To get this story we went right to the great great grandniece of Chief Seattle.
The Duwamish Tribe lived in Seattle long before the settlers thought of naming their new settlement after the Duwamish
chief, who signed a treaty with the Territorial Governor, later ratified by Congress, and gave up the land upon which the city now sits.
Later, the "Seattlers" burned down the Indian longhouses, and ran the Duwamish out of town. But the Tribe had lived here for a couple thousand years, and didn't "go away".
When it was time for reservations, casinos or fishing rights, the Duwamish got nothing, because their tribe doesn't have Federal recognition, a cause that has been central in their hundred year campaign.
This January, for the first time in over 100 years, the Duwamish Tribe will again have a longhouse.The final touches were being put on when we went there to get the story and the tour.
The Tribe is hopeful that their time has finally arrived (again).
Turns out that within 48 hours of taking office, the Bush Administration took back federal recognition, which the Tribe had just won under the Clinton Administration.
The Duwamish were not the only tribe to get this treatment, but they are the tribe in Seattle, and if there wasn't any other reason for a decent Seattle person to want to shoe the Bush Administration out of office, this would be enough.
"Indymedia Presents" is a 28 minute weekly cable public access program produced on behalf of the Seattle Independent Media Center (IMC) by PepperSpray Productions. In addition to SCAN Channel 77 in Seattle, "Indymedia Presents" also airs on channels in greater King County (Channel 23), Bainbridge Island (Channel 12), Port Townsend, WA (Channel 97 & 98), Olympia, WA (Channel 22), Tucson, AZ (Channel 73), St Paul, MN (Channel 15), Minneapolis, MN (Channel 17), Fort Wayne, IN (Channel 57), Philadelphia, PA (Channels 54 & 62), Brooklyn, NY (Channel 34 & 67) and on New York City's Manhattan Neighborhood Network, (Channel 34).
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