where the salmon run - Washington Secretary of State

introduction 9
Even so, Tom Keefe says Billy understands the anger that many
Indian people hold. “There’s a side of Billy that, when the doors are
closed and it’s just Indian people there, I am reliably informed he is
capable of articulating the anger and the bitterness that resulted from
years of oppression by state authorities. But I don’t think it dominates
his life or has dominated his life. I’ve seen him really grow as a
person, like you would hope any person would be capable of doing if
they set their mind to it.”
The elder takes the good and bad in stride. His role as the consummate
bridge builder has taken him from a concrete bunk at the
Pierce County jail to a public stage where he accepted the Albert E.
Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism, an honor bestowed on the
likes of Jimmy Carter, the president, and Desmond Tutu, the archbishop.
The onetime underdog has crisscrossed the globe in defense
of Indian people and earth. His footprint can be found from the halls
of Congress to Alaska’s Prince William Sound, where Billy helped
tribes recover from the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
“The fight is never over—the fight for who we are and our culture
and our way of life,” he says as his dark eyes light up. He clenches his
fists. He smiles at the thought of his indigenous brothers in Alaska
and across the world rattling the cage. Billy has been rattling cages
since he was fourteen years old.
How did he do it? Therein lies an extraordinary and controversial
tale of courage, determination, and a guiding belief that it takes a
village to move history.