A3 THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JUNE 5, 2021 Miracle-Ear Hearing Centers are looking for qualified people to test their latest product, The Miracle-Ear Ready-Fit RISK FREE! Here’s the catch: You must have difficulty hearing and understanding in background noise and your hearing must fall in the range of the hearing aid. People that are selected will evaluate Miracle-Ear’s latest advanced digital hearing solution — the Miracle-Ear Ready-Fit. Michael Lopez/Walla Walla Union-Bulletin A dusting of snow sits on the statue of Marcus Whitman in Walla Walla in 2016. Scrutiny continues to mount for pioneering Northwest missionary “The killing of Whitman was the trig- ger that made Walla Walla part of the United States,” he said. SPOKANE, Wash. — For generations Twenty years after the massacre, fellow Marcus Whitman has been widely viewed missionary Henry Spalding manufactured as an iconic fi gure from early Pacifi c North- a false story about Whitman. Spalding con- west history, a venerated Protestant mission- tended Whitman had traveled to Washington, ary who was among 13 people killed by the D.C., and “persuaded President (John) Tyler Cayuse tribe near modern-day Walla Walla in to stop the British plot to steal the Oregon Ter- 1847. ritory from the United States,” Harden said. But this past year has seen a continued There is no evidence Whitman actually did reappraisal of Whitman, whose actions have this, Harden said. increasingly been viewed as imperialistic and But Spalding relentlessly promoted that destructive. story, and it became the popularly accepted The Washington Legislature voted to strip myth, Harden said, printed in history books his likeness from the U.S. Capitol. Students for decades. The myth was debunked in 1900 at Whitman College in Walla Walla demon- by a Yale professor and dropped from wide strated recently to demand another Whitman use. statue be removed from campus. A new book Whitman’s name still adorns landmarks says a well-known story about Whitman’s across the Pacifi c Northwest, including many eff orts to save the Northwest from British rule schools, streets, a hotel in Walla Walla, a was fabricated. county in eastern Washington, a national for- The developments come amid a nation- est in Oregon and a glacier on Mount Rainier. wide movement, following George Floyd’s In 1953 a heroic statue to Whitman was death last year, to shed Confederate monu- placed in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol as ments and depictions of historical fi gures who one of two representing Washington state. He mistreated Native Americans. Statues of colo- is standing, wearing buckskin garments and nizers have been targeted in several states. holding a thick Bible and saddlebags. Some Marcus Whitman is known for leading a people grumbled about the false story of Whit- small group of missionaries in 1836 into what man’s achievements even then, Harden said. was then Oregon Country, a region about the Harden noted that Whitman College has size of Alaska. He estab- taken concrete steps for lished the Whitman Mission decades to distance itself ‘EVEN WHEN I at Waiilatpu, near the Walla from the Whitman myth. Walla River. includes moving a FIRST CAME TO That The mission was in the statue identical to the one territory of the Cayuse Tribe, WHITMAN AND in Statuary Hall to a remote which was wary of the white corner of campus. The THEY TOOK settlers. college in 2016 voted to Whitman and his wife, change its mascot from the US TO THE Narcissa, were strict Cal- Missionaries to the Blues, vinists who preached a in honor of a nearby moun- MONUMENT, demanding version of Chris- tain range. There are no I THOUGHT, tianity that proved unpop- plans to change the name of ular with the tribe. In more the elite college. ‘THIS GUY IS than a decade of eff ort, Washington legislators they managed to convert A COLONIZER. had been working for sev- only two members of the eral years to replace Whit- HE’S NOT tribe, said Blaine Harden, man’s statue in Statuary an author and former New Hall. This year they chose SOMEONE York Times and Washing- deceased Native American TO BE ton Post reporter who wrote fi shing and environmental the newly published “Mur- Billy Frank Jr. for CELEBRATED.’ ’ activist der at the Mission” about the the honor. Gillian Brown | massacre. The measure’s prime sophomore at Whitman College “Whitman was a medi- sponsor, state Rep. Debra in Walla Walla ocre missionary,” Harden Lekanoff , a Democrat, is said. the only Native American But the mission became in the Washington Legisla- an important stop along the Oregon Trail from ture. Her strategy was to praise Frank with- 1843 to 1847, and the Cayuse became suspi- out criticizing Whitman, to avoid antagoniz- cious that the white settlers were coming to ing supporters of the missionary. take the land. Gov. Jay Inslee in April signed the bill, After a few years, the Whitmans lost inter- beginning the process of putting a statue of est in the Cayuse and spent their time trying Frank in the U.S. Capitol. to convert white settlers. Whitman eventually “We expect to send our best from the state decided the Native Americans needed to give of Washington to be memorialized in the way to the settlers. United States Capitol in Statuary Hall,” Inslee An 1847 measles outbreak killed half said at the bill signing ceremony. “We can’t the local Cayuse. The illness also broke out send the Nisqually River or Mount Rainier, in the mission, but more white settlers sur- but we can send Billy Frank Jr.” vived. Some of the Cayuse blamed the devas- Meanwhile, Whitman students have been tation on Whitman and his wife. The Cayuse working to remove a Whitman statue from had a tradition of killing failed medicine men, campus, including at an April demonstration. Harden said, and Whitman, a medical doc- Sophomore Gillian Brown told the school tor, was warned to leave the area. The Cayuse newspaper she was uncomfortable with the attacked the mission and killed the Whitmans way the statue glorifi ed Whitman’s legacy. and 11 others. “Even when I fi rst came to Whitman and The deaths shocked the nation. they took us to the monument, I thought, After the massacre, the settlers of the ‘This guy is a colonizer. He’s not someone region sent a delegation to Washington, D.C., to be celebrated,’” Brown told the Whitman and used the massacre to motivate Congress Wire. to make Oregon Country an offi cial part of The issue is still up in the air. the United States, completing the continental The campus statue is owned by Walla nation, Harden said. Walla, college spokeswoman Gina Ohns- Prior to that, the region that became the tad said. The city is working on a process to states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho had allow residents to submit formal requests for been jointly held with the British, Harden said. the removal of public art. By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS Associated Press You will be able to walk in to our office and walk out knowing how much help there is for you. Candidates will be asked to evaluate our instruments for 30 days (risk free*). At the end of the 30 days, if you are satisfied with the improvement in your hearing and wish to keep the instrument, you may do so at tremendous savings. 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