Community members are invited to participate Aug. 25 as Lummi Tribal members bring a 22 foot totem pole to Hood River, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at Riverside Community Church, 4th and State streets.
The goal of the journey, from British Columbia to Montana, is to raise awareness of fossil fuel exports and their direct threat to people like the Lummi and others throughout the region, according to Rev. John Boonstra of Gorge Ecumenical Ministries, which along with the Columbia Gorge Climate Action Network, which joins with the Lummi Nation Totem Pole Journey in sponsoring the event.
The 2015 totem pole journey comes at a defining moment in the collaborative effort to defeat fossil fuel export proposals in Oregon and Washington, according to Bill James, Chief of the Lummi Nation.
The 22-foot long totem pole is being donated by the Lummi Nation’s House of Tears Carvers and will make stops at each of the proposed coal ports.
The totem pole is destined for the Power River Basin, the source of the proposed coal that would be transported across the Pacific Northwest to Montana.
Totem Tour
The totem pole journey began Aug. 21 in Vancouver, B.C., and ravels to Bellingham’s Lummi Tribal Center in Bellingham, Marysville, and Longview. After Hood River it continues to Celilo Village and Boardman
The Lummi and supporters are trying to stop the proposed coal export terminal from being built at Xwe’chi’eXen, or Cherry Point, the ancestral sites and traditional fishing grounds of the Lummi Nation. “We are all the promise keepers. We can, and must, stop this madness,” said Lummi master carver Jewell James. “Cherry Point is the home of our ancient ones,” James said
“The ancestors expect it. The unborn demand it,” said Jay Julius, Councilman, Lummi Nation.
“We welcome these friends from the Lummi Nation as partners in the struggle to create a safe and healthy environment for our children and all living things.” said Rev. Vicky Stifter, Pastor of Riverside Community Church and Chairperson of the Gorge Ecumenical Ministries.
“This is an opportunity to join our own efforts to stop the relentless mining of fossil fuels and the dangerous exporting of coal and oil through the Gorge and endangering our region;” said Peter Cornelison of the Columbia Gorge Climate Action Network and Friends of the Columbia Gorge.
The House of Tears Carvers of the Lummi Nation, led by James, will oh Aug. 20 offer the totem pole as a gift to the Northern Cheyenne people at Otter Creek, Mont., the proposed site of a massive coal mining expansion intended to serve the proposal coal terminals in the Pacific Northwest.
“The Northern Cheyenne are standing in resistance to this coal mining expansion. The totem pole journey is our opportunity to join the Lummi Nation in standing with them,” James said.
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