones laughed.
“I’d say good luck. There will be a lot of costs and chances are the tribes will probably negotiate a settlement that works well for them and it will not be cheap,” he responded.
Deal or No Deal?
SSA Marine and Pacific International Terminals—the companies that want to build the terminal at Cherry Point—have lawyers and staff members working to make a deal with the Lummi to get the terminal built. The companies declined repeated requests to be interviewed on the subject.
“I think they’re quite disgusting,” says Lummi council member Julius when asked how he feels about the terminal backers’ efforts to make inroads with the Lummi. “It’s nothing new, the way they’re trying to infiltrate our nation, contaminate it, use people.”
This past summer Julius and the Lummi tribal council sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers. The federal agency will have final say over the key permits for the coal terminal.
In the letter the Lummi assert their “unconditional and unequivocal” opposition to the project, and lay out the reasoning behind their position, which centers around threats to treaty fishing rights and the tribe’s cultural and spiritual heritage at Cherry Point.
But there’s a line at the end of the letter, which legal experts and the Army Corps of Engineers say leaves the door open for continuing negotiation on the Gateway Pacific Terminal. It reads:
“These comments in no way waive any future opportunity to participate in government-to-government consultation regarding the proposed projects.”
Diana Bob, the Lummi tribal attorney who was involved in drafting the letter, declined to be interviewed for this series.
This is the second of a two-part series originally published at Earthfix.opb.org. ICTMN posted Part I last week.
