In the mid 90s, my wife worked for the Makah Indian Tribe located on the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. The tribal treaty of the Makah with the US government specifically reaffirms the tribe’s right to take whales as they have done for 1,000s of years. This angered the environmentalists who find Native American beliefs to be so spiritual until such beliefs disagree with their specious view of the world. One of them wrote the Makah Tribal Council with a letter that I found to be very offensive, so I wrote a reply for the Council which is below. I got a lot of positive responses from the tribal members who were justifiably irritated by the rude attacks that they had to endure from ignorant environmentalists.
January 12, 1998
Michael Kent Thompson, M.D.
9521 Steamboat Island Road NW
Olympia, WA 98502-9310
Dear Mr. Thompson:
It was with interest and amusement that I read your letter to the Makah Tribal Council. May I suggest some other bumper sticker ideas that are just as relevant as the one that you mentioned:
Save a Whale…Harpoon a Japanese
Save a Whale…Harpoon a Norwegian
Save the Makah…Harpoon an environmentalist
Examine the data…Think for yourself
Your letter mentioned four reasons and then a fifth from which, in your opinion, American Indians suffer image problems. Shall we examine each one in turn and see if perhaps we can illicit why these problems exist and if they are unique to American Indians and indeed whether they are valid.
Low average education level: The school system here is a part of the State of Washington’s public education system which rates in the bottom half of state public education systems nationwide. One fails to see how this can be the fault of American Indians. Perhaps the sorry condition of public education in the US is the fault of your tribe (which you failed to mention) but it is not the fault of the Makah. Historically, the Makah have always placed a strong emphasis on education. The Makah traditionally trained their children in the appropriate familial profession in addition to oral history, the Makah legend cycle, family songs, proper social customs and the languages of the surrounding tribes, to mention just a few items. Was much of this lost because of any conscious decision on the part of the Makah? No! It was some well-meaning people of European ancestry who decided to help the Makah become ‘civilized’. Therefore they outlawed the speaking of the Makah language, sent the children to boarding schools where they were beaten for speaking anything other than English, and made illegal the practice of traditional activities such as the potlatch. It was thought to be a good idea that the Makah should give up their former ways and become farmers like white men. That any Makah culture at all survived is a positive testimony to the Makah. Today there are many Makah tribal members who excel academically and professionally. Among the 2000+ tribal members there are lawyers, teachers, business owners, accountants, artists, a biologist, a doctor, a veterinarian and even an air traffic controller. To say that there are those who fail academically is an accusation that can be made against any ethnic group. In spite of the obstacles that recent history has placed in the path of the Makah, they continue to achieve and strive towards greater heights of success.
High alcoholism rate: While American Indians may have higher alcoholism than American society as a whole, the problem of alcoholism is not unique to Indians and is certainly not the fault of the Makah Tribe. The Makah signers of the 1859 treaty with the US government expressly prohibited alcohol on the reservation. When well-intentioned white people commenced the wholesale assault on traditional Makah culture, alcoholism rose as the purpose in life for so many Makahs was destroyed. This is a phenomenon that expresses itself in every culture and is not unique to Indians or the Makah. In spite of the cultural dislocation of the Makah, most are not alcoholics nor is drinking socially approved of as it is in many other segments of American society. The Makah did not originate alcoholism nor are they responsible for the alcoholism of American Indians or any other ethnic group in the world.
High unemployment rate: The Makah are and always have been hard workers. Many tribal members are fishermen which is not only a hard job but a dangerous one as well. Unemployment has risen here in recent years because the US government has restricted opportunities in the two main sources of tribal income, forestry and fishing. The high unemployment here is not the result of laziness on the part of Makah tribal members. Indeed many Makah who cannot find employment here still gain income by producing art or going off the reservation to work.
High percentage of people on welfare: There are also many non-Makah who are on welfare. Why do you single out Indians as scapegoats for a problem that applies to all segments of American society? Blame the well-intentioned white people who instituted welfare for the fact that there are so many people on welfare. Do not blame the Makah. The Makah are traditionally a very self reliant people. In addition to being whalers, fishers and hunters, they grew potatoes and engaged in widespread trade. They were very prosperous traders who regularly traveled north along the Alaskan coast and as far south as Baja California.
Finally you mentioned Makah whaling as a reason for the image problem that you perceive American Indians as having. You wrote that humans around the world revere whales. What is your point? Hundreds of millions of people in India revere cows. Does that mean that Americans should stop eating beef? That some people should choose to worship animals does not mean that their viewpoint is more valid or more important than that of the Makah Tribe. You also wrote that that the Makah Tribe’s position on whaling has angered millions of people world wide. It angers Senator Slade Gorton that the Indian Tribes have any measure of sovereignty at all. Does that mean that the Indian Tribes should disband? It angers many Makahs that well-intentioned white people are again telling them how they should live. Is it possible that these well-intentioned people of European ancestry are as wrong now as they were in the past? I think that the answer is yes and that the world would be a much better place if they would spend their time removing the log from their own eye instead of complaining about a splinter that they think is in the eye of the Makah Tribe. The Makah do not engage in telling them how to live and they should learn to mind their own business and quit trying to tell the Makah how to live because they are the same sort of people who tried in former years to wipe out American Indian culture because it did not agree with their perception of how others should live. Makah culture and Makah whaling have a history that goes back thousands of years and predates the time when the environmentalists’ Germanic ancestors were destroying the empire that was Rome. The Makah, by their nature and their history, have an intimate relationship with both whales and the ocean and they have no need for the white environmentalist neophytes trying to educate them about either one.
Sincerely,
P.S. Now, from which tribe do you say you come?
taskwazen 