PORT ANGELES — A full house gathered at the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Center on Tuesday to hear tribal members tell the Port Angeles Community Multicultural Task Force stories of bias, past and present.
The four-hour meeting also featured tearful pleas from tribal members — including workers who excavated the Tse-whit-zen village site — not to restart the state Department of Transportation graving yard project on the property.
“Thank you for coming back,” tribal member Monica Charles told the task force, which first met at the tribal center Jan 18.
“Last week we talked of racism we faced in the community at large.
“It has flared up again with the graving yard.”
Transportation’s Dec. 21 abandonment of its Marine Drive graving yard project brought the issue of racism to a head because it cost millions of dollars — and the tribe is blamed for the loss, Charles said.
“This is a real opportunity for Port Angeles to see how we really are.
“But first we must find solutions to racism. I’ve heard stories; it still happens,” she said.
Snubbed at store
For example, Charles said, she has been treated differently at the Port Angeles Wal-Mart store since the graving yard issue surfaced.
She is a regular at the store’s fabric counter, but the last time she was there, employees were nasty to her, Charles said.
The behavior was not enough to get the employees fired, but it made her uncomfortable, she told the task force.
“The tribe is not responsible for the economy of Port Angeles,” she said.