Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

For American Indian people it has been a painful experience to have had their traditional cultural practices outlawed by the same government that practically shoves their stars-and-stripes flag of freedom down our individual and collective throats.

The United States government outlawed the Ghost Dance. To ensure that it would not be continued the government sent in its calvary to massacre about 300 women, children, and elders at Wounded Knee. So proud of their actions these soldiers had their photographs taken as keepsakes of their savagery. The Canadian government outlawed the Potlach and ended a tradition of sharing and generosity among the people of the Northwest Culture. The State of Michigan outlawed "gill net" fishing. Sports fishermen said that the "gill nets" were an unfair advantage, and that the Indians were taking too many fish. What they were really saying is that the sports fishermen depleted the stock of fish in the Great Lakes and reduced the "food supply" for Michigan's Indian people. This is significant since Michigan's American Indian fishermen only fished for food and never as a sport. So-called environmentalists and sports enthusiasts collaborated to get the American Indians as much negative press as possible even though it had been scientifically proven that Indians fished with gill nets for over 1,000 years in the Great Lakes...it was frequently the mainstay of their food supply and economy.

These are examples of attempts to destroy people...to make them die spiritually and culturally. Indigenous languages were outlawed and boarding schools were built to torture American Indian children into abandoning their languages and traditions. Various Christian churches divided tribes and families in the attempt to "own" a particular number of Indians under the infamous and inhumane Quaker Peace Policy.

Both the United States and Canadian governments have created disastrous programs and policies with the sole purpose of ending the spiritual, educational, artistic, and economic traditions of the American Indian people. It is simply no wonder that the United Nations Human Rights Commission has determined that the United States is a world leader in human rights abuse due to its treatment of the American Indian people.

Sometimes our traditions were brought to an end by ecological disasters brought about by other people who acted simply for greed and profit. These people's actions were protected by the United States government. For example: Teddy Roosevelt and his cronies hunted and massacred thousands of eagles just for the sport. Their attempted genocide of the eagles brought an end to particular burial practices of the American Indian people. The eagle went on the endangered species list and now eagle feathers have to be registered with the government. American Indians who have eagle feathers that are not registered can be arrested, fined, and jailed. It is a vicious circle of creating means to destroy all that the American Indian hold sacred.

The Makah people hunted the whale for centuries. They did not hunt the whale to extinction. The genocide of whales was committed by others for profit. The Makah people have a symbiotic relationship with the whale just as the Plains Indians have with the buffalo. The United States government used buffalo killers as one of their extermination policies. Kill the food source and starve the people...to death. The Plains Indians did not die just as the Makah people did not die although certainly their populations were devastated by massacre of humans and the near total destruction of their food supplies.

The buffalo is making a comeback on the Plains. Several reservations have buffalo herds. Several ranchers have added buffalo to their herds as a way to support American Indian traditions of ecology. It is fitting therefore, that at this same time, the Makah have returned to the whale hunt. These actions are fulfilling the prophesies of our elders.

In spite of all the genocide and legal attempts to genocide us...the whale did not die...the buffalo did not die..we did not die...our languages did not die...our traditions did not die...our histories did not die. They went underground and were kept safe until the time was right. There is a resurgence of our traditions and spirituality. The Makah people have a right to their traditional ceremonies and they have the right to hunt the whale. Their rights are protected by the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Their rights extend back to a time when a written document was not needed to teach respect and honor. Nobody in the world has a right to interfere with the Makah people. They will never cause the whale to be an endangered species...they didn't in the past, they will not today nor will they in the future.

Environmental groups who oppose the Makah people are simply the United States 7th Calvary in different garb in a different era. They are trying to create another Wounded Knee and Sand Creek. This is not about whales...it is about authority over the American Indian people to keep them from their traditions so that they will lose their ancient knowledge and become "white-like citizens." Why would this be important? So that American Indians can be removed from their traditional lands and reservations for development and exploitation of resources. This is a 500 year old tradition of racism. The methods may be different but the end result is the same and this is clear when each person takes a moment to "read between the lines" of the hysterical and uneducated rantings of these so-called environmental groups. Their anti-Makah attacks are very similar to the rantings we hear from skinheads and klu klux klanners who play on fear and ignorance.

The blatant racism of the so-called environmental groups is just incomprehensible to right minded and good hearted people who understand the Makah people.