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Recognize Duwamish Tribe

I am writing to express my extreme shock and dismay to learn that the Duwamish Tribe has been denied the federal recognition it is so justly entitled to.

I grew up and lived most of my life in Seattle. We are surrounded by Duwamish place names. Seattle itself takes its name from a chief of the Duwamish Tribe; a chief who was a signatory to the Treaty of Point Elliott (1855) that gave up fishing rights.

It seems to me egregious that we can treat with a tribe, take their land, their fishing rights, decimate their population, seek to suppress their culture and then have the temerity to deny them official recognition as a tribe. It only adds insult to injury that this most unjust decision was announced on the Fourth of July weekend.

As residents of the Pacific Northwest, as Americans, we have a stain on our honor until the Duwamish Tribe is given official recognition.

Charles Roth

Spokane

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