As Washington State becomes more and more politically correct, residents are becoming offended by river names, tribe names, and any other exposure to a select group of tribes.
By Brent Bartlett Jr. III
WCNN - Washington State Corespondent
September 16, 2014
WCNN - Washington State Corespondent
September 16, 2014
SEATTLE - A coalition of activist groups in Washington State have banded together in an effort to change names of potentially offensive Native American tribal words and landmarks named using potentially offensive Native American names.
They have achieved a small victory - their draft of new legislation has been added to the legislative calendar.
This movement has been relatively quiet throughout the state, and the groups have done an excellent job of securing influential supporters while keeping the topic off the headlines. This positioned the groups to have a clear, uninfluenced path to state legislators. National rights groups and national Native American coalitions are just now reading the proposed bill for the first time now that it has been added to the upcoming schedule.
They have achieved a small victory - their draft of new legislation has been added to the legislative calendar.
This movement has been relatively quiet throughout the state, and the groups have done an excellent job of securing influential supporters while keeping the topic off the headlines. This positioned the groups to have a clear, uninfluenced path to state legislators. National rights groups and national Native American coalitions are just now reading the proposed bill for the first time now that it has been added to the upcoming schedule.
| "We are super offended driving through the state. We have our kids wear blindfolds on road trips so we can hide them from the terrible names listed along the road." Said Megan Swapish, spokesperson for Washington Against Offensive Culture (WAOC), the group behind the proposed bill. "We are forced to drive past signs like 'Nooksack' and 'Humptulips'. It's flat wrong that we have to put images of humping flowers in our children mind simply because some Indians like those names." | List of tribes impacted by new bill: - Hoh Tribe - Jamestown S'klallam - Nooksack Tribe - Squaxin Tribe |
| Tribal name changes- Rivers: - Humptulips River - Nooksack River - Chilliwack River - Pilchuck River - Duckabush River - Pysht River - Dickey River - Queets River - Solleks River - Newaukum River - Bone River - Chumstick Creek - Ashnola River |  "We are deeply offended that this kind of thing or whatever it is we are talking about would happen." Said Chief Squatting Gerbil, head of Indian Affairs at Indians Against the White Man (IAWM). "We should probably not let this pass, and I think we have some people heading to Washington to make a paper something - like a flyer or something with a picture. I don't check some memos all the time - hard to say what we are doing." Indian tribes across the state are hoping that the support and funding from IAWM will spread the word and remove the bill from the state's docket. Another group is also joining in on the action - Citizens Requesting Unilateral Support and Trust, also known as C.R.U.S.T.. This is a little known group dedicated at bridging gaps between citizens and government. They are primarily focused on state and local government, and instantly jumped on the case with IAWM. |
"We want to see the state legislature objectively look at both sides of the argument, which right now, we aren't seeing." said Peggy Gumbelt of C.R.U.S.T.. C.R.U.S.T. has been working with many tribes in high-population zones to see what the tribes could offer state representatives or to see if some compromise could be found. "It's been a long road, and it has cost our organization precious funding dollars simply paying the bar bills at these meetings, but we continue to fight through it - we know we are on the right side of the situation." she added.
Representatives revealed some of their intents to WCNN as long as we agreed not to publish their names. Of the 15 house representatives we spoke with, 10 of them are wanting the tribes to give them access to year-round fishing, tax shelters, and income from the federal government by officially inducting them into the tribe. "I just want to loaf around, fish, and drink all day." said an anonymous Democratic representative.
It looks like there are secret motives behind the scenes. After our report, we are confident that no tribal names will need to be changed. Lastly - expect several special elections as the house dissolves into newly inducted beer-drinking tribal members.
Representatives revealed some of their intents to WCNN as long as we agreed not to publish their names. Of the 15 house representatives we spoke with, 10 of them are wanting the tribes to give them access to year-round fishing, tax shelters, and income from the federal government by officially inducting them into the tribe. "I just want to loaf around, fish, and drink all day." said an anonymous Democratic representative.
It looks like there are secret motives behind the scenes. After our report, we are confident that no tribal names will need to be changed. Lastly - expect several special elections as the house dissolves into newly inducted beer-drinking tribal members.
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