Two cities in Washington State have issued proclamations declaring the inherent rights of southern resident killer whales. The move is part of a shift in the approach being taken to better protect nature and wildlife around the world.
Lummi ceremony for missing and murdered Indigenous women. Photo by Tim Wheeler.
PORT ANGELES, Wash. Woodcarvers from the Lummi Tribe brought their 24-foot cedar totem pole to the North Olympic Peninsula for a ceremony here, urging President Joe Biden and Congress to take stronger measures to protect sacred places, the rights of the people, and to save salmon and orca whales and planet Earth itself.
The totem’s message is focused on two menacing realities the crisis of missing and murdered Native American women and the onslaught of human-created waste that threatens all life.
Members of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe greeted the arrival of the totem pole at City Pier on the Port Angeles waterfront on May 25. Drummers pounded a rhythmic beat and sang a Klallam song. Nearly 200 were in the crowd, including members of the Jamestown S’Klallams, Hoh, Quileute, and Makah Tribes, environmental activists, and supporters of Black Lives Matter and Voices for Health and Healing, a grassroo