Religious leaders back recognition for Duwamish tribe

The Church Council of Greater Seattle, the Washington Association of Churches and the Lutheran Public Policy Office have sent letters to Interior Secretary Gale Norton urging her to recognize the tribe.

The letters, said the Rev. Paul Benz, of the Lutheran Public Policy Office, ask Norton to rectify decades of injustice.

The Duwamish, the indigenous people of Seattle, were recognized in the final hours of the Clinton administration, but the Bush administration put the decision on hold.

Then, in September, Assistant Interior Secretary Neal McCaleb formally declared that the Duwamish no longer exist as an Indian tribe.

Cecile Hansen, chairwoman of the Duwamish, said she's gratified by the support from the religious community.

"I really believe in letters," Hansen said. "But I don't how much impact these letters will have. I hope Gale Norton is listening."

In the meantime, Hansen is consulting with the tribal attorney in preparation for a legal battle to overturn the ruling.

Federal recognition helps ensure the survival of a tribe by allowing for a reservation where members can go to get health care, housing, social services and participate in cultural programs.

"One hundred fifty years after Caucasians arrived in the Seattle area (and) were welcomed by the tribe with open arms, the Duwamish still have no place to call home," Benz said.

Benz called the Bush administration's denial of federal recognition "a travesty and another broken promise."

"Right here in our own back yard is a tribe whose city is named after their chief, and they don't have a home," Benz said. "I just find it incredible."

Shelley Means, a staff member of the association of churches representing mainline Protestant denominations in the state, added, "The Duwamish recognition process has been going on far too long.

"The indignity of the process has gone on for far too long. The federal process is another form of divide and conquer."

Alice Woldt, executive director of the church council, noted that churches in the city and state apologized to the tribes in 1987 for "past grievances that the Native American community suffered at the hands of the early churches and missionaries ... that was very destructive to the Native American culture and their own religious practices."

The letters from "the religious leaders of the city that bears the name of a great Duwamish Chief" assert that in return for the tribe's giving up 55,000 acres in the Point Elliott treaty, the Duwamish were "promised full payment of the land and a reservation at the mouth of the Duwamish River."

"Those promises were never fulfilled."

P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at 206-448-8072 or paulshukovsky@seattlepi.com

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