Fish-Ins: Black/Native Solidarity In The 1960s

Mariame Kaba explores the legacy of solidarity between Black and Native American communities in the 1960s, focusing specifically on the case of comedian Dick Gregory. Gregory was accused of illegal fishing because he participated in a fish-in, standing up for the fishing rights of the Puyallup and Nisqually people in the face of opposition from Washington state game wardens. Despite the fact that overfishing by commercial fisheries was causing fishing stock depletion, white sport fishers scapegoated Native people and demanded they comply with conservation laws that did not restrain commercial fishers. With illustrations from Jon Bailiff, Kaba tells the story of the activism that helped restore the tribal rights of the Puyallup and Nisqually.