Rent Is Recognition and Restitution for Seattle’s Native Inhabitants

Since time immemorial, the Duwamish tribe has resided along the shores of Seattle’s Puget Sound. The city is named for a Duwamish ancestor, Chief Si’ahl. Today, over 600 members live in Seattle, and these members organize and operate out of the Duwamish Longhouse, located on ancestral lands in what is now an industrial district just west of the city center.

Yet the Duwamish isn’t federally acknowledged as a Native American tribe by the U.S. government.

Since 1978, Duwamish tribal members have filed numerous petitions and appeals for federal recognition, a title that’s been granted to 562 Native American tribes. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Interior gave a final decision denying the Duwamish recognition.

Seattleites have started contributing to the Duwamish’s fight for acknowledgment through a program called Real Rent Duwamish. The project encourages Seattleites to pay rent to the Duwamish as a form of restitution and recognition for these peoples as the original inhabitants of the land.

Real Rent Duwamish began in 2017 by members of the Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites. While the monthly payments act as a form of restitution, the tribe sees it as a valuable way to educate more people about the Duwamish and their battle for federal recognition.

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Seattleites can sign up for Real Rent through an online platform called Network for Good. Renters can choose how much they want to pay. Their donation then gets sent in a check directly to the Duwamish Tribal Services, a nonprofit run by the Duwamish that works to educate the public about the tribe’s history and culture.

One hundred percent of the renter money goes to the Duwamish. Operational and promotional costs are paid for by the coalition’s membership donations.

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Without formal recognition, the tribe isn’t eligible for benefits like social services, education programs, health assistance, and sovereignty over their own ancestral lands.

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More recently, in the 2015 decision, the Department of Interior said they couldn’t find enough evidence to prove that the Duwamish has lived in a distinct community and had some form of tribal government.

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Without that title, the Duwamish faces hardship on the state and city level, too. The state and city must collaborate with federally recognized tribes on legislation affecting tribal interests.

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Haas said that while the money has been helpful in expanding their outreach efforts, it’s been particularly empowering to know Seattleites support the Duwamish.

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Bean Yogi, a non-Native Seattle resident and Real Rent “renter” since January, said {snip} “We should all, as people benefitting from a product of settler colonialism, be participating somehow.” {snip}

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