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6introductionpromise as long as the mountains stand, as long as the sun shines,and as long as the rivers run.”Whites questioned rights that allowed Indians to fish in ways theycouldn’t. They scornfully labeled Native Americans “super citizens”and accused them of destroying the runs. The feud on the riverbankraised powerful questions about the definition of Indian treaties andpromises between nations.Decades ago, in a far different America, a federal Indian movementswept the country. Unknown fishermen held up their treaties and tooka stand. One was a Nisqually Indian named Billy Frank. “I wasn’t theBilly Frank that I am now,” the Nisqually tribal leader told reportersin 1984. “I was a bitter person.” Says friend Tom Keefe, “When I lookat Billy Frank, and I guess I know more about him than most people,I can say there is a guy who decided that he could change the worldby changing himself.”At eighty-one years old, Billy wears his long gray hair in aponytail and carries a message of perseverance around the world.Leaders of every persuasion hear the story of the Indians from anIndian who knows. “My people are still here!” he tells them again andagain and again.Billy is a onetime hell-raising Nisqually Indian and a present-daystatesman. Old stereotypes that branded Indian people as lazy, ruthlesssavages seem preposterous when you meet Billy. The hardworkingelder has made bridge building with dissenters an art. At the height ofthe fish wars, with battle lines drawn between the state and Indianfishermen, a staffer for then-Governor Dan Evans pronounced Billyas “friendly as an old shoe.”Billy’s prolific family tree is filled with leaders, and he has lived hislife following in their footsteps. He stands when he speaks, just likehis father. “We’ve got to get together,” friend George Walter demonstratesat an Olympia coffee shop with his arms encircled. “This is