#cowlitz

Happy birthday, Debora Iyall! (b. April 29, 1954)

The Coast Salish are a a large group of related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, including the Cowlitz, Pentlatch, Quileute, Samish, Squamish, Xacuabš, and many, many others. They are related, linguistically, to the Interior Salish to the east. The first confirmed settlement was at 3000 BCE at Xa:ytem, in British Columbia.

Coast Salish groups have many cultural similarities with each others. Unlike many of their neighbors, they use a patrilineal kinship system. Historically, they had social and religious leaders, but no formal political system or standing army force. Warfare was tupically defensive action against raids from their neighbors.

Social organization had the highest-ranking male be the ceremonial leader, and had three hereditary social roles (upper class, lower class, slaves). Married women lived with their husband's village. Freeborn people were often marked via body modification, using cradleboards to shape the heads of their infants into a sloping shape.

Many groups had the same or similar beliefs, but they also diverged between groups. The Quileute, for example, believed that everything has a spirit with five parts: the body, the inner soul, the outer soul, the life force, and the ghost.

Rosalie Fish was the most recognizable athlete at the small-school state track and field meet last weekend.

The five trips to the awards podium to receive three gold medals, a silver and a sportsmanship award helped.

But as the Muckleshoot Tribal School student circled the track 18 times over three days, she stood out for the bright red paint over her mouth and the letters MMIW on her right leg.

It’s an epidemic on reservations across America. Violence against Native American women is rampant, and according to a recent study police agencies are not adequately identifying or reporting cases when a woman is killed or reported missing.

Fish, a member of the Cowlitz Tribe, chose to run at the Class 1B state meet at Eastern Washington University to represent women from near her home in Auburn who are among the gruesome statistics. She painted a hand over her mouth to speak for those who couldn’t speak for themselves.

“This weekend was really not like anything I’ve ever done or ever felt before,” she said after her last race. “It’s the first time I ran for anyone other than myself. … This is the first time I’ve ever made a scene and not been apologetic.”