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enegades 69“Right out here by the fish house, right here where Wa He LutSchool stands today, saying we’re committed to this fight,” HankAdams recalls of the atmosphere. “Our cousin, our brother, gave hislife in World War II. This flag draped his coffin. We’re carrying onthis fight.”The Native Americans pledged their allegiance to the United Statesthat day—both to serve the country and to fish its rivers. “Our peoplehave fought and died for the United States and we have an agreementwith it to fish these grounds. We plan to do so . . . and this flag willgive us courage,” said Janet McCloud, a Tulalip Indian and activist.Then, in a gesture of their resolve, the fishermen cast their boats.Arrests followed.“The court didn’t say we had to stop, but only that the GameDepartment could control our fishing,” Billy told the Daily Olympian.“We are catching mainly chum salmon, or dog salmon as somepeople call them, and a few steelhead. . . . We have no trouble withthe Fisheries Department over catching chum salmon—only withsportsmen over the few steelhead we take. We’re not depleting thesalmon!”“They must think the steelhead swam over behind the Mayflower.With or without the Indians’ help, the white man is going to depletethe salmon runs just like the buffalo,” quipped McCloud.Emotions ratcheted up. “We had the power and force to exterminatethese people from the face of the earth, instead of makingtreaties with them. Perhaps we should have!” snapped an assistantPierce County prosecutor at the time. “We certainly wouldn’t behaving all this trouble with them today.”By March, the fishermen reached a tipping point. They organized,pulled together, and pooled minimal resources. “We just said we’renot moving no more,” recalls Maiselle, Billy’s older sister.With a mission to renew their treaty rights, the fishermen andtheir families founded the Survival of the American Indian Association.Survival was the kind of organization that strategized from