Chinook Justice

A Brief History and a Plea

Were you to see me on the street, your first assumption would not be that I am an indigenous citizen, and I wouldn't blame you in the slightest. However, I am a proud citizen of the Chinook Indian Nation, a sovereign nation that straddles the border between Oregon and Washington. Of the five tribes that make us up (Clatsop, Wahkiakum, Willapa, Kathlamet, and Lower Chinook), I come from the Clatsop, based on the Oregon side.

If you were raised in the USA, you probably know the highlights of Lewis and Clark from school (this is relevant, I swear). If you weren't, let me give you the greatest hits:

The USA obtains a large portion of land through the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
in 1804, William Clark and Meriwether Lewis set out with the Corps of Discovery to explore this "Wild and Untamed Land" and find safe passage to the Pacific Ocean (so they can beat England to claim).
Winter of 1804, the Corps finds themselves camped in what is now known as North Dakota, where they meet trapper Toussaint Charbonneau and his pregnant child-bride Sacajawea --the Corps takes Sacajawea with them as a their translator when they go.
November of 1805, the Corps of Discovery reaches the Pacific Ocean at the start of the winter storms, nearly starve, and are met and helped by the local indigenous population.

Guess who those folks were? Yeah, ever since we helped them, it was downhill from there.

Diseases brought by English and Russian traders on the Pacific had already started wiping out entire families and villages, and once we were "discovered" through the overland passage, it only increased in severity as more traders and colonizers came in.

By 1851, our numbers were so reduced that when we gathered to negotiate a treaty at Tansy Point in Oregon, we were able to bring all five tribes together without crowding. In fact, August 5th 2026 was the 175th anniversary of that treaty --a treaty that was agreed upon, sent back to Washington DC, and then left to languish on a shelf while they waited for us to die out. Why bother with paperwork and promises when those brutal savages were on their way to the annals of History?

For the next 150 years, the goverment tried to move us three times --we refused to leave the bones of our ancestors-- and evenually ended up terminating our status as a (landless) tribe in 1953, along with 108 other western bands. We were left floating and fighting until 2001, when at the end of the Clinton era we were finally re-recognized as a Federal Indian Tribe. Glorious victory!

16 months later, it was recinded.

According to the BIA and tribal opposition, the stacks and stacks of historical documentation --including a land claim payment docket that only recognized tribes can have-- were not enough, and we didn't meet the required threshold, therefore we did not exist.

Now, almost 25 years later, we are still fighting. We are exhausting our avenues but still trying. in March 2026 we managed to get state recogniton in Washington but later that month the Supreme Court declined to re-examine our petition to restore our status.

Without Federal recognition as a "Real Indian Tribe" we --and hundreds of other landless sovereign nations-- are left out of services and resources that would be an incredible help:

Access to care through Indian Health Services
Funding for housing development and financial support for our at-risk elders and citizens
The ability to send those who want to through school
The right to establish a real reservation, and to protect our cultural fishing, water, and foraging rights.

Now, here comes the big ask. Can you help us?

We have a petition, and hope that with enough signatures, it may catch enough attention to get things moving in the right direction.

Clicking that button will take you to our movement homepage, where you can find our history, timeline, relevant articles, as well as the petition link. I hope that you might take the time to look around, and maybe sign. It would mean a lot to us.

Thank you for your time.