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Duwamish leader welcomes meeting to Seattle

Ken Workman, Duwamish, is the great-great-great-great-grandson of Chief Si’ahl (for whom Seattle is named), welcomed the PNC-UCC delegates for their meeting in Seattle.

Ken Workman, Duwamish tribal member, welcomes PNC-UCC.

Born on Alki Beach in West Seattle, he grew up playing on the beach and in the woods.

When Ken spoke at the PNC-UCC Annual Meeting ,he said, “A long time ago my great-great-great-great grandfather Chief Si’ahl stood on the shore of Alki Beach and said, ‘Come ashore, my friends to the lands of the Duwamish.’ In that spirit, I say the world is small and we welcome you, as part of the whole family.

“We welcome the whole world, as my great-great-great-great grandfather did on the beach 174 years ago,” he said. “Since then, the land has been transformed from a place of trees, river, bear to a metropolitan society.

“Now as the Lushootseed words of the Duwamish, Makah, Snoqualmie and Lummi are no longer the language used here. I am thankful for the strength of his words that come back,” Ken added. “As I stand at this podium, I say thank you my friends and welcome.”

Alki Beach is the beach where Chief Seattle welcomed the first white settlers on to their land, said Ken, a retired systems and data analyst from Boeing’s engineering department, former Duwamish Tribal Council member and former Duwamish Tribal Services president.

He is a member of the Duwamish Tribe, the first people of Seattle, and board member of the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition and the Southwest Seattle Historical Society.

Ken noted that while the world has changed radically since his grandfather welcomed the settlers and the world is smaller with airplane travel—the world is the same in that the Duwamish remain on the land and continue to care for if and welcome people who come.

 

 

 

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