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.”

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