While The Repatriation Files takes a few weeks off from archival stories, I thought I’d post some interesting news items from Indian Country.
Today’s subject—the award of a Presidential Medal of Freedom to the late Billy Frank, Jr. A member of the Nisqually Nation of Washington state, Mr. Frank fought for native fishing rights and environmental issues.
President Obama had these words to offer on Mr. Frank’s posthumous award:
Finally, we celebrate those who have challenged us to live up to our values. Billy Frank Jr. liked to say, “I wasn’t a policy guy. I was a getting-arrested guy.” And that’s true. Billy was arrested more than 50 times in his fight to protect tribal fishing rights and save the salmon that had fed his family for generations. He was spat on, shot at, chased and clubbed and cast as an outlaw. But Billy kept fighting. Because he knew he was right. And in 1974, a federal judge agreed, honoring the promises made to Northwest tribes more than a century before. Billy went on to become a national voice for Indian Country and a warrior for the natural world. “I don’t believe in magic,” Billy once said. “I believe in the sun and the stars, the water, the hawks flying, the rivers running, the wind talking.” They tell us how healthy we are, he said, “because we and they are the same.”
For more on Billy Frank, Jr. see Gyasis Ross’s essay in Indian Country Today: Indigenous Hell-Raiser as National Hero: Billy Frank, Jr. Wins Presidential Medal Of Freedom.
[Read more: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/12/19/indigenous-hell-raiser-national-hero-billy-frank-jr-wins-presidential-medal-freedom]
