December 14, 2019
We are very excited to welcome Cynthia Iyall and the Honorable Justice Gerry Alexander for our December Gathering tomorrow, Sunday, December 15th from 1-4pm at the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge Auditorium. Cynthia Iyall is a descendant of Chief Leschi's family and former Nisqually chairwoman, who helped lead the effort to exonerate him from murder charges.
We also hope to be joined remotely by two of Chief Leschi's grandchildren. We encourage you to come and bring a friend to this special gathering, in honor of the exoneration of Chief Leschi.
As usual, please bring a healthy snack to share for potluck following the presentation, as well as $5-20 suggested donation. The $3 Refuge entrance fee and parking pass requirement are waived for those attending presentation.
Continue reading for more details and upcoming events:
Biographical Info: Cynthia Iyall
Excerpt from Richard Kluger's The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek, pg 260-262:
"Cynthia Iyall, born in 1961, and raised on her family's 50 acre farm in Tumwater, 10 or so miles west of the Nisqually reservation, had 13/32 Indian blood. Her mother was of German and Irish ancestry: her father was part Cowlitz--a Tribe based a little south of the Nisqually homeland--and descended from Leschi's half-sister, Margaret, who married into the Iyall family (the name means :gracious" in the Cowlitz language).Cynthia's great grandfather Fank Iyall, a logger by trade and a champion of Indian causes, had lobbied in Washington, D.C. for, among other forms of recognition, the 1924 Citizen Act for all native people. Two of her great uncles, Paul and Dewey Leschi, were Quiemuth's grandson and carried the Leschi name to honor and perpetuate it.
"As a farmgirl, Cynthia heard a good deal of the native Salish dialect spoken, learned Indian songs and place-names, and explored the still-unspoiled vistas on Yelm Plain and the Nisqually watershed hills, where Leschi once roamed. She was, in short, a modern Indian maiden, but like Cecelia Carpenter, who would later become her mentor, she soon ventured into the wider white world. Attending Tumwater High School, Cynthia bloomed into a smart, highly attractive young woman with blue eyes, a strong, melodious voice, and a glow of cheery confidence. She married a white man and lived for several years on the Nisqually reservation until her husband's job as a police officer drew them away to the Tacoma suburb of Federal Way. There she worked seven years for Weyerhauser as an executive assistant in corporate services while raising a son. Then for six years she successfully ran a store that sold hockey equipment--her son, Richard loved to skate--until her marriage fell apart. A tribal friend told her that the Nisquallies were looking for an economic development officer; it seemed the right moment to reconnect with her tribal roots. She won the job and with her son, settled in a house a mile below the reservation.
"The early 1900s were not a good time for starting over in Nisqually-land, and especially not for bringing up a son. The place was beset by joblessness, drugs, alcoholism, diabetes, truancy and a tragic epidemic of suicides among the tribe's young men by hanging and drug overdosing. Iyall tried to arouse a spirit of enterprise at tribal headquarters. Among other projects, she rescued a HUD grant about to expire and got a long-delayed convenience store, the Rezmart, up and running across the highway from the tribal center. Iyall was sunny, energetic, and popular, especially with younger tribal members, while respectful of her elders, some of whom nevertheless sniped at her as more White than Indian, more Cowlitz than Nisqually, and an outsider because she had not grown up on the reservation. In 1997, harboring the hope of one day leading the tribe despite not belonging to any of the families that had long exercised oligarchic domination over its governing apparatus, Iyall ran for and won an at-large seat on the seven-membered tribal council. After her three-year term, she was discouraged by the infighting and stepped away to concentrate on her development job.
"During this time, Iyall grew close to two tribal elders, Cecelia Carpenter, the fount of wisdom on the Nisqually past, and her bachelor great-uncle, Sherman Leschi, the last of Quiemuth's line to bear his illustrious brother's name. On her Sunday morning visits with Sherman, it became apparent to Cynthia that he was haunted by Leschi's tragic story. "It came up in every conversation," she recalled. Other elders unrelated to the martyred chief, like Cecelia Carpenter, were similarly obsessed, Iyall discovered. "So many generations of Nisqually people had lived with this," she said. "For the older people it was hard even to talk about--you could see the pain in their faces and feel their anger when the subject arose." On one of Cynthia's Sunday morning visits with Sherman in June 2001, he was brooding, as if sensing that his time left on earth was nearing an end. Finally he said to her, "I have something I want you to do." She looked hard into his imploring eyes as he added, "I want you to clear Leschi's name."
"It was a daunting assignment. Iyall was only a junior tribal officer--persuading non-Indian Washington State to exonerate the all-but-forgotten hero of the Nisqually tribe seemed about as easy a job as moving Mount Rainier. Still, she told Sherman that she would try."
A DEEPER LOOK: Chief Leschi
Chief Leschi was exonerated on December 10th, 2004. To learn more about this historic anniversary and the events surrounding his exoneration, please click here to read article by Hans Sherrer for Justice:Denied magazine: Chief Leschi Exonerated of Murder - 146 Years After His Execution.
To learn more about Chief Leschi's life, click here to read biography from Chief Leschi Schools website: Leschi, The Nisqually Chief
'Never Give Up Fighting': 10 Things to Know About Nisqually Tribe by Richard Walker, was published on Indian Country Today in 2016 leading up to the 2016 Canoe Journey hosted by the Nisqually Tribe. This article details essential things to know about the dxwsqwali?abs, the People of the River, People of the Grass.
IN THE NEWS:
The Puyallup Tribe of Indians has approved a resolution declaring a climate emergency. Click here to watch live coverage of the Puyallup Tribal Council climate vote. The resolution identifies actions the tribe will take to address climate change and its threats.
Click here for article published on Last Real Indians: Puyallup Tribal Council declares climate emergency
Click here to view article from KNKX: Puyallup Tribe of Indians formally declares climate emergency
Thurston Conservation District Board of Supervisors VOTE
Tuesday, January 14th, 2020 10am - 8pm
Thurston Conservation District Offices
2918 Ferguson St SW, Suite A, Tumwater WA 98512
David Iyall of the Nisqually People is running in this upcoming election.
Eligible voters are registered voters who reside within the boundaries of the Conservation District. Ballot voting may also be accomplished via absentee ballot. The last day and time that voters can request absentee ballots to be mailed to their mailing address for this election is January 9th, 2020 at 4:30pm. Request may be made by phone to 360-754-3588 ext. 121 or via email to ballotrequest@thurstoncd.com. You can also request absentee ballots in person at the District offices through January 13th, 2020 at 4:30pm.
Please plan to exercise your right to vote in this critical election!