An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States

they awaited a decision on whether their treaty rights would be affirmed and
they would be able to fish freely without interference from the State of
Washington. The Puyallup and the Nisqually had been protesting since at
least the 1950s so that they would be able to fish. 41 They were ready to
protest the court’s decision if they did not grant the tribes fishing rights offreservation,
which Adams and Walker believed was the inherent right of the
tribes.
In front of the Supreme Court Building, Abernathy and Indigenous
activists were waiting outside for the Supreme Court decision to determine
whether or not the fishing rights of Indigenous nations in the Pacific
Northwest were protected in their treaties. Interviewed about the position he
and the Southern Christian Leadership would take, and likely understanding
the criticisms of Indigenous delegates to the Poor People’s Campaign,
Abernathy decided to explicitly state that he was there to support and not
lead. Importantly, he made a key remark that acknowledged the particular
differences in how Black people and Native people lived but also the
relationship to being poor:
We are not insisting on anything other than support be given to our
Indian brothers and we are insisting that they have the right to live as
brown, black and white men have the right to live. And when we
don’t have food stamps down in Mississippi and Alabama, and
Indians do not have the right to fish in Washington, it is all a process
of genocide in this country, and we are against that. And we are going
to do everything we can to put an end to it because we feel that
everybody has the right to live, and in fact, we’re guaranteed that by
the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the
Constitution of the United States. 42
Abernathy surely learned a lot about Indigenous rights and treaties
through conversations with Indigenous leaders. Nevertheless, he framed
Indigenous rights within the realm of US democratic possibilities, ignoring
the key differences between Black civil rights advocates and Indigenous
peoples: the United States’ treaty obligations to Native peoples. He at least
understood the term “genocide.”
Black entertainers also participated in symbolic gestures for Indigenous
causes. On June 20, 1970, actor Ossie Davis and comedian Dick Gregory,