UW Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project provides a rich pool of cases and documentations of Civil Rights movement happened locally in Washington State or along the West Coast. Case narratives, like the one we are going to read for this assignment, The Fish-in Protests at Franks Landing, is written by junior history major students studying at University of Washington at the time when the project was taking shape. We want to provide the opportunity to reflect in the “Fish-in Protest” because they not only resonated with then nation-wide Civil Rights issue at that time, but also provided a locally and culturally distinctive activity: instead of “sitting in”, local First Nation tribes have decided to “fish-in”; instead of “taking it to the street”, they have decided to “take it to the water”. In a communication studies course like this, we hope to realize that how we interpret events and as result, how we talk about those events in our daily communication with one another, might have a lot to do with how they are covered in the news. This has been the case in the past. This will remain the case into our digital future.

Here you can find a front-page feature story, from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Fish Tale that Changed History. Once you access the project site, you can find a lot of additional news stories scanned and documented, to give you a sense of what was it like back then.

Beginning from the case of Fish-in Protests at Franks Landing, we bring to you a series of inter-connected events and cases where a variety of cultural groups with different views towards nature, environment, and most importantly, salmon in our region. Please be the detective here and map out the complicated picture with the information you collect along the way. At the end of the day, you may realize that you participate in the story one way or another too!

At the end of the day, we hope to develop the understanding that intercultural conflict is situated within differences over how meaning is created over events and groups. Interpretations matter. Willingness to listen, and listening through a different cultural framework matter.

Objectives

1. You will improve your skill with analytical writing, which leads to clear, organized emails you write at work, and facilitate with productive conversation you have with your team, your family members and relational partners. Please be specific with your description of examples and through proper citation, demonstrate your use of disciplinary specific language as much as possible.

2. Successful completion of this assignment demonstrates your learning of the course outcome, describe the characteristics of intercultural competency and apply to various intercultural situations. Cultural competence is defined in our textbook, Intercultural Learning, as “the ability to successfully form, foster and improve relationships with members of a culture different from one’s own”, as well as “the process by which individuals and systems respond respectfully and effectively to people of all cultures, languages, classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and other diversity factors in manner that recognizes, afforms, and values the worth of individuals, families, and communities and protects and preserves the dignity of each (Jones, et al., 2018, p. 35).

asks
1. Understanding the case
Please go ahead and read the case narrative, T he Fish-in Protests at Franks Landing (Links to an external site.) , written by Gabriel Chrisman. It is a long narrative and the prompt provided a structure to walk away with meaningful details. You are also encouraged to reflect upon one the world view continuum we covered in this course, on how the cultural community orient themselves towards nature: adaptive, or mastery. When you are ready, please proceed to access the “Agency and Action” lesson plan regarding the Fish War.

Please click on the image to open the link for the lesson plan ( https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/pnw-fish-wars#staging (Links to an external site.) ). Once there, please move down sequentially to complete all content:

-The Fish Wars: Four Simple Truths Video

-Native Nations of the Pacific Northwest Map

-Treaties in the Pacific Northwest: Promises Made and Broken Essay

It is helpful to think about answers to the following questions while moving along with the content:

Have you been to places near the tribes marked on the Native Nations of the Pacific Northwest Map? What does the map tell you about those places? For instance, can you find the Duwamish River tribe? What does the map tell you once you click on the spot on the map? On the Mastery vs. Adaptive continuum, which end do you think the Native Nations of the Pacific Northwest might lean towards?

In your map exploration, if you keep running into the “Treaty of Elliott” and this makes you curious, you can read more about the Point Elliott Treaty, signed on January 22, 1855, near Mukilteo. Here you can see the top section of the treaty, with the reference to the Chief of the Duwamish highlighted. Please click on this document image to access additional information compiled by the Duwamish Tribe, or through this link: https://www.duwamishtribe.org/treaty-of-point-elliott (Links to an external site.)

The Fish War continue to remain relevant today. In this K5 investigation, Seattle’s Skagit River dams hurt salmon, orcas and Native American culture, agencies say (Links to an external site.) , by Susannah Frame in February of 2021, we get to hear from a variety of groups who each believe differently. Please go through the article and watch the video, Skagit: River of Light and Loss, Part 1. All follow up stories are posted on YouTube and if you wish to know more, you can search for the story, “Skagit: River of Light and Loss” and watch the entire series. If you continue to Part 5, you get to hear from 20 year old Janelle Skylar’s story of how the Seattle City Light divert the river out of her tribe’s spirit valley, and how she brought the issue to the attention of the Seattle Mayor, Jenny Durkan.

If you continue to Part 6, you get to hear from a variety of other groups, local residents who think differently, people who do sport fishing, regarding the Indian tribe’s fishing practice, providing you with a more comprehensive picture of the case.

If you continue to Part 7, you get to hear about the story of a whale named J. 35, whose baby died because of lack of food resource. She didn’t speak for herself but oceanographer, Dr. David Bain, explained how her experience has been impacted because of reduced salmon population.

In this story you get to hear from groups other than the local Indian tribes. On the Mastery vs. Adaptive continuum, which end do you think they might lean towards?

Another tribe included in the Elliot Treaty, Sauk-Suiattle tribe, sued Seattle in July of 2021 over lack of fish passage on the city’s Skagit River dams. The lawsuit claims the Washington state Constitution forbids dams from blocking fish passage, as is the case on the Skagit River. Here you can see the tribe totem and you can click on it to access the video news story. To access the entire news coverage, videos and text together, also by Susannah Frame, you can use this link: https://www.king5.com/article/news/investigations/sauk-suiattle-indian-tribe-lawsuit-seattle-city-light-dams-skagit-river/281-9b035f87-46e0-4944-89df-8a9cc6ee7a81 (Links to an external site.)