The Duwamish people have been living in the Seattle and Greater King County area for over ten thousand years. For centuries, the Duwamish Tribe has, as a result of being denied federal recognition, received a lack of funding from the United States government. In 1983, tired of waiting on broken promises, the Duwamish created the Duwamish Tribal Services to preserve their culture and history.
Although anyone with Duwamish ancestry can enroll, many opt to register with federally recognized tribes to obtain funding, education, and other services that the Duwamish tribe has been unable to provide as a result of lack of recognition from the federal government. The tribe currently has around 600 registered members.
In 2017, the Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites (CARW) established Real Rent Duwamish, an organization dedicated to slowly getting restitution for the Duwamish for their land. The coalition was established to undo institutional racism and white privilege via education. People living in the Greater Seattle Area can pay a portion of their monthly income to Real Rent Duwamish as a way of recognizing that they are living on stolen land, and that the Duwamish have yet to receive ample reparations.
The Duwamish Solidarity Group is a branch of the Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites that currently runs Real Rent Duwamish. They are an entirely volunteer-run program, so 100% of profits go directly to the Duwamish Tribe to pay for tribal services that the US government would provide if it recognized the Duwamish as a tribe.
In 1855, Chief Sealth of the Duwamish tribe signed the Treaty of Point Elliott along with numerous other tribes in the area. The Treaty declared that all tribal land be handed over to the U.S. government in exchange for some land for reservation, fishing and hunting rights. While other tribes received all of these benefits, the Duwamish people were neither given fishing rights nor any land for reservations. To this day, all they have received in exchange for 54,000 acres of their homeland is a few hunting rights and some money.
For decades now, the Duwamish have been trying to receive some form of payment for signing the Treaty of Point Elliott. According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, they were denied federal recognition in 1978 as they “did not meet the requirements.” The Duwamish tried to gain federal recognition again in 1994 when the regulations were slightly altered, but were denied a second time.
The only way the federal government will give benefits to Duwamish people is if they register as a part of other tribes. For some Duwamish people, this is not a possibility if their ancestry doesn’t line up with any other federally recognized tribes. For a Duwamish person, there is little to no support due to the continued failure of the U.S. government to follow through on promises.
Despite this, many tribes are federally recognized, and while the benefits they receive are a long stretch from complete reparations, they do make a notable change. Federally recognized tribes receive funding to maintain reservations, pay for housing, education, food, clothes, and other necessities. In addition, most federally recognized tribes are exempt from paying taxes on reservations and trust land.
Unfortunately, these benefits come at a cost. According to the Native American Rights Fund, benefits only come with the “fulfillment of treaty obligations or for the extraction of tribal natural resources.” For example, the mining of coal and natural gases and oils, and fishing.
Although these benefits come at a cost, you can imagine just how much easier it is for federally recognized tribes to get by. In addition to having none of these benefits, the Duwamish and other non-recognized tribes are also in charge of preserving the history of their own tribes, all of which can be extremely difficult.
Due to the mistreatment of the Duwamish tribe throughout history, Real Rent Duwamish works hard to begin the process of reparations, and acknowledge that this land we live on was stolen from its original inhabitants. Real Rent Duwamish is unique in that they allow you to contribute whatever money you are able to give on your own. There are currently about ten thousand ‘Real Renters,’ and hopefully many more to come.
