The people of Austin bless the Lummi Nation's hand-carved totem pole at Huston-Tillitson University in East Austin on May 19, 2018
In the 1970s, more than 40 orca children were captured in the Salish Sea in the Pacific Northwest and sold to marine parks around the nation. Over 40 years later, Tokitae (named “Lolita” by the Miami Seaquarium) is the sole survivor of this captured group. She lives in a concrete tank and performs two times a day in exchange for her meals.
But there’s a strategic Indigenous-led plan currently underway to free her, bring her home, and reunite her with her mother. In early May, the Lummi Nation began a 9,000 mile 23-day journey, traveling from Washington state to Miami with a 16-foot carved totem pole from the world famous House of Tears Carvers in tow. You can read more about the totem pole journey, known as “Qwel Lhol Mech Ten”(Our Shared Responsibility), along with the priorities of the Lummi Nation, in our recent blog inviting people out to the events here.
This past weekend, two Texas cities - Austin and Houston - had the honor and privilege of participating in this journey backed by the power of unified people, prayer, action, and hope.
In Austin, long-time East Austin Activist Gilbert Rivera welcomed a packed auditorium at the historically black Huston-Tillotson University, and drew on his personal experiences living in the Northwest and in Austin.
This set the tone for the evening, which dug much deeper than Tokitae’s story to address the connections between Texas and the Pacific Northwest, and many other places and Native peoples who have struggled against colonialism, neoliberalism, and profit-driven corporations that fuel extraction, consumption, and profit over people (and all living things).
The quest for Tokitae's liberation from the Miami Seaquarium symbolizes long-standing resistance to the destructive force of human greed. On Saturday, this theme was repeatedly brought up when local East Austin community leader Susana Almanza joined Jesse Mancias of the Carrizo/Comecrudo tribe and Fred Lane of the Lummi Nation in a panel moderated by Dr. Tane Ward, Founder of Equilibrio Norte and Organizer Manager for Sierra Club, to discuss the intersections of environmental justice, tribal sovereignty, and animal rights.
The greed behind the rapidly gentrifying landscape of East Austin is the same greed influencing the construction of three proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in South Texas that would pollute communities and destroy sacred indigenous sites, which is also the very same greed driving humans to steal animals from their homes and force them into isolation for the sake of mass entertainment and profit.
The Lummi Nation's totem pole at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic State southeast of Houston, Texas
At Houston's event on Sunday, Poet and Activist Blanca Rodriguez Alanis recited this poem:
They made their way to the Salish Sea
On the hunt for the black and white beauties, for all they saw was gold
Stolen from their loved ones
and emerald homes
Repeated history of the
Native American children
Who were kidnapped and sent
to boarding schools
Trapped, piercing cries, echo through the floors
forever ingrained in their souls
Ella llama a su familia, jamás olvida
Los sigue anhelado con su llanto
They have always swam free
in our Mother's womb
The warm sun on their backs
With the salmon, seals, and all
the living beings of the sea
Diving into the blue skies,
a volar con las aves
Sharing their abundant home with their relatives, the Lummi Nation
Recognizing the scent of their cedar canoes and the burning of Mother Earth medicines
She can still hear the drumming
and singing of her people
Their prayers have kept her alive
She has been imprisoned
in your pool for 47 years
She has suffered and fed
your pockets long enough
Tokitae longs to return home
Her Mother still yearns for her child
It's time you make amends with them both.
Watch the full live-stream of Austin's stop on Saturday, filmed by Sierra Club Houston Organizer Bryan Parras:
To learn more about the Lummi’s efforts to bring Tokitae home, visit sacredsea.org.