WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

00:00:05.680 --> 00:00:12.000
This Fish Wars thing may, at first, may seem a little complicated.

00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.940
But, I think if you look closer, you'll find it's very simple.

00:00:17.060 --> 00:00:19.060
First, a brief background.

00:00:19.260 --> 00:00:24.320
A long time ago, the Indians of the Pacific Northwest had a pretty good deal.

00:00:24.380 --> 00:00:27.900
They had what must have seemed like an endless supply of food.

00:00:27.900 --> 00:00:30.880
Salmon, varieties of fresh fruits.

00:00:30.900 --> 00:00:32.540
Cedar and fir trees.

00:00:32.540 --> 00:00:35.800
Medicines, elk, bear.

00:00:35.800 --> 00:00:38.340
Cultural connections with neighboring tribes.

00:00:38.340 --> 00:00:40.760
Art, music, dance.

00:00:40.760 --> 00:00:45.460
Clean water and best of all a giant supply of salmon.

00:00:47.540 --> 00:00:53.000
Now, the Fish Wars. Look at the Fish Wars as four simple truths.

00:00:54.700 --> 00:00:58.960
People moving from the east to the west did so to get land.

00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:02.040
The Indians were coerced to trade away some of their land

00:01:02.040 --> 00:01:04.980
through a bunch of treaties to the United States.

00:01:05.380 --> 00:01:09.300
Why would they trade away their lands? To keep access to food.

00:01:09.980 --> 00:01:14.260
[Valerie Segrest, Muckleshoot Tribe] Our ancestors traded land for us to have access to our foods.

00:01:14.260 --> 00:01:16.760
So that was our very first conversation.

00:01:16.760 --> 00:01:19.000
Because we know even in our oral traditions

00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:23.420
that when we are not eating our traditional foods, when they cease to exist,

00:01:23.420 --> 00:01:25.660
then so do we as a people.

00:01:26.260 --> 00:01:29.680
Okay, who would not protect their right to exist?

00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:32.640
So, simple truth number one:

00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:36.200
Indians did sign treaties that ceded some of their land.

00:01:36.200 --> 00:01:40.720
But they did not cede all of their lands or their rights to their food.

00:01:42.040 --> 00:01:45.880
[Elizabeth Furse] Okay, the tribes had everything, they had the land, they had everything.

00:01:45.880 --> 00:01:51.500
They granted certain rights to the United States, and that was land.

00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:58.680
But they reserved all those rights they had before.

00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:02.440
They reserved the right to fish, hunt, and gather

00:02:02.440 --> 00:02:05.560
in their usual and accustomed lands and waters

00:02:06.040 --> 00:02:09.520
forever, even on lands they had ceded. Forever.

00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:12.760
Sir, forever. Like, infinity forever.

00:02:12.860 --> 00:02:14.020
Jump ahead.

00:02:14.020 --> 00:02:18.040
The Northwest Territory becomes the states of Washington and Oregon.

00:02:18.040 --> 00:02:22.340
Thousands more people arrive out of the sunrise looking for free land

00:02:22.340 --> 00:02:25.380
and now even free natural resources.

00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:28.120
Lumber, minerals, fish.

00:02:28.480 --> 00:02:32.580
To increase their control over natural resources, the salmon,

00:02:32.580 --> 00:02:36.980
the new state governments create laws restricting the Indians' treaty rights to fish.

00:02:37.240 --> 00:02:39.720
So, simple truth number two:

00:02:39.940 --> 00:02:41.500
States can't do that.

00:02:42.060 --> 00:02:46.860
[John Platt] There was a tremendous amount of harassment and persecution, prosecutions

00:02:46.860 --> 00:02:51.140
by the respective game departments of the State of Oregon, the State of Washington

00:02:51.160 --> 00:02:55.480
on tribes who were attempting to assert their traditional rights

00:02:55.480 --> 00:02:58.040
that were secured by treaties.

00:02:58.060 --> 00:03:00.920
And even though the United States issued court orders

00:03:00.920 --> 00:03:03.140
to stop bothering the Indians who were fishing,

00:03:03.140 --> 00:03:07.640
the states of Washington and Oregon kept violating the Indians' treaty rights.

00:03:07.660 --> 00:03:10.620
And that brings us to simple truth number three:

00:03:11.220 --> 00:03:13.720
Time to take it to the streets.

00:03:13.720 --> 00:03:19.060
Well, in this case, take it to the water. Fish Wars.

00:03:49.640 --> 00:03:53.040
And finally, simple truth number four:

00:03:53.060 --> 00:03:55.440
It sometimes gets personal.

00:03:56.100 --> 00:04:01.420
[Elizabeth Furse] I think we have to blame some of the problems that tribes face on racism.

00:04:01.980 --> 00:04:04.740
I think we have to be honest about that.

00:04:05.060 --> 00:04:10.380
It is racism because, "We don't want another group to have something we don't have."

00:04:11.140 --> 00:04:15.720
As much as we wish it weren't so, when different cultures collide

00:04:15.720 --> 00:04:20.160
and there are disagreements, good old Mr. Racism is often to blame.

00:04:24.820 --> 00:04:28.560
So the simple facts of Fish Wars are, by the numbers, one:

00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:32.300
Indians did sign treaties with the United States. They gave up some of their land

00:04:32.300 --> 00:04:34.600
but they did not give up their rights to fish.

00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:40.100
Two: States did pass laws that violated those treaties and states can't do that.

00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:45.280
Three: When all else fails, in America, you can always take it to the water.

00:04:45.280 --> 00:04:49.860
And four: Yes, in conflicts like these, sadly,

00:04:49.860 --> 00:04:52.220
racism is usually hidden in there somewhere.

00:04:52.220 --> 00:04:54.840
Sir, I don't think it was hidden at all.

00:04:55.140 --> 00:04:59.380
In four simple truths, that's the Fish Wars.

00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:02.620
Valerie Segrest

00:05:02.740 --> 00:05:04.260
Elizabeth Furse

00:05:04.880 --> 00:05:06.220
John Platt