Indian Rights Lawyer Speaks to 7th Grade

At the conclusion of their Washington State History course the 7th grade viewed March Point, a documentary film made by three native teenagers on the Swinomish Reservation near Anacortes. The film was full of humor, but focused on the environmental health hazards faced by the Swinomish people because of water, air and toxic waste resulting from the March Point Shell-Tesoro oil refinery. Their diet is largely dependent on locally harvested seafood, which has become increasingly unfit for consumption due to water pollution.


We then enjoyed a visit from Eberhard (Luke Fourstar's grandpa), who is a Distinguished Indian Law Practitioner in Residence at the Law School at Seattle University. Eric has lived on reservations and has four decades of experience with tribal lands and rights issues. His presentation covered the 1855 Point Elliot Treaty that took all the Indian lands west of the Cascades and south from the Canadian border and gave them to the new Washington Territory. This treaty was concluded with a combination of persuasion, coercion and manipulation of tribal rivalries. A Snoqualmie tribal leader was paid for every scalp from other tribes who were resisting the settlers. A few years later the federal government claimed additional lands from the Swinomish reservation, including March Point, where the refinery was built.

Eric ended his presentation by encouraging students to do good work with and for Indian people, who continue to live with powerful connections to each other and the land that was once theirs.