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Despite threats, Makah plan to party
Thursday, May 20, 1999
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
NEAH BAY -- As it prepares to host a big potlatch, the Makah tribe is worried about its security after receiving a spate of threats.
Tribal Council Chairman Ben Johnson Jr. said he's received so many abusive phone calls since the tribe killed a gray whale Monday that he's changing his home number. Other tribal members have reported being harassed as well, from anti-Indian insults to death threats.
"It's sad to hear all these things. . . . It's too bad that this whole issue has become racial," Johnson said.
The Coast Guard, which had protected the Makah whalers from protesters' interference by arresting several anti-whaling activists and seizing their boats, also remained on heightened alert after receiving telephoned threats. More than 2,300 personnel in Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho were advised not to wear their uniforms traveling to and from work, or when they went out to lunch or for errands.
Johnson suggested that anti-whaling protesters should focus their zeal on such things as trophy animal hunting, pollution and other acts that affect more animals' lives than the Makah's whaling.
"We are good stewards of our land. We only take what we need," Johnson said.
Meanwhile, tribal staff are working around the clock to prepare for as many as 5,000 visitors at a potlatch Saturday. "Just about every tribe in the state of Washington" is expected, Johnson said, as well as Indians from Alaska and Canada.
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