4 SEPTEMDER 13, 2004
Smoke Signals
Lummi 's Freedom And Liberty Poles On Way To D.C.
Master Carver Jewell James continues to honor the victims of 911.
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Gathering Of Hope More than 200 students from this year's new class at Chemawa Indian School in Salem attended a ceremony to give prayers and blessings for
iccuwm aiiu mi ly puma, wiucnwere carvea to nonor tne victims ol the September 1 1 attacks on the Pentagon.
"As Native Americans, one of bur values is giving
and this is a tremendous gift" Cheryle Kennedy
Photos by Peta Tinda
By Peta Tinda f TTT' '
A delegation of carvers,' Veterans
and volunteers is escorting the third
series of Lummi Healing Poles to the
Pentagon. The first stop was
Chemawa Indian School in Salem.
About 240 students gathered around
the two 13-foot carved cedar poles,
praying and giving it blessings.
Carved in to the poles are two bears,
one male and one female. The male is
slightly larger than the female and has
Grandfather Sun carved in its belly.
The female has Grandmother Moon.
A third pole carved with an eagle
will rest across the two upright poles.
Lummi Master Carver Jewell
James spoke to the crowd of students,
Veterans teachers and delegates from
many Oregon Tribal Councils.
"We were at Grand Ronde last year
at their beautiful Veteran's Memorial
when Kathryn Harrison, who was on
their Tribal Council, came up to me
and said: "Svhat about Chemawa?" She
was concerned about the students and
wanted us to keep Chemawa in mind,"
James said.
So this time, when the poles made
the trip across the United States,
Chemawa Indian School was the first
of 13 planned stops.
James estimates that over 4,000
hours of work went into carving the
poles, with carver Fred Simpson, who
accompanied James, working eight
hours a day on the poles.
Ellen Fiseher, a Grand Ronde Tribal
Elder who has worked at Chemawa for
14 years, said that she thought stop
ping at Chemawa was one of the most
honorable things the Lummis could
have done. "I think it's fantastic.
They've honored everybody here."
James is traveling with four North
west Veterans, his family, trip orga
nizers, carvers and two documentary
film makers.
Fred Lane, a Lummi who graduated
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A Prayer For Peace Hundreds of students touched and put prayers on the Heal
ing Poles when they came to Chemawa, the first of 1 3 scheduled stops along the route.
We Care Grand Ronde Tribal Council member Valorie Sheker-Robertson and
former Tribal Council member Val Grout touch the Freedom and Liberty poles dur
ing the trip's first stop at Chemawa Indian Boarding School.
in 1986 from Chemawa and is now the
editor of the Lummi Tribal newspa
per, Sqol Quol, has attended each trip
making video documentaries.
Lane encouraged kids to "stick it
out," and said he has a prayer in his
heart for the students of Chemawa.
The poles, called Freedom and Lib
erty, will be dedicated in a ceremony
at the Pentagon on September 19.
They will stand at the Chapel in the
Historic Congressional Cemetery for
a year, and then go to a permanent
September 11 memorial on Kingman
Island in Washington D.C.
"It's a very longjourney, but a beau
tiful journey, James said. "It's not the
Lummi Nation doing it. It's all Na
tions. At each stop people prayed. Some
prayed with tobacco, some with sage
and others with the big drum. All of
them sent they're prayers."
Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle
Kennedy was at the ceremony and
said that she thought it was appro
priate for the Lummis to come to
Chemawa. Kennedy's father taught
there in the 1940's and both her
brother and sister were born at the
hospital at Chemawa.
"I think it's tremendous," Kennedy
said. "In particular being Native
Americans, there's a stereotypical im
age of us as being drunken, unedu
cated... that we're takers. That's not
true. As Native Americans, one of our
values is giving and this is a tremen
dous gift."