NEAH BAY — Three Makah grandmothers will leave Wednesday for a 330-mile walk and ride to Portland, Ore., to protest what they say is a continual violation of Native American treaty rights.
Dotti Chamblin, 65, said that she and two other members of the Makah Grandmothers — which is composed of “four of us and a man” — will start the journey of at least two weeks from Neah Bay through Port Angeles, Tacoma and Olympia at about 4 a.m.
Chamblin, the secretary of the group, Gail Adams, 68, president, and Rhonda Markishtum, 50, treasurer, will carry signs, a Makah flag and a U.S. flag.
They also will bring at least 2,000 copies of a four-page letter they have written to hand out to congressional leaders’ representatives, the governor, federal judges and anyone who wants a copy.
The letter demands better health care and talks of encroachments on treaty rights.
“Treaties are the supreme law of the land,” Chamblin said.
It accuses elected officials of violating their oath of office by failing to honor Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution.
“Article 6 states that treaties are the law of the land and that federal judges will adhere to it,” Chamblin said.
“A lot of things haven’t happened that way.
“We ceded land to have a peace treaty, and there’s a lot of atrocities that have happened to us that would not have happened to any other race of people — at least we think so, we grandmothers.”
