OPINION | Building an Indigenous Future in Rainier Beach, Sawhorse and yəhaw̓ Focus on Youth

Each of us — all of our thoughts and feelings — is grounded in the intersection of time and location. Every thought we have is connected to the place where we are at that particular moment. Every Tuesday since early September, an after-school cohort of 10 high school students have been meeting in a space nestled by a creek above Rainier Beach to stretch their minds about what is possible. They are learning to develop power, both collectively and in their own lives. At a time when many of us are feeling bleak, we can all learn from a brief look at their experience.

The students are participating in a partnership project between the yəhaw̓ Indigenous Creatives Collective, the owners and stewards of the land along Mapes Creek below Kubota Garden, and Sawhorse Revolution. Sawhorse is a decade-old Seattle-area project working to empower high school youth through the design process while putting tools in their hands. It has partnered with other local organizations to build over 75 projects, including tiny homes, garden structures, and even a boat to assist in cleanup on the Duwamish River.

Both organizations are committed to land rematriation, food sovereignty, a youth focus, and the power of story. With this partnership, they hope to show the potential of what can be done on land (especially urban land) that has been restored to community ownership under Indigenous guidance. Students are designing a structure that they will complete by spring of 2025.

Marcus Henderson, program coordinator at Sawhorse Revolution, says, "Specific actions are not as important as how the individual relates to what they do." He says Sawhorse puts tools in students' hands and empowers youth using the principle of praxis, "the action and reflection of men and women upon their world in order to transform it." It weaves in values of self-determination, service, and revitalization of community in conjunction with local organizations. Through this process, students learn not only to build a structure, but that they can use the same principles in any part of their lives.

yəhaw̓'s philosophy is a perfect mesh with Sawhorse. It describes itself as "a community of intertribal Indigenous artists rematriating 1.5 acres of land in South Seattle on Coast Salish territories." It is committed to creating a space that it hopes to enhance with a sweat lodge, a greenhouse, a culinary center, a children's play structure, and open art display centers. Jen, a Yupik woodcarver and member of the yəhaw̓ Collective, is one of several mentors working with the students; she is focused on Indigenous values in design. Jen says the shape and feel of any structures will be shaped by the trees, land, and environment around them. She contrasts this perspective with many of the residential buildings bordering yəhaw̓, which remove all the trees and impose their shape upon the land. yəhaw̓ centers the voices of women, two-spirit people, and youth.

At a recent Tuesday class, Henderson opened the gathering asking students what words would describe the weather they are feeling like. "What's going on inside of you?" he asked. Responses ranged from cold to sunny to "in the fog of exhaustion." Both the students and their architecture-based mentors come to the three-hour class from a full day of school and work.

During the session, as students constructed rooftop designs with popsicle sticks from the blueprint drawings they had done, Henderson commented that "we step aside and watch." One student said, "Using the popsicle sticks shows me that if I need to change something, I can learn how to change the design.The same in my life."

One student said she joined the class to learn from "our ancestors, and how to rehabilitate and care for the planet. yəhaw̓ talks about the problems of the world and is for people who are neglected. Expressing my creativity here, I represent my ancestors and I represent the people of the world who are neglected."

At Rainier Beach High School, starting 30 years ago, I taught hundreds of lessons on Chief Sealth and fishing rights struggles, and I even organized forest field trip walks across from school, where Mapes Creek hits Lake Washington, but I confess I never thought to connect the people who lived here before we came with evidence of their actual historical, physical presence in our neighborhood.

For instance, Sealth's daughter, Kikisoblu (Princess Angeline) was born in a Duwamish longhouse on Pritchard Island (TL'Ltcus or TLEELH-chus, "little island"); Angeline Street in Seattle still bears her name. From Rainier Beach south to where the Cedar River meets the lake, twhahb-KOH ("confluence"), skah-TEHLBSH, and spah-DEHL-gwelh were three villages of longhouses central for the Duwamish people. Because of questions I didn't ask about the place where I live and teach, I could not share the information that I did not have. 

Early next year, Rainier Beach High School science students will be releasing coho salmon fry into the lake across the street from the school. In four years, what will the surviving salmon who return to the creek find?

Now, just up Mapes Creek, yəhaw̓ has brought Rainier Beach's past into the present, as it plans its future. Asia Tail, yəhaw̓ collective co-founding member, connected the current time period with the yəhaw̓ project and said "Biden's recent apology for the atrocities of the residential boarding schools and kidnapping of Native children sets the conditions for tribal consent and Land Back. To urban Natives, Land Back can take many different forms. I hear a lot of grief from people around the elections. But once we go through the grief, we must come together around the land. yəhaw̓ comes from a story about people lifting up the sky together. Youth will be the first designers."

How often do we who live here now bring the people who lived here before us into our current awareness? Do you consider your ancestors in their multitudes of generations? How often do you think about the future society we are building for the youth? Are we listening to what they are trying to build? What opportunities are we missing in the present, if we don't?

The South Seattle Emerald is committed to holding space for a variety of viewpoints within our community, with the understanding that differing perspectives do not negate mutual respect amongst community members.

The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the contributors on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the Emerald or official policies of the Emerald.

Mark Epstein is a 31-year South Seattle resident. He taught elementary and high school for 35 years, with the last 25 at Rainier Beach High School. He is a devoted father and grandfather, with daily walks and love from his pandemic puppy. He has been a career-long union activist, and since his retirement in 2019, he has been active in support of immigrant communities in our state. A lover of music and growing food, he is also an avid biker for transportation.