Chinook Tribe decries article chosen for Lewis and Clark bicentennial brochure

[Jeffrey Kopp]

Here is the link to the story, which has now scrolled off the 
Oregon Live's News Flash Regional Full Story page.  It's 
a very long URL, so if your mail reader breaks the line, you'll 
have to assemble it back into one piece.  The apparent 
spaces are actually underscores.

http://flash.oregonlive.com/cgi-bin/or_nview.pl?/home1/wire/AP/Stream-Parsed/OREGON_NEWS/o1146_AM_WA--IndianObjections

In the wire story, the Chinook tribe is said to object to a 
description of the facial characteristics of the Chinooks, 
their expectation of aid to follow an 1851 treaty which 
failed ratification, and treatment of women in the tribe in 
the early 19th century.  The article, proposed for a tourist 
pamphlet by the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Association, is 
characterized by the tribe as "offensive and inhospitable."   
The quotes offered in the wire story do seem indelicate, 
though the tribe's charge of "racism"  is denied by the 
author, a community college instructor who relied on the 
1976 book, "The Chinook Indians: Traders of the Lower Columbia 
River."  The article is reported as having been previously 
prepared several years ago for a series on ecotourism.

A compromise rephrasing of the passages in question by the 
pamphlet's author or the L&C Bicentennial Association will 
probably be made, which should satisfy the concerns raised.

According to Chinook tribal administrator Peggy Disney, as 
quoted in the wire story, the Nez Perce tribe has participated 
in the bicentennial planning, hoping to portray the Native 
American perspective on the expedition.  In contrast, the 
Chinooks seem to have to have a greater apprehension about 
the celebration, regarding the expedition as marking the 
"beginning of the end" of their way of life following white 
immigration to the West.

I think native participation in pioneer historical projects 
could be advantageous to the native population as well as 
beneficial to public knowledge and awareness.  Events such 
as the Lewis & Clark bicentennial represent a good opportunity 
to present native history and culture to a new, wide and 
interested audience.

Regards,

Jeffrey Kopp

On Mon, 26 Jul 1999 19:14:05 -0700, you wrote:

>try
>
>>try
>>
>>http://flash.oregonlive.com/
>>
>>then, go (click on) to "more regional headlines" and should be able to
>find the  headline.  if that doe not work try
>>
>>http://www.oregonlive.com/
>>
>>then go the "newsflash" then "more regional headlines".  sorry about that!
>>
>>phil cash cash
>>cayuse/nez perce