The American West–home to the Cowboys vs Indians psychodrama–is mustering for a final confrontation, this time over the looming extinction of the iconic Pacific salmon. While the original conflict featured action-packed, blood and gore slaughter of millions of bison and massacres of the Indigenous peoples whose lives depended on them, this time around it is a slow-motion train-wreck.
As major salmon stream polluters such as the Farm Bureau and Cattlemen’s Association–along with state attorney generals and white newspaper owners–line up to attack the treaty rights of Northwest Treaty Tribes like the Swinomish, the apathetic citizenry is being asked to take sides.
Will so-called progressive moral authorities speak out, or maintain silence out of fear?
