Brave Ones
Five Nooksack Tribal members worked considerable hours and weeks, seeking to form a new non-profit organization that would help members of their tribe in areas of personal and community-wide development. On October 4th, they were notified by the Secretary of State for the State of Washington, that they had obtained a Certificate of Incorporation. The organization is called “Nooksacks for Hope”. Within the Nooksack tribal environment, even with a democratically elected tribal government, it is publicly recognized there are many elements of misuse of power. Rarely are tribal members allowed to see anything remotely considered as financial records, reports or audits. Planning and decision-making, by the Tribal Council, is often conducted in “executive session”. A recent plan to build a Class II casino near Lynden, WA. was only revealed to tribal members 1 day prior to a general public announcement printed in the newspaper. The Tribe and Casino management signed a $30 million financial instrument for this project…giving no time for “public comment” by tribal members. Many people and tribal members are summarily fired for unjustified or unsubstantiated reasons, often because they “whistle-blow”, critique their tribal government or casino management by asking legitimate questions. |  |
| A thick cloud of intractable fear has caused many Nooksacks to disengage from anything political, for good reason they would loose their tribal or casino jobs; tribal housing, or, simply be ostracized. | |
In the face of all this, 5-brave tribal women have decided it time to organize a non-profit that will help bring about new programs and new approaches that set in motion a more healthy political and programmatic culture. In the process of doing this, 2 of the women have been fired from their jobs within the tribe. Yet while facing financial instability, they proceed ahead with the building up of Nooksacks for Hope. |  |
Their website is: http://www.nooksacksforhope.org/ MORE STORIES ABOUT THE NOOKSACKS FOR HOPE: | |