by Suky Hutton
illustration by Mark Redfox
Free Press Contributors
On the morning of February 7, about 30 people gathered next to the World Trade Center construction site on the Seattle waterfront. They had come to take part in a vigil. They turned their backs to Elliot Bay and looked east, where a few stubby concrete pilings stood on a dirt slope. The pilings, circled with red plastic tape, marked the place where construction workers had recently unearthed the bones of Duwamish Indians.Four Indians in attendance began drumming. Behind the pilings, a mustard-yellow Caterpillar tractor drove busily back and forth. Duwamish Tribal Chairman Cecile Hansen prayed.
"Thank you for bringing us together today," she called, facing her ancestors. Most of her words were drowned out by the beeping of a construction truck backing onto the site. "Thank you for this good weather É we know the truth will come É we ask for the power and the wisdom to tell the people of Seattle that there were villages here É "
She finished, and the drumming stopped.
"It was shocking," she said, when interviewed after the vigil. "I knew there was a village at the site a long time ago, just from reading our history and noting different locations in the Seattle area. We have a picture of that village. A year ago, one of our people met with some of the Port people and told them, be very careful about that area, because we know it's a noted village. Please notify us if anything is found.
"The workers found skeletal remains, and thought it was a murdered person. And the coroner said no, these remains are much older.
"We understand that even before this they had found a skull. They pulled up a piling and there was a skull hooked onto it from a long time ago. And of course the Port of Seattle chose not to notify us. They took the remains offsite.
"We decided to have a vigil for the remains that were yanked out of there. We wanted to show our respect. I don't know why the press wanted to say we were demonstrating É It doesn't matter if human remains have been there for 200 years or if it was discovered that a Duwamish person just died there-they're still Duwamish bones. If the bones belonged to any relation of the Port of Seattle, they would do no less."
The Duwamish resided as far north as Shilshole Bay, east to the edge of the Snoqualmie plateau, and south to Des Moines, Hansen said, covering 64,000 acres.
"Then the early settlers came, and they didn't want us here, so they burned our villages and shot at us. They told the Duwamish people that if we signed a treaty, we would be given a reservation and a bucket of gold and all the amenities afforded tribes who signed treaties. Well, they didn't honor the treaty. We were pushed off our land. We were told to go to the Tulalip reservation...or to the Muckleshoot...
"We gave the federal government a petition for recognition in 1976, but they sent it back to us saying they had new regulations about how you're recognized. So then we began the process of being recognized by the new criteria. We presented new material. Last year we received a negative determination on our status as a tribe, and this January 21 we responded to that decision.
"Lack of government recognition is why we find ourselves in this terrible situation regarding the Duwamish village on the waterfront. We have two concerns: the reburial of the remains, and the protection and reevaluation of the archaeological site. I understand that two archaeologists are being brought in; the Muckleshoot hired one. We've heard that the tribes must negotiate in regard to the final disposition of the remains, but that's just not going to happen because the Duwamish are not recognized.
"We are a peaceful people and we know what's right. Respect is very, very important-respect for everything we touch. In a dream world, we would be able to resurrect our ancestors' village in its entirety, and it would be a place for everyone to learn. A tourist attraction. In all of Seattle there is no place that's designated as Duwamish land. We've been trying for over 20 years to get permission to build a cultural center and longhouse on the site of another village on the Duwamish River; unfortunately the property is owned by the Port of Seattle.
"But at least we've made the community aware that we're not too pleased with the Port's decisions. We think they are reckless. And good luck on their building! Work will go on; the World Trade Center is a multimillion dollar project. They will complete it-but when they do they will entomb the spirits of the village. They're going to have to live with a building that sits over spirits. The Duwamish have been here a long, long time- and we're not going to go away."
For more information, contact the Duwamish Tribe, 140 Rainier Ave. S., Suite 7, Renton, WA 98055. (425) 226-5185.
Reprinted with permission of the author, from On Indian Land, P.O. Box 2104, Seattle, WA 98111. (206) 525-5086.
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Contents this page were published in the July/August, 1998 edition of the Washington Free Press.
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