Whatcom Peace & Justice Center honors the work of these two ‘Peacemakers’

“I love the idea of being an active catalyst of peace and I hope you all do too,” said Emcee Shu-Ling Zhao, who started the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center’s 20th anniversary celebration Sunday, Sept. 11, with a land acknowledgment to the Lummi Nooksack and Coast Salish Indigenous people. “So justice acknowledges the struggle and the work of resistance in order to manifest peace and that’s what we’re here to talk about today.”

Zhao then presented awards to local Peacemakers Tina McKim and Sadie Olsen (Kwastlmut) of Lummi Nation.

McKim received the Harris Lifetime Peacemaker Award for her work with the Birchwood Food Desert Fighters and the Bellingham Deaf and Disability Justice Coalition.

“Climate change, a global pandemic and wealth-hoarding by the one percent are creating greater displacement and scarcity in our community,” McKim said. “I want to talk a little bit today about some of how our local governments are responding with structural and physical violence through this crisis and how we can move towards a government based on values and interdependence, dignity and mutual care.”

McKim said last year SWAT vehicles, police in riot gear and armed ICE agents surrounded Bellingham City Hall and evicted roughly 100 people striking in front of the building. McKim urged people to help end this cycle of violence by local governments.

“Without action, the number of us who will lose our homes will continue to rise,” McKim said. “The pandemic, and its disabling effects, continue to rage on and rents continue to skyrocket. Climate change-fueled disasters, such as flooding, are displacing families more frequently than ever.”

McKim added that marginalized communities are disproportionately affected, which further exacerbates systemic oppression in our communities.

“People are struggling to afford the basics and what do the mayors of every city in Whatcom County do? Sign a collective statement prioritizing a new and larger jail,” McKim said. “The jail is expected to cost over $100 million and the mayors want to pay for it in part by diverting $20 million of the county’s COVID relief funds.”

McKim suggested those funds be used to fix ventilation in schools, to build COVID-safe shelters for the homeless community or increase health care access to everybody in the county. Sheriff Elfo has discussed the possibility of collaborating with ICE to fund the jail, McKim said, dismissing the terror the agency yields against people of color in our community every day.

“I ask you to imagine what our community could look like and be like if those same mayors instead demanded that we build easy accessible healthcare facilities to provide mental health care and addiction treatment,” McKim said.

McKim ended her speech asking the audience to be bold and fight for what they believe in.

Promotes Indigenous learning

Kwastlmut received the Dotty Dale Youth Peacemaker Award, a new award for the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center, for her work promoting Indigenous learning and spaces across Whatcom County.

Kwastlmut began with introducing herself in her native Lummi language, then repeated it in English, and thanked the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center for the award.

“Today, as I reflect on the topic of peace and justice here in Whatcom County, I think about my ancestors and the work I do through our native lifelong foundation White Swan Environmental,” Kwastlmut said.

Kwastlmut explained some of her family history and how her ancestors helped share the salmon of Whatcom Creek with the first settlers of Whatcom County.

“My ancestors have a deep relationship with Whatcom,” Kwastlmut said. “The noisy waters of Whatcom Creek since time immemorial, yet one year after the ratification of the Point Elliot Treaty of 1855, my ancestors throughout the archipelago of what is now known as the Coast Salish Seas were required to relocate to federally designated lands.”

Kwastlmut said 157 years after this treaty was signed we are all impacted by this treaty. Kwastlmut added we have started to see the reincorporation of Indigenous practices but we need more to reach true peace and justice in our community

“Some day there will be a longhouse at Western Washington University and Whatcom Creek,” Kwastlmut said.

Kwastlmut is cofounder and intern for White Swan Environmental, a native-led non-profit organization.

“White Swan Environmental aims to support thriving cultures and environment for all in the Salish Sea,” Kwastlmut said. “Our mission is to support the natural, cultural and historical restoration to the Salish Sea for seventh-generation sustainability as a measure of ecological protection for all. Our vision is to see seven longhouses in the San Juan Islands and seven longhouses in the Gulf Islands for a K through PhD, Mountain to Sea, Reef to Reef, Coast Salish Tribal Heritage Field Institute that is Indigenous led.”

Kwastlmut said it is important for future generations to be present in their ancestral homelands and learn about their culture. Kwastlmut urged the audience to write to their government officials to show their support for White Swan Environmental’s mission.

“I want to give a shoutout to Whatcom Intergenerational High School,” Kwastlmut said. “White Swan Environmental was instrumental in the offerings they teach at the school. We advocated for knowledge democracy and a balance between Indigenous and Western ways of learning.”

Volunteer team

Executive Director of Whatcom Peace & Justice Center Aline Prata said the day was amazing because of the volunteer team that helped organize it.

The event started with keynote speaker Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, an award-winning author, internationally recognized social justice activist and historian.

“She talked a lot about the last 20 years of struggles,” Prate said. “And did a little bit of deep historical rescuing of how did militarism come about, how does that involve Indigenous peoples and Indigenous peoples’ struggles at home and abroad.”

Dunbar-Ortiz’s speech was recorded and will be released on the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center website and YouTube page on Sept. 21.

About 50 people attended an award ceremony from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Market Depot Square. Activities included a craft center for kids, a peace and justice timeline for the community to add to, a silent auction and live music from Foleanda, a Seattle-based Brazilian Forró band.

Whatcom Peace & Justice Center is still accepting donations for the International Day of Peace until Sept. 21 on its website.