Makah Indians
The Makah are a Native Indian tribe who
have recently decided to enact their
treaty rights, and start to hunt for
whales. These actions have caused an uproar
in North America. The Natives
state that they are not doing anything but
exercising their legal rights.
Opponents to their hunting of whales argue that
the Makah are a group of
uncivilized and inhumane individuals, and that they are
harming nature. The
reportage of the controversy surrounding the Makah can be
seen as
ethnocentric in many ways. Through the language used by the media
involved in
the controversy, one can constantly see the Native people being
viewed as
inhumane savages. In turn, this language allows readers to be sent
mixed
messages about the Makah and their position in the whaling
dispute.
Finally, the protestors themselves have contradictory arguments
which leads one
to question the motivating factors behind their position. In
order to fully
understand the whaling controversy, it is necessary to
understand the history of
the Makah. They were a group of Native people who
hunted gray whales. As a
result of their increased trade with the Europeans,
the 'white man' decided to
also enter this hunt for the whale. This
competition between the Makah and the'white man' lead to the whale coming close
to extinction. Due to their love for
nature and respect for the whale, the
Makah decided to voluntarily refrain from
hunting whales. It is important to
note however, that in 1855, the Governor of
Washington State agreed to
the Treaty Of Neah Bay, which gave the Makah a right
to hunt for whales. This
is what is at the heart of the controversy. The Makah
have recently enacted
their hunting rights of the whale after seventy years, and
are now resuming
their hunt for whales. The Makah reasoning is a relatively
simple one. In
1946, the gray whale population was 2000, and now their count is
over 26,000.
They believe that it is safe to hunt for whales again. The Makah
have been a
group of people who have relied on whale hunting. . They used the
blubber
from the whale to feed their families, and they used the rest of the
whale to
provide themselves with shelter and tools. However, their opponents
have
dismissed this practice of hunting whales as inhumane. Through the
language
that is being used by the media, one can see Native people being
viewed as
savages. The language being used is not blatantly discriminatory
against the
Native people, but is done in a subtle, yet powerful way, in
order to evoke a
message that Native people are inhumane. One of the reasons
for this negative
commentary regarding Native people hunting for whales could
be due to
ethnocentrism. This is the belief that one's own culture is
considered to be
normal, therefore, other cultures are considered abnormal.
The media carefully
uses words that show their bias towards the Native
People. The media tries to
make the Makah look like a band of savages. While
writing about a recent
anti-whaling demonstration, Peggy Andersen writes, "In
a simmering dispute
that ended with a scuffle and arrests, angry Makah
Indians pelted a protest boat
with rocks as the two sides bickered over a
tribal plan to hunt gray
whales." The wording of this opening paragraph leads
the reader to think
that it was Makah who were causing trouble, and that they
were the one's that
were arrested. However, if one were to complete the
article, they would realize
that this was not the case. Another example of
media bias against the Makah
people is when Jonathan Dube writes, "As much as
it's possible for one dead
animal to give new life to an entire nation,
that's what has happened
here." Dube is implying that it is impossible for an
animal that has died
to bring life to a nation, however, that is what has
occurred. He does not
understand how killing this whale could give life to
the Makah, and therefore,
he conveys this message of doubt to his readers.
Dube is indirectly stating that
the Makah need to kill in order to have life.
Many readers and viewers of the
media are being sent mixed messages about the
Makah and the whaling situation.
As seen above, the media is using
certain language that portrays the Makah in an
unflattering manner. However,
this also has another major impact. The true
message, and plight of the Makah
is being lost and overshadowed by this harsh,
and biased language. People
reading newspaper articles probably know nothing
about the history of the
Makah and are being given misleading information, which
is shaping their
thoughts about the Makah. For example, Dube writes, "The
Makah eagerly
awaited the revival of the whale hunt, a tribal tradition for 1500
years. The
tribe ceased the activity in the 1920's because commercial whaling
had
brought the gray whale to the brink of extinction." While this
statement is
true, it does not state the identity of the commercial fishermen..
The
way in which Dube wrote the previous statement, the reader gets the
feeling
that the Makah were the commercial fishermen who were responsible for
the near
extinction of the gray whale population. This altered truth leads
many of the
readers into having a negative viewpoint of the Makah as they do
not have
accurate information about the history of Makah whaling. In
actuality, Webster
writes, "The Makah had to stop their hunts in the 1920's
after whaling by
whites decimated the food source." The reader/viewer does
not learn from
the media that it was the white man who decimated the whaling
population and not
the Makah. Also, there is much media discussion as to
whether or not the Makah
need to hunt for whales. The viewers of the media
are being fed information
stating that the Makah do not need to hunt for
whales because they have other
food that they can eat. An article in the
Oregon Live from May 18th, 1998
states, "The Makah request to go whaling fit
within the International
Whaling Commission's aboriginal subsistence
whaling provisions. The problem,
though, is that the subsistence requirement
is bogus. The tribe has other food
sources to meet nutritional needs; it
hasn't had whales to eat since the 1920's.
However, this biased
information is hiding the true message. The Makah need to
whale hunt. Tribal
leaders estimate there's enough meat and blubber to give each
family 10 to 20
pounds' worth. They can also make lamp oil from the whale's oil,
tools from
the bones, and baskets from the baleen. That is a big deal for this
nation,
considering half of the households live below the poverty line and per
capita
income is $5, 000. Finally, the protesters are sending mixed messages
as
well. Their statements regarding this dispute can be seen as
being
contradictory. The protestors are using many different arguments in
order to
show their disgust for Makah whaling. However, they are displaying
ethnocentrism
in these views. Their main issue is that only the Makah have
this right to
whale, and not everyone else. Some protestors say that their
concern is for the
protection of the whale, and has nothing to do with racism
as some Native people
have charged. Kenny Clark, of the Oregon based Sea
Defense Alliance says,
"I don't see the race issue. It's about an animal
people feel very
passionate about and people are just angry." However, if it
has nothing to
do with a race issue, then one has to question the reasoning
for the threats
being made against the Makah. At one rally, protestors held
up such signs as,
"Save the whales. Kill a Makah." Also, a bomb threat was
made to a
local school at the Puyallup Reservation after a Puyallup canoe
joined the Makah
as the whale was towed to shore. This led Terre Rybovich, of
the Coalition for
Human Dignity to state, "One whale was killed. In
response, the lives of
hundreds of Indian children were threatened." Another
fact that shows that
the issue is not simply about the protection of the
whale is the statements made
concerning the possibility of the Makah
beginning to sell the whales that they
have successfully hunted. The
protesters are trying to imply that the Makah want
to whale so that they can
sell commercially. They argue that one gray whale can
fetch as much as one
million dollars in Japan. But yet, the Makah have agreed to
whale no more
than 20 whales until 2002, which was 5 per year at the time of
the
controversy. In conclusion, one can clearly see that the reporting of the
Makah
whaling controversy was ethnocentric in many ways. The language used by
the
media to describe the whale hunting showed bias towards the Makah and
held them
out to be inhumane savages. As well, the media is responsible for
not providing
the reader with an accurate picture of the Makah and the
importance of whaling
in their culture. Finally, protestors are angry that
only the Makah have the
right to whale, and they are displaying this in
various ways such as racist
actions. The white man took away their tradition
in the 1920's, and they will
take it away again. This will be done either by
giving the right to whale to
everyone, and once again bring the gray whale
close to extinction, or by
crushing the remains of the tribe until they give
up their right on their own.
Bibliography
(1999, May 18) "Stop the
Whale Hunt". {October 30, 1999}
Available:
http://www.oregonlive.com/oped/99/05/ed051801.html Author Unknown.
(1999, May
22) "Racism Enters Whale Dispute". {October 25, 1999}
Available:
http://www.spokane.net/news-story-asp?Date=052299&ID=s580242&cat=
Anderson,
Peggy. (1998, November 2) "Melee during anti-whaling
demonstration Shakes
both sides". {November 2, 1999} Available:
http://oregonlive.com/todaysnews/9811/st110213.html
Anderson, Peggy.
(1999, May 21) "Anti- Makah Protests Turn Ugly".
{November 3, 1999}
Available: http://www.spokane.net/news-story-body.
asp?Date=052199&ID=s580004&cat=}
Dark, Alx. (1999, April) "The
Makah Whale Hunt".{October 28, 1999}.
Available:
http://www.conbio.rice.edu/nae/index.html Dube, Jonathan. (1999, May
18)
"Plenty of Meat To Go Around". {October 26, 1999}
Available:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/makahs990518.html
Webster,
John. (1998, November 3) "Anything for an unworthy cause".
{October
29, 1999} Available:
http://www.spokane.net/news-story-body.asp?Date=11039&ID=s477881&cat=