Opinion

Editorial: Incursion on Nisqually Tribe's sovereignty

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

"Nisqually tribal leaders are right to be alarmed over the new smokeshop operating at Frank’s Landing. The rest of the region should be worried, too.

This dispute turns around Gov. Chris Gregoire’s approval of a compact that allows an Indian nation on the other side of Puget Sound – the Squaxin Island Tribe – to run a business enterprise on the Nisquallys’ front doorstep.

But the implications are larger. Anyone concerned about the proliferation of slot machines – or the sale of untaxed cigarettes and dangerous fireworks – near urban centers ought to be paying attention.

Background: Frank’s Landing is a small Indian enclave near Interstate 5 on the Nisqually River – property that falls squarely within the ancestral homeland of the Nisqually Tribe. The property was originally given to its namesake, Willie Frank, a Nisqually who’d been displaced when Fort Lewis was created. Members of the Frank family – including the prominent and respected Billy Frank – live there to this day.

In 1994, Congress declared Frank’s Landing a “self-governing Indian community,” a status that confers a degree of autonomy short of the outright sovereignty enjoyed by such recognized treaty tribes as the Nisqually and Squaxin Island nations.

The several dozen Indians affiliated with Frank’s Landing have made the most of their self-governing status, much to the alarm of Nisqually leaders. The smokeshop is now a flashpoint – for good reason.

As tribal leaders see it, another tribe has partnered with Frank’s Landing to sell cigarettes – with Gregoire’s blessing – on a location placed in trust for Nisqually Indians in historic Nisqually territory."

Get the Story:
Editorial: A threat to Nisquallys – and a threat to all (The Tacoma News-Tribune 4/29)