October 16, 2019 Dena Jensen

I am calling on everyone to just say no to participating in events sponsored by Common Threads Northwest, along with the Whatcom Business Alliance, whose leadership is pushing forward untruths that people want to deindustrialize Cherry Point. 

Common Threads Northwest and WBA leadership is advocating for allowing the expansion of an unhealthy and disproportionate reliance on fossil fuel industries out at Cherry Point as a source of income for our community. Their encouragement of expansion of these dangerous industries at Xwe’chi’eXen (Cherry Point), and adjacent to Xw’ullemy (the Salish Sea) also threatens the treaty rights and cultural lands of Lummi Nation.  

Members of Common Threads Northwest leadership, Kris Halterman — formerly of the Whatcom Tea Party and current KGMI radio host — and Dick Donahue — of KGMI and Asset Advisors (Asset Advisors is also a sponsor of this forum) — have helped promote events that anti-tribal treaty and anti-tribal sovereignty activist Elaine Willman and the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance participated in. Kris Halterman also hosted a radio show last year perpetuating anti-Indian sentiments against 40th LD Representative candidate Debra Lekanoff and some of her supporters during the 2018 election. 

The unacceptable promoting of anti-tribal treaty and anti-tribal sovereignty groups is why people also need to just say no to events sponsored by the Citizens Alliance for Property Rights which supports anti-tribal treaty and anti-tribal sovereignty champions such as Elaine Willman and Marlene Dawson. 

These are just a few highlights. There’s more. Don’t attend the forum. Don’t lend these organizations credibility. Think of all the more constructive use candidates and their supporters can be making of precious campaigning time. Even better, speak out against their hateful actions and events and speak out for the marginalized people they are traumatizing and to whom they are doing damage.

Below are links that people can click to get more information about the reasons to speak out against these organizations: