Orcas Island hasn’t seen many gatherings over the past year, but yesterday there was a huge turnout to support the people of the Lummi Nation and the totem pole they are taking to Washington, D.C., as they stop at various important sites along the way to educate people and raise awareness.
Rock-hopping the low-tide, barnacle-covered boulders from our neck of the woods to the Lummi Preserve at Madrona Point that begins at the end of Haven Lane in Eastsound, we could hear the presentation from down on the beach long before we arrived. The totem pole’s head carver, Jewell Praying Wolf James, had begun speaking on several dire topics. We missed the first part, but thankfully he continued to speak for another half-hour on issues from the abuse of women to the importance of caring for our land and waters.
I recorded several short snippets of what he had to say:
Before showing the rest, let me fill you in a little more on what is happening, thanks to an article from the Seattle Times written by Lynda V. Mapes:
They will arrive by horseback. On foot, running from long distances. And even by canoe, to witness a spiritual journey.
It will begin at the Lummi Nation outside Bellingham next month, and continue to stops at Nez Perce traditional lands; Bears Ears National Monument in Utah; the Grand Canyon; Chaco Canyon, New Mexico; the Black Hills of South Dakota; and the Missouri River, at the crossing of the Dakota Access Pipeline, where thousands protested its construction near Native lands.
A more than 24-foot-long totem pole, carved at the Lummi Nation from a 400-year-old red cedar, will accompany the people who join this trip along the way, evoking an urgent call to protect sacred lands and waters of Indigenous people.
This totem pole journey, called the Red Road to DC, will culminate in early June in Washington, D.C. There the pole will be featured at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian this fall. A special exhibition was developed by The Natural History Museum and House of Tears Carvers at the Lummi Nation, which is gifting the pole to the Biden administration.
Head carver and Lummi tribal member Jewell Praying Wolf James said he and a team of relations and beloveds, ranging in age from 4 to 70, carved the pole beginning this winter. They were buoyed by the urgency of presenting the pole to President Joe Biden as a reminder of the sacred obligation to honor the rights of Indigenous people and their sacred places, James said.
They carved the pole one figure at a time, led by spirit, inspiration and dreams, not a drawn plan, James said. The figures include everything from Chinook salmon, food of the southern resident killer whale, to the wolf, the bear, an eagle diving to Earth, and even a child in jail — a reference to children presently incarcerated at the U.S.-Mexico border. James explains each figure in this artist’s statement.
The pole opens a path to the spirit, James said. From the extinction risk to salmon and orca to the tears of seven generations, the carvings are intended to open hearts and minds into thought and prayer, James explains in a description of the symbols on the pole recorded by Lummi tribal member Freddie Lane.
“You are challenged to understand that the Spirit of Creation is in all things, and all things are connected…and all things deserve respect and honor,” James said.
The Red Road trip is the latest by the House of Tears Carvers, who for more than a decade have launched totem pole journeys to call national attention to causes, most recently, freeing southern resident orca Tokitae from captivity at the Miami Seaquarium.
Here is Jewell Praying Wolf James in the midst of the carving process. Go 4 minutes and 11 seconds in to hear what the meanings are of the carvings he chose to make in the wood:
To visit the official Red Road to DC Facebook page and follow what they have been doing and where they are going – it’s fantastic, by the way – click here. It includes a detailed list on the left side of stops they plan to make along the way.
