A group of artisans from Lummi Nation is carrying a 25-foot carved totem pole from Washington state to Washington, D.C., and making its last stop in Mackinaw City on Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
The group, the House of Tears Carvers, is raising awareness about the need to protect sacred sites at risk from development and natural-resource extraction.
The Line 5 dual pipelines run under the Straits of Mackinac.
Whitney Gravelle, executive council president of the Bay Mills Indian Community, said more than half of Bay Mills citizens rely on the Straits of Mackinac for commercial and subsistence fishing.
"Our Anishinaabe teachings, our creation stories, our history here are all tied to the Straits area," Gravelle explained. "It is literally one of the centerpieces for cultural contact and interaction for thousands of years."
Bay Mills Indian Community, as a signatory of the 1836 Treaty of Washington, reserves the right to fish, hunt and gather in the Straits of Mackinac and the surrounding region. Gravelle argued treaty rights are put at risk by the Line 5 pipelines. The House of Tears Carvers is holding a blessing ceremony at Michilimackinac State Park today.
Gravelle pointed out her community has been engaged in efforts for years against the pipelines, both in legislative and policy arenas, as well as through activism.
"Our tribal citizens have been extremely active and involved in these grassroots organized movements in order to raise awareness," Gravelle recounted. "Not only about Line 5, but on the numerous effects that we're seeing from climate change, pollution or other environmental degradation across the state of Michigan."
Gravelle added the Straits of Mackinac also have great historical value. There are terrestrial and bottomland archeological sites, submerged paleo landscapes, cemeteries and isolated human burials.
She emphasized understanding the culture and history of the area helps us understand where we need to go in the future.
"That's why Bay Mills Indian community continues to do this work, why we're collaborating with other tribal nations, like the Lummi Nation," Gravelle stressed. "To bring awareness to these issues, so that we can preserve and protect everything for the next seven generations."
