More: Bigotry, Calls for Violence, Follow Protest of Tribal Treaty Fishing

[Mike__M]

Last edited Thu May 19, 2016, 08:30 AM - Edit history (1)

Here's some follow-up to the protest earlier this month against the closing of the coho salmon fishing season in Washington's Puget Sound area.

Bigotry, Calls for Violence, Follow Protest of Tribal Treaty Fishing

The coupling of mobilizations against tribal fishing rights with bigotry, stereotypes and calls for violence against Native people is a sad fact of our state’s history. As in the years immediately following the original Boldt decision, this troubling pattern continues.

While groups such as the Coastal Conservation Association do not spew the crass anti-Indianism documented in this report, in the context of pressing for a greater share of tribally-allocated fish for their industry, the CCA organized a protest, distorted facts about tribal fishing, and mimicked the “equal rights” language of the organized anti-Indian movement. Such actions can contribute to an environment in which bigotry and hostility toward Indian people can reoccur. It is incumbent on the Coastal Conservation Association and other industry groups to deal honestly with tribes and respect tribal treaty rights and fisheries.

(Warning: don't read the article's quoted examples if you are squeamish about spelling and grammar. Or lynching, for that matter.)

[Ford_Prefect]

1. Puget sound area-It helps if you make clear where this is happening so we have context.

While fisheries management in Washington State has undergone a political sea-change in the decades following the 1974 Boldt decision, one thing appears to have stayed the same – mobilizations against treaty-reserved fishing rights still bring out the worst in some of our fellow citizens.

In the wake of the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) May 1 closure of the salmon-fishing season in several lakes and the lower reaches of most Puget Sound rivers, and a small federally-approved ceremonial and subsistence fishery by treaty tribes, recreational fishing industry groups organized protests. In the process, one group, the Coastal Conservation Association, distorted facts about tribal fishing and flirted with the “equal rights” language of the organized anti-Indian movement. Online responders to press coverage of the conflict and protests unleashed a torrent of bigotry directed at tribes, ranging from anti-Indian stereotypes; to advocating tribal termination and treaty abrogation; to calls for out-and-out violence against tribal members and illegal interference with treaty-protected fishing rights.

[Mike__M]

2. You're right

It's edited.