Olympia, WA – Early Thursday morning, June 11, several dozen Puyallup tribal members and supporters filled the courthouse for Jacqueline Salyers’ case, which was escalated to the state Supreme Court. Salyers was murdered by Tacoma police officers in 2016, and her family, tribe and community has been fighting for justice ever since.

As tribal members entered the courthouse, their drums and rattles were confiscated due to a rule implemented just that morning against instruments in chambers. The courtroom quickly reached capacity. The state employees explained there was no plan to accommodate the number of people present to support the case. This left many supporters forced to watch the proceedings from a makeshift overflow room in the basement and away from the victim’s family.

“It’s very convenient how they can change the rules at a whim to silence us,” said Osage tribal member Gemini Gnull, who was there as a member of the Tacoma Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (TACAARPR). “They kill our family members and think we won’t fight back. When we do fight back, they try to separate us, shove us in the basement, and take away our drums. It’s bare-faced repression.”

The case was between the city of Tacoma and the Salyer’s family. Salyer was represented in person by many living relatives including her mother Lisa Earl Rideout. During proceedings, the city of Tacoma acknowledged they were responsible for the murder of Salyers, since the officer who killed her, Scott Campbell, was a city employee. The city also knew the offending officer, Campbell, had a history of violent crimes but had not been removed from duty. This hearing was to determine if Salyers’ family would be allowed to sue for both negligence in the city’s retaining the killer cop as well as for the murder itself.

This court case comes from many years of fighting for “Justice for Jackie,” a phrase found on shirts that filled the court and basement over-flow room. Banners that also bore this slogan were not allowed in the building. Puyallup tribal member and former tribal council member James “Jim Jim” Rideout explained how they had been able to fight and win better legislation to persecute killer cops in the state of Washington.

Rideout stated, “It was a constant fight from beginning to end. And you know, when it passed, it passed by 60% in Washington state. I might add, it's the first time in the history of the United States that any excessive use of force law had ever been passed.”

Rideout was referring to HB 3003. Through Initiative 940, they gathered over 100,000 signatures for the measure, and it successfully passed by 60% in 2018.

“The really only thing that we could do is fight, to fight for justice and stand in solidarity with all the victims that came to our tribe,” Rideout said.

After an hour, the Supreme Court judges moved on to another case. They will make a determination at a later time. The tribal and community members collected their drums and formed a large circle outside where they drummed, prayed and discussed what justice for the community could look like. A common theme was the need for all people to come together to stand up for victims of police and state violence.

Loretta Gutierrez-Sacks was one of many people who fought to get Initiative 940 passed stated, “It's been ten years, it's come a long way, and it's just not about Jackie, it's about justice for all.” She emphasized how the coalition had begun as a fight for Jackie Salyer but quickly grew. “It was a lot of labor, but today we stand here at the Supreme Court, and moving forward, and we'll move forward again if we have to.”

Despite the improvements to the law, many Washingtonians are still killed by the police every year. “We’ve come a long way, and we have a long way to go,” continued Gnull. “We are still fighting for justice for Rhoda too. And we won’t stop fighting until we have full community control of the police.”

Gnull was referring to Rhoda Butler, a 61-year-old grandmother who was shot and killed by Aaron McNeely in Tacoma in 2024. Many other impacted family members spoke out, emphasizing the importance of showing solidarity.

Ahbead Soot, Puyallup tribal member and daughter of Ramona Bennet and Clyde Thomas Bill, spoke to the importance of this case. “I'm really grateful that we can all come out and show up together and like they were saying, together, united we'll never be defeated and we're stronger together.” She continued, “I'm grateful today that we have our day in court. They have their day in court. We can all get justice some way or another, or even just recognition, apology, something, you know. Instead of just trying to sweep it under the rug. It'll be a beautiful thing, and then to have it happen and have all these warriors, these Indian warriors here. All of us warriors, you know, we're all ready. We're all standing here. We're ready for the good fight and I'm grateful to see that I witnessed that today.”

#OlympiaWA #WA #PuyallupTribe #JacquelineSalyers #OppressedNationalities

Olympia, WA – Hundreds gathered at Heritage Park in Olympia, on Saturday, January 18, to protest against the second inauguration of Donald Trump. People of all ages, genders and nationalities from dozens of organizations made up the Peoples’ March on a brisk, sunny afternoon.

Protesters put forward demands around the environment, indigenous sovereignty, economic justice , liberation for Black people, liberation for trans people, immigrant justice, reproductive justice, and freeing Palestine.

“We want everyone to be united in our movement to say ‘no’ to cages,” said Rufina Reyes, director of immigrant rights group La Resistencia, “This is the worst time to bow down our heads. We want people to stand up and say, ‘Here we are, and we have the right to fight for ourselves and fight for our families!’“

Immediately after the march to the Capitol, many of the crowd gathered at a community center a few blocks away for the Festival of Resistance. The Festival of Resistance, according to its program, “is a crucial opportunity to build community and solidarity, engage in outreach and education, and prepare to take collective action ahead of what is sure to be a tumultuous time.”

The first half of the gathering was a social hour where patrons ate free food provided by Food Not Bombs and mingled with other festival-goers. The second half of the programming included discussion groups such as “Organizing for Queer and Trans Liberation” and “Neighborhood Organizing” and workshops including “Prison Letter Writing” and “Anti-Repression Workshop,” just to name a few.

“The Festival of Resistance is important because we need to prepare for what’s coming under the Trump administration,” said Arlo Dalton, member of Palestine Action South Sound. “It’s going to be important to build our network to fight against these attacks. And if we want to be ready, we need to get started now!”

#OlympiaWA #WA #ImmigrantsRights #WomensMovement #LGBTQ #PeoplesAction #Environment #PeoplesMarch #Trump

Olympia, WA – Indigenous leaders and environmentalists held a ceremony on January 15, outside Governor Bob Ferguson’s inauguration, to honor the Southern Resident Orca population, which is suffering from environmental collapse.

Nearly 100 people from around the state gathered to share in grief the tremendous loss that occurred at the turn of the new year. On December 21, an orca was born to Tahlequah, who made international headlines in 2018 when her baby passed away and she continued to carry it with her for 17 days and over 1000 miles.

Only ten days after being born, Tahlequah’s newest baby passed away from starvation. Once again, Tahlequah is carrying her deceased baby, day and night, throughout the Salish Sea.

The Salish Sea is unique in its ecology and is home to a population of orcas. They are of sacred significance to the Coast Salish tribes and depend almost entirely upon Chinook salmon for their diet. Members of several Coast Salish tribes spoke, stating that all can unite around the fact that the loss of our salmon is the loss of our future.

As legendary tribal activist, water protector and earth defender of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, Raymond Kingfisher aptly states, “We do this for the children.”

Attendees began the vigil at Tivoli Fountain, then walked up to the Capitol, circled the building, and stood at the front steps, drumming and singing Coast Salish songs the entire way. They passed a gathering of tents and workers quickly putting together the inaugural ball for Washington’s new governor, Bob Ferguson. Supposedly environmentally concerned, and an attorney, he has threatened to “sue the Navy” if they keep polluting the Salish Sea.

The marchers made their presence known outside the Capitol, demanding the governor do everything in his power to stop military and industrial polluters, dams and habitat destruction from killing the last remaining salmon.

Bryce Philips, Unangan of the Aleutian Islands, and member of the National Postal Handlers Union, stated, “Salmon, whales, seals, these are all very interconnected and this legislature ignores that just like they ignore the working-class people, just like they ignore the housing crisis and homelessness, just like they ignore poverty and people lacking food, just like they ignore the problems of our education system. They are never thinking of the future, and indigenous wisdom teaches us to look seven generations ahead as opposed to looking at next year’s profits and loss statement, next years what the lobbyists want to see done. It’s time to listen to working-class people, it's time to listen to indigenous people, who have successfully managed this land for thousands of years.”

Philips continued, “If it looked like a wilderness to people, well it's only because it was a very attractive and well maintained garden. Think of a Japanese garden, well this is a Native American garden. and people effed it up in the name of progress, and now we're seeing this ‘progress’ means we won't have whales anymore, we won't have salmon anymore, it means we won't have trees anymore, and what would Washington, the Northwest, even be without those things? It would be a dead, soulless place. So, I think it's really of interest to all people, whatever color they may be, all who love this place, to fight to remove these dams and do what needs to be done to maintain the ecosystem and look for new ways to have power, electricity, that aren’t so harmful to our fish and our whales.”

At the Capitol steps, there were many powerful songs and testimonies.

Genesis Esponda, of Chiapas Education Project, stated after the ceremony, “To all my relatives, that means the birds, the trees, the plants, the ocean, and the ocean animals, when one of our family members suffers, we all suffer. it seems like a really important situation to bring awareness to, especially here in Olympia.”

#OlympiaWA #WA #Environment