Today is Treaty Day in Washington. It is a school holiday in the Ferndale District, where our grandchildren are enrolled. 1854 through 1856 were critical years in the history of the state where we live, during which seven key treaties were negotiated between indigenous tribes and the territorial government. Securing peace with the traditional occupants of the state was part of the process that led to statehood in 1889. November 11, 1889, is one of the dates in history that I have memorized partly because of my journey through the places where I have lived. On that day, after thirteen years, when no new states were admitted to the United States, four new states were admitted to the union through an act by the United States Congress. Those states were Washington, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana. I have lived in all four of those states.
Furthermore, I have lived on land initially reserved for native tribes before it was removed from indigenous control by later actions in three of those states. Where we live here in Washington is different. The Lummi Nation peacefully ceded control of the area through their participation in the Point Elliot Treaty, signed on January 22, 1855.

The history of the Point Elliot Treaty is essential to understanding the place we now call home. The Lummi people had occupied this territory for more than 150 generations. They knew no other home than the islands and coastal areas, including Birch Bay, where we live. The coming of settlers was brought about in part by the California Gold Rush, which created such a demand for lumber that extracting timber from the areas near the coast in Washington to ship south was profitable. Settlers came to cut wood, and others came to provide food and other essential services to the loggers. Choosing an alternative to armed conflict, the leaders of the Lummi Nation negotiated an agreement. Representatives of two sovereign nations, The Lummi Nation and the United States, came together and negotiated a treaty that included promises made by both parties about how the land and resources of this region would be shared. The agreement they signed is called the Point Elliot Treaty. The treaty signers promised to live by it forever for all future generations.

Some deviations from the treaty have had to be adjudicated in court. Still, the introductory provisions of the treaty, including Lummi's rights to fishing and harvesting shellfish from coastal waters, have been upheld.

To live where we do is to join with others as treaty people—those who have inherited the vision of pioneer and Lummi ancestors who chose to live in peace and share this beautiful land. Treaty Day in Washington reminds us that our state has been made possible by multiple treaties with 29 sovereign Indigenous nations that resulted in peace and guaranteed specific rights to our neighbors in those nations.

In the Ferndale School District, the lessons that are used to teach students the meaning of Treaty Day were developed in partnership with Lummi tribal leaders so that children who attend school in the district and children who attend Lummi tribal schools share the same lessons and develop an understanding of the story of this place.

The Point Elliot Treaty was signed at Mukilteo, about an hour and a half drive from where we live. We visited Mukilteo often before we moved to Washington because my brother lived on Whidbey Island for many years. Mukilteo is where the ferry departs for the island's southern end. Another feature of modern Mukilteo is that it is next to Paine Field and the Boeing Everett Factory, the largest building in the world by volume, covering almost 100 acres. My brother rode the ferry to Mukilteo for many years and then a bus to the factory, where he worked alongside 30,000 other workers.

We live close to the official Lummi reservation and visit the reservation regularly, taking advantage of lower prices for fuel and making sure to purchase our seafood from the tribe. Being careful about the source of our seafood is vital because, during the 1960s and 1970s, the Lummi were excluded from the commercial fishery despite the clear rights established in the Point Elliot Treaty. They pursued a peaceful and legal settlement, and in 1974, the Ninth District U.S. Court of Appeals handed down the Boldt Decision, reaffirming the tribe’s right to half of the catch, with the tribe and the state managing the fishery together. Although the food we eat has a minimal impact on the overall management of the resources of our region, we are careful to purchase from the tribe as part of our participation in the treaties that have granted peace to the place where we live and that acknowledge the sovereignty of our neighbors.

It is easy to find many places in this world where wars rage and people are killed in disputes over control of land and resources. However, we have been blessed to live in a place of peace where people of good faith and integrity negotiate ways to live together and share resources in peace. We are the inheritors of the Point Elliot Treaty, and since the promises of that treaty were made for all future generations, we have been granted the ability to own a home here. Teaching our grandchildren about the importance of that treaty is worth more than a single day each year. Pausing to observe Treaty Day is only part of the education they need to live peacefully with our neighbors and continue the peaceful sharing of land and resources for generations yet to come.

The history books and other curricula used in public schools have not always been accurate in reporting the truth about the relationship between settlers and the indigenous peoples. Although knowledge exists to correct those inaccuracies, there has been political backlash in parts of the United States, and revisionist teaching has resulted in incomplete education for many children. We are fortunate to live in a school district that has worked diligently and continues in partnership with tribal leaders to develop the resources to teach the complex truth of our history. Treaty Day is part of that process.