Janet McCloud (also known as Yet-Si-Blue; March 30, 1934 – November 25, 2003) was a prominent Native American and
indigenous rights
Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of the Indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the rights over their land (includ ...
activist. Her activism helped lead to the 1974 Boldt Decision, for which she was dubbed "the
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "th ...
of the
American Indian Movement
The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a Native American grassroots movement which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968, initially centered in urban areas in order to address systemic issues of poverty, discrimination, and police br ...
." She co-founded
Women of All Red Nations
Women of All Red Nations (WARN) was a Native American women's organization. It was established in 1974 by Lorelei DeCora Means, Madonna Thunderhawk, Phyllis Young, Janet McCloud, Marie Sanchez and others. WARN included more than 300 women from ...
(WARN) in 1974. The first convening of the
Indigenous Women's Network
The Indigenous Women's Network (IWN) is a nonprofit organization that provides a platform for Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous women in the Western Hemisphere. The organization was founded in 1985. IWN focuses on Native women, their f ...
was in her backyard in
Yelm, Washington
Yelm () is a city in Thurston County, Washington, United States. Its population was 10,617 at the 2020 census. At the beginning of the 21st century, Yelm was the 10th fastest growing city in the state in regard to population.
History
The wor ...
in August 1985.
Ancestry and early life
Janet Renecker (Yet-Si-Blue) was born on the
Tulalip Reservation
The Tulalip Tribes of Washington (, lut, dxʷlilap), formerly known as the Tulalip Tribes of the Tulalip Reservation, is a federally recognized tribe
This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. T ...
on March 30, 1934. She was the oldest of three girls and a descendant of
Chief Seattle
Chief Seattle ( – June 7, 1866) was a Suquamish and Duwamish chief. A leading figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship with "Doc" Maynard. The city of Seattle, in th ...
's family, and she lived a childhood marked by poverty and alcohol abuse.
Throughout her early years, she and her family moved often, from Tulalip to Taholah on the
Quinault Reservation
The Quinault Indian Nation ( or ; QIN), formerly known as the Quinault Tribe of the Quinault Reservation, is a federally recognized tribe of Quinault, Queets, Quileute, Hoh, Chehalis, Chinook, and Cowlitz peoples.Nisqually tribal fisherman and electrical lineman named Don McCloud in the early 1950s. The couple soon married, and together would have eight children: six girls and two boys.
Fishing rights activism
On January 6, 1962, dozens of Washington State game wardens stormed a group of Indians fishing the
Nisqually River
The Nisqually River is a river in west central Washington in the United States, approximately long. It drains part of the Cascade Range southeast of Tacoma, including the southern slope of Mount Rainier, and empties into the southern end of Pu ...
, arresting five men, including some of McCloud's relatives, for illegal fishing.
"When the raid ended after more than eight hours of sorties in wet brush and on the muddy, swollen stream, five Indians had been arrested and charged with `operating set nets capable of taking game fish.'"
Despite tribal treaties, such as the
Treaty of Medicine Creek
The Treaty of Medicine Creek was an 1854 treaty between the United States, and nine tribes and bands of Indians, occupying the lands lying around the head of Puget Sound, Washington, and the adjacent inlets. The tribes listed on the Treaty of Medic ...
of 1854, with the federal government that guaranteed fishing and hunting rights to Indians in their traditional tribal lands and waters, state agents periodically squared off with Native Americans.
But as salmon and steelhead numbers began dwindling in the 1960s, the state began exerting more authority over tribal fisheries, attempting to conserve the catch for the commercial- and sport-fishing industries. Injunctions were issued allowing the state to regulate tribal fisheries, and the Washington State Supreme Court upheld them.
Indians began mobilizing. The McClouds founded the activist group Survival of American Indians Association. And, in defiance of court orders, members began staging demonstrations dubbed "fish-ins", the beginning of what would come to be known as the Fish Wars.
Joining her husband; his stepbrother, Nisqually tribal member Billy Frank, Jr.; Puyallup Indians
Bob Satiacum
Robert "Bob" Satiacum (1929–March 25, 1991) was a Puyallup tribal leader and an advocate of native treaty fishing rights in the United States. He was convicted in 1982 of attempted murder, embezzlement of tribal funds, and other charges but fle ...
and Ramona Bennett, and others, Janet McCloud helped organize the protests at the Nisqually River and
Puyallup River
The Puyallup River ( ) is a river in the U.S. state of Washington. About long, it is formed by glaciers on the west side of Mount Rainier. It flows generally northwest, emptying into Commencement Bay, part of Puget Sound. The river and its tribu ...
, into which tribe members cast traditional nets deemed illegal by the state. Invariably, the "fish-ins" would lead to raids and arrests at the hands of game agents. But the events drew worldwide attention.
Indian elders and activists converged on Washington State. Actor Marlon Brando and rights activist
Dick Gregory
Richard Claxton Gregory (October 12, 1932 – August 19, 2017) was an American comedian, civil rights leader, business owner and entrepreneur, and vegetarian activist. His writings were best sellers. Gregory became popular among the Afric ...
went to Western Washington, joined fish-ins and lent their celebrity to the cause. And the Black Panthers stood side-by-side with Indians in protests at the state Capitol in Olympia.
All the while, Janet McCloud documented the struggle as editor of ''Survival News'', a newsletter that presented the natives' side of the fish wars. She found an old mimeograph machine at a local thrift store, brought it home and recruited her children to help.
"All us kids would be all right here, sorting and stapling all the papers together, late into the night," daughter Sally McCloud recalled.
Janet's children also stood on the battle lines.
During one famous fish-in at Frank's Landing on the Nisqually on Oct. 13, 1965, a boat carrying several native fishermen, including Janet's husband and two sons, set a tribal net in the river as game wardens lay in waiting. "From the other side of the river shouts were heard: 'Get em! Get the dirty S.O.B.s!'" McCloud wrote later. "In the twinkling of an eye, three big powerboats emerged from the underbrush, were quickly launched and used to ram the Indians' boat."
Her son, Jeff McCloud, not yet 10 and a non-swimmer, was dumped in. A scuffle broke out on the shore, where native women and children had gathered peacefully to watch the demonstration. They pelted wardens with debris, while game agents wrestled and beat some of the protesters.
"If Mom knew that was going to happen, she would've never brought us there," daughter Nancy Shippentower Games said. Six people were arrested, including Don and Janet McCloud. She served six days and refused to eat while incarcerated.
Eventually, the Indians' efforts paid off. On Feb. 12, 1974, U.S. District Judge George Boldt ruled in favor of 14 treaty tribes, upholding the language of their treaties that entitled them to half the salmon and steelhead catch in Washington.
Resurrecting Native American spirituality
While McCloud has once been a practicing Catholic, the Fish Wars, along with catapulting her into the status of civil rights leader, also brought Janet McCloud in touch with her native spirituality. While her husband was jailed for a fish-in, McCloud experienced a vision at her Yelm home. "She couldn't rely on the white man's religion; it was hurting her," her daughter-in-law, Joyce McCloud, recalled. "That's when she saw the vision: She was looking out at Mount Rainier, and she saw all the faces of the great chiefs." McCloud believed it to be a calling. In the late 1960s, she met with
Thomas Banyacya
Thomas Banyacya, Sr. (June 2, 1909 – February 6, 1999) was a Hopi Native American traditional leader.
Biography
Thomas Banyacya was born on June 2, 1909 and grew up in the village of Moenkopi, Arizona. He was a member of the Wolf, Fox, ...
, an internationally known Hopi spiritual interpreter, who taught her to search for answers in peace.
She befriended Audrey Shenandoah, an Iroquois Indian and Clan Mother of the Onondaga Nation in New York, and adopted Iroquois religious beliefs on nature.
"She was always speaking her mind, not backing down for anything," said Tracy Shenandoah, who with his mother came to Yelm to be with McCloud.
During the 1970s, McCloud spread the message of native spirituality and human rights worldwide. She traveled the globe, speaking about indigenous women's rights and social justice, and she served as delegate to a national conference on corrections, urging prisons to adopt native spirituality traditions for Indian inmates.
Sapa Dawn Center
Janet McCloud established her home and the surrounding in Yelm, Washington as a retreat, naming it the Sapa Dawn Center, "Sapa" meaning grandfather, the name a tribute to Don McCloud, who died in April 1985. "The elders have said this is a spiritual place. For over 30 years, we've used this land to teach our traditional ways," McCloud, an Indian elder herself, wrote in 1999. "When all is going crazy . . . our people can come back to the center to find the calming effect; to reconnect with their spiritual self."
Leaders of the American Indian Movement,
Dennis Banks
Dennis Banks (April 12, 1937, in Ojibwe – October 29, 2017) was a Native American activist, teacher, and author. He was a longtime leader of the American Indian Movement, which he co-founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1968 to represent urb ...
,
Russell Means
Russell Charles Means (November 10, 1939 – October 22, 2012) was an Oglala Lakota activist for the rights of Native Americans, libertarian political activist, actor, musician, and writer. He became a prominent member of the American In ...
, and others, came to Sapa Dawn and its sweat lodge before launching their 1973 at
Wounded Knee Occupation
The Wounded Knee Occupation, also known as Second Wounded Knee, began on February 27, 1973, when approximately 200 Oglala Lakota (sometimes referred to as Oglala Sioux) and followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized and occupie ...
in South Dakota.
In August 1985, 300 Indigenous women gathered at Sapa Dawn to discuss social and economic issues faced by native families throughout the Western Hemisphere. This led to the formation of the
Indigenous Women's Network
The Indigenous Women's Network (IWN) is a nonprofit organization that provides a platform for Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous women in the Western Hemisphere. The organization was founded in 1985. IWN focuses on Native women, their f ...
, a coalition championing native women, families and tribal sovereignty from Chile to Canada. McCloud was adopted as a founding mother. McCloud ensured that Sapa Dawn would bring its visitors closer to traditional ways of life. "There was no motel in Yelm then," recalls McCloud. "So we put up tepees. One woman said: 'Where's the motel?' I said, 'Here's a key: tepee number one or tepee number two.'"
Yet-Si-Blue
Her uncle, Pete Henry, explained why McCloud's grandmother gave her the Indian name, "Yet-Si-Blue," meaning "the woman who talks." He remarked, "She had become a spokeswoman for Indian culture. That was the perfect name."
Death
Bedridden and muted by complications from diabetes and high blood pressure in her final weeks, Janet McCloud died on November 25, 2003 at the age of 69, with her family gathered bedside, dressed in traditional garb by her granddaughters, and wrapped in a handmade quilt.