Native Americans Fight Back! (1968)
Native Americans Fight Back!
By Robert D. Casey
The fall fishing season here in the state of Washington opened with an almost inevitable confrontation between the Indian tribes, who were exercising their Treaty rights to earn a living by fishing their rivers, and the State, which is attempting to regulate this troublesome ethnic minority out of existence by destroying their economic basis of survival. Although the Indians catch only five per cent of the annual take of salmon, most of the recently enacted legislation, all in the name of conservation, seems to be aimed at them and not at the commercial fishing interests, which maintain expensive, efficient, and well paid lobbies in the corridors of the state legislature-playing a game the Indians don’t even know the name of.
A new, and potentially dangerous, development is taking place in the ranks of the Indian youths serving in the armed forces. (They are disproportionately represented there, because very few Indian lads are deferred for any reason. During World War II, the Indians used to say that if you can see lightning and hear thunder, you’re in.) Some of the young braves, home on furlough from the killing in Vietnam, have determined not to go back to the war in Asia until they have finished fighting for the rights of their own people here at home.
Here are excerpts from a public declaration made on October 13th by P.F.C. Sidney Milis, a Yakima and Cherokee Indian who served in the Army for two years and four months and was critically wounded in combat in Vietnam:
My first obligation lies with the Indian people, fighting for their lawful treaty rights . . . and in serving them, in this fight, in any way possible. The defense of the Indian people, and their chosen way of life . . . is more compelling than any duty to the U.S. military. I renounce, and no longer consider myself under, the authority and the jurisdiction of the United States Army.
I have served the U.S. in a less compelling struggle in Vietnam and will not be restricted from doing less for my own people within the United States . . . I have given enough to the U.S. Army and now choose to serve my people. My decision is further influenced by the fact that we have already buried Indian fishermen, returned dead from Vietnam, while other Indian fishermen live here without protection and under steady attack from the power processes of this nation and the States of Washington and Oregon.
I will not be among those who draw pride from a past in which I had no part, nor from a proud heritage I will not uphold. We must give of ourselves today-and I for one will not be content to have women and children fighting in my stead. At least, I will be among them-at least, they will not be alone.
After Sidney Mills made his decision to fight for justice along the banks of the Nisqually River, instead of the Mekong, others followed his lead. Meanwhile the State stepped up its harassment of the tribes and ugly incidents became common. What the Indians feared most was another successful raid on their fishing gear. A couple of years ago the State made a clean sweep of their nets, boats, motors, etc., supposedly in order to gather them as evidence, although there have been many trials since that time, and the evidence has neither been presented in court nor returned. If the State had continued to stage such raids the tribes would soon have been bankrupt. Fishing gear comes high and the Indians are destitute and obviously unable to pay legal costs. So they made a drastic decision: they decided to post armed guards in order to protect their rights.
Hank Adams, spokesman for the Survival of American Indians Association (S.A.I.A.), sent an open letter to Washington’s Governor Dan Evans, informing him that the tract of land commonly known as Frank’s Landing was being posted against trespass and that an armed guard was being stationed to prevent certain specific actions that might be carried out by enforcement officers acting under the authority of the State of Washington.
The armed guard was under instructions to use their weapons only to prevent trespass 1) for the purpose of making arrests or serving warrants for arrest issued by the State or 2) for the purpose of confiscating fishing nets placed in the river and affixed to Frank’s Landing. The guards were instructed not to use their weapons under any other circumstances. Since the Indians claim that Frank’s Landing is a Federal Trust Area, they are pledged to honor all Federal warrants for arrest, search or seizure but not those issued under the authority of the State.
The posting of the armed patrol of course raised tensions further, but it did end the immediate threat to the boats. One thing about the Indians, they always mean what they say. No forked tongues. They maintained an information booth down the road from the armed guards, to answer queries from the many sympathizers who stopped by and to ward off unfriendly attentions from a large group of Wallace supporters from the Olympia area who have made the Indians the object of their racial hatred. The nearest black ghetto is in distant Seattle, and these people seem to need someone to hate. The information booth was manned predominantly by white students, many of whom have been with the Indians since August, living in the tents and lodges alongside the Nisqually and really roughing it.
On October 17th, six Indians were surprised, well above Frank’s Landing as they were setting their net. After a fight, they were arrested and their net confiscated. They were later bailed out and are now awaiting trial.
On October 29th came the long demanded intervention of the United States Department of Justice, who pledged itself to protect certain Indian rights in the Federal Trust Area, in return for the dismissal of the armed guards about the boats. Since the gear is now finally protected from confiscation, the Indians were glad to comply.
On the same day Robert Satiacum, chairman of the Puyallup Tribal Fishing Council, announced plans to fish the Puyallup River, in conjunction with members of the militant S.A.I.A. He said that the decision had been taken after the State’s refusal to consider the Indians’ proposals regarding conservation. The next day the Indians turn up and set their nets on the Puyallup where a late run of silvers (salmon) were going upstream. A large number of spectators, most of them sympathetic to the Indians, showed up, but there was no trouble. Although the State fisheries Department sent observers, no arrests were attempted.
Important Notice
The S.A.I.A. has asked me to state that, while there are many, many worthwhile Indian projects that are urgently need your help, there is only one Treaty fishing fight, and that no one, Indian or otherwise, is authorized to collect money for them. If you want to help the Indians who are fighting on their rivers to maintain an Indian way of life, then make out your donations only to:
The Survival of American Indians Association
P.O. Box 719
Tacoma Washington 98401
They desperately need financial support.
It has come as something of a shock to the River militants that there is a goodly collection of fast buck Indians who are quite prepared to profit from sympathy for their people by helping them-this help beginning with old Number One and seldom getting beyond that character. If you have donated in the past and wonder if your money reached the River, I suggest that you write to Al Bridges, who is chief of Indian fishermen at Frank Landing, at the above address.
Finally, all sympathizers are invite to visit Frank’s Landing personally. Drive over and meet the people involved in this prolonged clash. You might even want to join the many students who have camped out for week at a time living in authentic Indian style- something to tell your grandchildren about.
Catholic Worker, December 1968
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