Indigenous resistance and allies raise awareness about restoring water quality, and salmon populations. The Siletz river and others are dying, in part because the E.P.A is selling sewage mixed with industrial and medical waste as a cheap fertilizer. The effects of this are not limited to the runoff getting in the river. Elk have been getting deformed hooves in the area and it potentially been linked to the biosolids and spraying by timber companies.. Colonial wildlife agents have had to come and put several of the down as there ability to walk severely impaired their ability to live. Years ago i wrote about a fisher i interviewed who explained how the river was dying. I know that indeed a river can die. In fact a Paiute medicine person taught me how to see the spirit of the river.
My native brain can’t help but to see food and medicine wherever i go. It is partly the colonial false scarcity to blame. Colonialism run rampant contaminating everything. There are numerous berries and edible plants everywhere only one now must wonder if they are safe to eat. Abundant medicine here including a temperate rainforest plant that can heal trauma. The Siletz bay has clams and people are still coming and digging them up to eat. Clams are like natural filters. The water quality from the biosolids will effect them. This was an ancient food source. The Siletz river is one of the last great salmon runs on the west coast. The natives who fished here were the Yacona. By the time colonists reached the west coast they reported a group of just under 90 Yacona natives who survived the plagues brought by colonists. The sloped heads and the significance of Mother Quartux as we know are explained in the Kalapuya wolf story oral tradition.
The clams must be contaminated its just impossible for them not to be and that’s not even factoring in Fukashima. People still eat the clams especially indigenous but also the poor. There is a world famous restaurant here and it its largest location on the Siletz Bay. Colonial theft of this ancient food source made the colonists rich. They sell an English recipe clam chowder. White supremacy in food that we have been conditioned to enjoy. The colonial chowder has turned toxic and it is past time for the land to go back to the #RightfulStewards. And we don’t mean anything neocolonial we mean the actual #RightfulStewards as explained in our group rule #1. Senator Merkley will now portray himself as a white savior and grant money but this hand is forced by the persistence and courage of the indigenous resistance. Honor is ours. All credit goes to the great mystery.
The indigenous resistance was able to make sure the message was seen and heard for miles. Traffic was backed up for miles without having to block traffic. Fellow comrades alike were amazed at the scouting ability of the Invisible Warrior and in a disbelief we did so much with so little. I burned sacred medicines including the finest Paiute copal. Many recordings of Grandmother Agnes speaking were played on the loudspeaker. She told me to carry on her teachings so i did exactly verbatim what she told me to do and then i went ahead and applied it. Physical traits of the land and the water lend themselves to our cause. The great mystery and the living world are on our side. Many people were angry at us. Ugly hateful colonists. But more people were happy, excited, encouraging members of the resistance. A look of relief in some and you could sense a willingness for the public to embrace this struggle. Thats what corporate news wont tell you. Is that some of the masses do support this. How could they not they have all been touched by the sacredness of the salmon. Salmon are an essential part of a healthy ecosystem. Grandmother Agnes would have told you the salmon even when they die continue to feed all living things. Being over a year since her passing it is appropriate to speak about her and bring these issues up. It is time for a physical manifestation of her teachings. A traditional woman form Siletz has expressed an interest in reviving the salmon ceremony and i told her we would help her bring that to reality.
Pacific salmon could become extinct in our lifetimes, like the Atlantic salmon; if we do not take action to end colonialism”. Invisible Warrior
Salmon Nations Rise Up! Join Illahee Spirit Runners in actuality or collaboration.
Political pressure is building around the Siletz river and the dumping of biosolids and ultimately its from the resistance. Neo colonials and NGO’s will always try to claim credit but political change requires force anyone who doesn’t understand that is an amateur. Some barriers to restoration include the Dawes Allotment Act which has left Siletz fractured. This may interfere with their ability to implement things like a composting toilet program that would save millions of gallons of water. An iron grip remains on the populace form elements of KKK and white colonists attempting to set up a white utopia in the so called pacific northwest. The politicians in local government have been getting ahead by subjugating the indigenous people as a matter of policy and basic course of action for so long that its not questioned. Restoration was finally granted by Ronald Regan but only after the tribe bought up so much land around their graveyard that they could no longer be denied. The republican party is still pulling strings in tribal government to this day which is why change must come from the people themselves.
“Indigenous rule will unite the races on Turtle Island” Invisible Warrior
After the action i went to the Siletz graveyard and put tobacco on Chief DePoe’s grave, his wifes grave who is the grandmother of our Co Founder and from the undefeated Chickasaw nation. I put an offering on Agnes’s grave. This took a while to locate and i left a generous offer of whole cigars. When i think of resistance in Illahee i think of Chief John. John who would not surrender and was eventually sent to Alcatraz prison for plotting uprisings against the colonist. He was only returned to Grand Ronde after he was considered too old to be a threat but colonists were weary of him until his death. John had the backbone to tell these colonists to their face he told them the colonists had people foold to thinking their ways were great and he said we will see how great your ways are 250 years from now. It is now 250 years later and we can see for ourselves. I asked myself before i took action and i will ask the Siletz Confederation the same question. What would Chief John (Tecumtum) do?
Written By The Invisible Warrior
Illahee Spirit Runners 