The Program

Yesterday at Astoria’s Liberty Theater, I felt the Mantle of White Guilt settle more firmly about my shoulders as we listened to the “story-driven discussions that elevate indigenous voices in our understanding of the Columbia River system.”  I went to the Confluence Story Gathering with eager anticipation; I left with a heavy heart.

The misunderstanding was mine.  I thought we would hear the stories from long ago – the stories of Coyote and Blue-jay who appear throughout the traditional Chinook legends and who show up, perhaps slightly differently, in the stories of other Northwest Coast tribes.  I thought we would learn about some of the taboos and traditions that are being re-emphasized and re-taught within the tribes of our area.  I thought we would come away knowing something about the story-telling traditions of our indigenous neighbors and about the revival of Chinook Wa-Wa or jargon.

My mistake.  Those things were barely referred to.  The emphasis was on what has been lost – in the landscape (Celilo Falls, Pillar Rock) and in far more important ways (property rights; recognition of existence.)  With each ‘story’ my mantle of guilt thickened and weighted me down.  We did this – our people.  Our ancestors.  The pioneers, the settlers, the colonists.  We were guilty.  We still are.

Postcard of Pillar Rock circa 1910

The speakers included: Tony Johnson, Chairman of the Chinook Indian Nation; David Lewis, member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde; and Oregon Poet Laureate Elizabeth Wood, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.  The three of them formed a panel who discussed a series of filmed presentations by a number of native elders and tradition keepers.  Of all of them, only Tony Johnson alluded to any of the subjects I had hoped to learn more about.

He spoke of his wife ‘not even thinking’ of wearing a necklace when she was pregnant.  He spoke of coyote peeking through a crack in the rocks – just a hint at a wonderful story I’ve heard him tell before.  But just a hint.  And it was Tony who told about Pillar Rock, the boy who once stood 75 to 100 feet above the water (depending on the tide) before being flattened for installation of a navigation marker (Marker 17) and a light.  But they were only allusions to a whole body of cultural knowledge that I had expected to learn more about.

Tony Johnson, Chairman of the Chinook Indian Nation

I had hoped to come away with a glimpse of indigenous culture as seen through traditional stories.   Instead, I left feeling thankful that I’ve attended talks and taken a class or two from Tony Johnson in the past.  He’s the only one, so far, who has helped me understand his heritage from his own point of view.  From my perspective, that’s the only way to lift the paralyzing weight of this White Guilt we feel so that we can embrace a future of better understanding.

Yesterday what I left with, instead, were echoes of same-old, oft-repeated stories of cruelty, greed, betrayal, and denial that ‘we’ have perpetrated and perpetuated.  But what are the cultural traditions that are so revered and are slowly being brought back?  Those were the stories I went to hear.  I was sorely disappointed.