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OLYMPIA, Wash. - The strength of a nation lies in the honor of the people it births. Janet McCloud, born into the family of Chief Seattle in 1934 of the Tulalip Tribes has exemplified this statement throughout her life by speaking to the nations of the world about the injustices committed against American Indians and actively resisting racism.
McCloud's childhood was not an easy one. She was panhandling by the age of six in downtown Seattle. "Mom told us how she panhandled at such a young age and that that was the reason she never passed a panhandler by without giving them something," said her son, Don McCloud Jr. (Mac).
Janet attended several public schools and was eventually shuttled off to a boarding school at the age of 13. Her teen years were spent cleaning houses and babysitting for a living. In 1950 she married a river fisherman, Don McCloud Sr., a Puyallup Indian. Their marriage lasted 35 years until his death in 1985.
Those beginning years were about survival for the McClouds. In 1965, non-Indians opposed to Indian fishing rights jailed Janet and five others for protesting against the unfair treatment of Natives and their inherent right to fish and hunt. A net was set in the Nisqually River at Frank's Landing and mayhem broke out as the game wardens surrounded them, beat and arrested the protesting Indians. She explained, "I didn't mind going to jail so much until Edith, my sister-in-law, said, `And we're not eating either' ... that was my first fast and we went six days without eating. They'd bring lima beans with ham, fried potatoes, and everything I loved." She could smell those good foods but wouldn't eat them. It made the fast more difficult.
These protests were dubbed "fish-ins" and eventually led to the upholding of the Medicine Creek Treaty of 1854 and Washington State tribes being granted 50...
