Declaration of Presence | Letter

Published 1:30 am Monday, March 27, 2023

This declaration was read to the commissioners today at the Port of Friday Harbor:

Declaration of Presence

In Native cultures, it was once common to send witnesses to important events where proclamations or decisions are made. Witnesses would then listen in silence, before going home to share what they have learned with other tribal members. Justin Youso is a local descendant of the Lummi people. Justin does not speak for the rest of the group. Lisa Nash Lawrence is the matriarch of the Mitchell Bay Band who have called San Juan Island home for generations. She does speak for the people that live here! Neither one of them has a say right now. They are not given presence by the Port of Friday Harbor. I humbly ask that you show them some dignity and respect by giving voice to Lisa and Justin as well as the rest of the indigenous citizens who live here on the Island.

Members of the Friday Harbor Arts Commission have received written permission from the Port to place a Welcome Figure on Port property and have conveyed their preference for placing it on the deck at Spring Street Landing. They are waiting for a feasibility report on the engineering for the project. Referrals will then be sent to seven indigenous groups that were here before us. Both figures will not fit on a 20ft x 35ft space on the deck above the water. The people who live here have a right to choose which face they want to put forward.

Your offer to place a massive whale sculpture on the deck was not in their name! It was not in my name! That voice belongs to the citizens of San Juan Island who own the Port of Friday Harbor. Let them make the choice!

Lee Brook,

San Juan Island