Bellingham Comments from Digital Recorder - EISs for the Proposed ...

GATEWAY PACIFIC TERMINAL EIS SCOPING HEARING VOL. II
COURT REPORTER: BETH DRUMMOND PROCEEDING DATE: October 27, 2012
Page 143
1 coal terminal right there. That's sacred lands to the
2 Catholics.
3 (Applause.)
4 We wouldn't go to Israel and dig up the sacred
5 walls of Jericho and put a coal terminal there, or so on and
6 so forth or the sacred places that they have in Buddhism or
7 Islam; no way is that even an option.
8 So it hurts my heart and it tears my people down
9 to know that this is even an option. Why is this even an
10 option? Why is this open for discussion?
11 It should not be. So my people, we say, "No,
12 this is not negotiable. This is not going to happen." I
13 represent my people in a good way. I'm an Indian activist
14 at the beginning of my journey, and I appreciate this
15 opportunity to come here and express my thoughts and my
16 feelings on what this will do.
17 In 1887, the Dawes Act (phonetic) happened, and
18 over 90 percent of my people were -- had died due to
19 biochemical warfare. This is going to take a toll on our
20 culture and on our identity.
21 You apologized with boarding schools. Don't
22 contradict it, by taking another chunk of our identify. Out
23 there at Cherry Point, I can trace my ancestors back to 165
24 generations. I worked on the Semiahmoo Project for six
25 months. I recovered the remains of my ancestors; don't make