♪♪
-My name is Cecile Hansen,
and I'm the chair of the Duwamish Tribe.
Our people are here, and we're all over the place.
So, I like to say to everybody, "Our people are here."
The story of the Duwamish Tribe is that
they are the aboriginal, indigenous people of Seattle.
I am the great-great-great niece of Chief Sealth.
♪♪
He was a very prominent, honored man
that, when he spoke, they listened, and they honored him.
They respected him at that time, and they should do that today.
We were approached by the Bureau of Indian Affairs
in the early 1850s regarding our land,
which is the land that we recited on,
all our villages,
to help us and to secure the land
for settlers that were coming out from the East Coast.
♪♪
Our leaders, in their wisdom,
decided to agree to the agreement to give up our land,
which was 54,000 acres.
And then they promised us many things,
which they did not fulfill those promises.
♪♪
I have been, for the last 40 years,
trying to meet with every mayor of this city
to pass a resolution saying very simple,
"We support the Duwamish Tribe of Seattle."
For whatever reason, that meeting has not happened.
The point is that we probably would have been acknowledge
a long time ago
if the federal government had given us a reservation
or a piece of property.
I'm very saddened
that this city has a lot of homeless people.
And I have told my tribal council,
I said, "If we were to get acknowledged
and have that title back,
we would do more for homeless people."
We would -- We would -- That would be a priority for us,
because, looking back, we were homeless, too.
Having given up 54,000 acres
and we now own two-thirds of an acre,
we are very, very proud of what we're doing today
with our Duwamish Cultural Center
and just sharing our history, which comes from our chief.
I think he has influenced me because I am a Duwamish,
and I honor the way that he spoke the truth,
and I believe in the truth of the history of Seattle.
So that keeps me determined.
I think the most encouraging thing that I've realized --
that a lot of people support the Duwamish Tribe.
It's amazing. I just --
This just happened this last week,
that two teachers showed up,
and they shared these little cards,
and they said, "Dear Chief Cecile Hansen."
I'm not a chief, but that's what they said in all these cards.
And it brought tears to my eyes.
And they kept saying to me, "You keep fighting."
I was so moved by that.
It's all wonderful that they're celebrating 150 years,
but I think that they should be celebrating back 164 years,
when the people were here,
because they haven't done that, I believe.
They haven't celebrated the Duwamish Tribe,
who gave up so much on behalf of this city.
"Duwamish" means the people of the inside.
But we seem to be on the outside of what this is all about.
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