PORT ANGELES — Business people heard a plea for racial healing Tuesday from one of their peers who fears bigotry first hand — a jewelry store owner who is a member of the Makah tribe.
Bonita Melville, owner of Diamond Gallery Jewelers, 101 W. First St., spoke up at meeting of the Port Angeles Business Association.
The group’s topic was the likely fate of the Hood Canal Bridge graving yard on Marine Drive.
Melville told of talking in her store to a man who said, “My gloves are off” in regard to the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe. “I’m through with them.”
The man didn’t know Melville was Native American because she has a light complexion.
“I’m not treated badly because I ‘pass,”‘ Melville said.
“But if I looked different, I would be treated differently.”
Resonated with members
Melville stressed that she spoke for herself, not for the Makah or the Lower Elwha Klallam.
But her remarks resonated with other PABA members who urged conciliation toward the Elwha, at whose request graving yard construction was halted Dec. 21.
Tim Smith, retired Port Angeles city economic development director, said “a collaborative relationship with the Lower Elwha (Klallam) tribe” was essential if the local community is to keep the graving yard in Port Angeles or on the Olympic Peninsula.
But the issue goes beyond the graving yard, Melville said — far beyond.
“This is not a community I would want to live in” if Native Americans are blamed for the project’s loss, she said.