In with Billy Frank Jr., out with Whitman. Statues should show Washington diversity
Tearing down is easier than building up, an old proverb says. That certainly applies to toppling public statues, a movement that convulsed our country last year. Many monuments to Confederate generals and other polarizing historical figures were torn down, removed or defaced, part of a racial reckoning after police killed George Floyd in Minneapolis.
How refreshing that we can now talk about installing the statue of a great Washington leader inside the US Capitol Building. Better yet, it’s a leader who would build up the stature of Black, indigenous and other people of color in our state.
Billy Frank Jr., a hero of the South Sound’s Nisqually Tribe, fought for native treaty rights, clean water and sustainable natural resources for our grandchildren. He also fought in the Korean War as a US Marine. But at his core, he was a soft-spoken man of peace, posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Frank deserves one of our state’s spots in Statuary Hall, which a proposal in the Legislature aims to give him.
When he died in 2014 at age 83, this Editorial Board hailed him as “a man whose craggy face would be carved into basalt if we had our own Mount Rushmore.”
A statue at the US Capitol is the next best thing.
If adopted, House Bill 1372 would formally ask the Library of Congress to replace the Marcus Whitman statue in Statuary Hall with a representation of Frank. It would also establish a selection committee to find a sculptor, review designs and oversee the switch.
A parade of Frank admirers supported the proposal at a public hearing Monday.
“During this time of finding balance in all our communities, there’s nobody better than Billy Frank Jr.,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Debra Lekanoff, a 40th District Democrat and member of the Tlingit Tribe. “He stood on the shorelines of Western Washington and watched the sea levels rise. He stood in almost every one of your rivers and wished for the salmon to come home.”
But taking his proper place in Statuary Hall requires addition by subtraction, because federal law allows only two busts per state.
Some may want to turn this into a referendum against long-dead white men who left mixed legacies at best. Two states, Virginia and Florida, are moving ahead with plans to remove long-standing sculptures in Statuary Hall, replacing two Confederate generals (including Robert E. Lee) with a pair of Black civil rights champions. Eight other states have replaced statues since Congress passed a law allowing it in 2000.
We prefer to accentuate the positive about Frank rather than throw shade on Whitman. His statue is well suited for Whitman College or the Whitman Mission National Historic Site in Walla Walla County, where it should be curated with the family’s complicated and ultimately tragic story.
Whitman has had a good run at the Capitol, where he’s stood since 1953. But our state’s second statue there already honors a Christian missionary — Mother Joseph, who helped establish hospitals, schools and orphanages throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Washington is overdue to honor an extraordinary native person in that marble-columned amphitheater.
It’s hard to imagine a better candidate than Frank.
First arrested as a boy for catching salmon in his family’s fishing grounds on the Nisqually River, he became a central figure in the “fish-in” protests of the 1960s, borrowing tactics from the Civil Rights movement. His leadership persevered through the landmark 1974 Boldt decision, which affirmed treaty rights and granted Northwest tribes half of the region’s harvestable salmon.
But in some ways Frank’s second act was more remarkable than his first. He chaired the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission for nearly 30 years, joining native and non-native people in common cause: to save fish by preserving clean water and stopping habitat loss.
As Lt. Gov. Denny Heck said Monday, Washingtonians would be proud to tour the Capitol and look up at the likeness of Billy Frank Jr.
Last month a mob broke into the building and marched through Statuary Hall, bent on overturning an election. Erecting a tribute to this great Washington man of peace and justice would be a welcome corrective to the hate and discord.
This story was originally published February 2, 2021 at 10:00 AM with the headline "In with Billy Frank Jr., out with Whitman. Statues should show Washington diversity."