“This is such a loss – one that’s felt globally,” Ray Gardner, Chairman of the Chinook Indian Nation, told Indian Country Today Media Network. “It has been very heartwarming – the amount of other nations that have contacted us, locally, from British Columbia, and even further away. We even had a couple nations from back east contact us as well, to make sure [Stevens'] family knew they were in their prayers… It’s something that crosses the scope of all Native people. We’re all striving towards the same thing – having a peaceful relationship not only with each other, but also globally.”
The Chinook – a band without a reserve, and one that has long struggled for federal recognition – are located on the shores of the Columbia River in Washington state. To the south, near Salem, Oregon, one of its neighboring tribes also felt the impact of Stevens’ death.
via Ambassador Chris Stevens Mourned Across Indian Country as Peacemaker, Diplomat – ICTMN.com.
