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We Are a League for EVERYONE

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) are central to the League's current and future success in engaging ALL individuals, households, communities, and policy makers in creating a more perfect democracy.

Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policy: "There shall be no barriers to full participation in the League on the basis of gender, gender identity, ethnicity, race, native or indigenous origin, age, generation, sexual orientation, culture, religion, belief system, marital status, parental status, socioeconomic status, language, accent, ability status, mental health, educational level or background, geography, nationality, work style, work experience, job role function, thinking style, personality type, physical appearance, political perspective or affiliation and/or any other characteristic that can be identified as recognizing or illustrating diversity."

A common flaw with DEI programs is they help people to identify unconscious biases, but then fail to provide actionable steps on how to address these biases. Focusing on awareness alone ignores the structural inequalities that sustain a discriminatory culture in the long run. The National Office of the League of Women Voters has given us a process for evaluating our programs and actions concerning Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). This process can help us as we work toward awareness of the inequities that many of our fellow citizens have endured for years.  The first step in change is understanding.

Towards that first step, we share with our League members, and all members of our community, the resources below, as identified or generously provided by the League of Women’s Voters National.  We hope they will open your heart and mind.




Looking Through a DEI Lens


Defining DEI


Intro to DEI

What We are Currently Studying

Starting in May 2025, the Clallam League will be gathering to continue studying the Thurston's League Study of Thurston Area Tribal Nations: Chehalis Tribe, Nisqually Indian Tribe, Squaxin Island Tribe.

Fifty years ago and again 23 years ago the LWVTC studied US tribal law and concerns and conflicts of relevance to tribes with rights in this state. In 2022-23 a Study Committee reviewed the many changes in the past decades and issued the Study of Thurston Area Tribal Nations, February, 2023.

The Study focused on the three tribes in the Thurston County area: Chehalis Tribe (people of the sands), Nisqually Indian Tribe (people of the grass country/people of the river),and Squaxin Island Tribe (people of the waters).


In May 2023 the Thurston chapter adopted seven position statement positions.
These covered: 

  1. Health Care;
  2. Sustainable Fish and Orca Management;
  3. Education About Tribes;
  4. Tribal Youth Attainment of a High School Diploma;
  5. Sovereignty and Right to Self-Governance;
  6. Infrastructure Planning; and
  7. Local Tribal History and Culture Awareness

You can read the Executive Summary of the Study, or the full Study, here:

Welcome to Indian Country 101

For further learning, we recommend a free, self-paced, online Indian County 101 (IC101) course. This 20 hour course was created in 2023 The Whitener Group (TWG), a tribal firm (Squaxin Island Tribe), and Washington chapter of The Nature Conservancy (TNC). The course focuses, after an introduction to tribal issues across the U.S., on Washington tribes.

The course  is for anyone that would like to know more about tribes and native citizens. Effective tribal engagement starts with knowledge and context, and these IC courses can provide useful historical background and information:

  • IC101 lays out the history and context for tribal engagement across the country,; and
  • IC102 builds upon the fundamentals, focusing specifically on tribes located in Washington State.

Indian County 101 Training for a National overview (the largest portion of the 20 hrs)

 

WA State Indian Country Training for a Washington overview

 

Indian County 101 Resources provides lessons and learner objectives about what is included in each course.

 

Tribal Engagement Quick Reference Guide is a downloadable PDF featuring definitions, engagement tips, things not to say, and commentary.


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A Local Read, and Highly Recommended: Breaking Ground: The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and the Unearthing of Tse-whit-zen Village

by Lynda Mapes

 

In 2003, a backhoe operator hired by the state of Washington to work on the Port Angeles waterfront discovered what a larger world would soon learn. The place chosen to dig a massive dry dock was atop one of the largest and oldest Indian village sites ever found in the region. Yet the state continued its project, disturbing hundreds of burials and unearthing more than 10,000 artifacts at Tse-whit-zen village, the heart of the long-buried homeland of the Klallam people.

 

Excitement at the archaeological find of a generation gave way to anguish as tribal members working alongside state construction workers encountered more and more human remains, including many intact burials. Finally, tribal members said the words that stopped the project: "Enough is enough."

 

Soon after, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe chairwoman Frances Charles asked the state to walk away from more than $70 million in public money already spent on the project and find a new site. The state, in an unprecedented and controversial decision that reverberated around the nation, agreed.

 

In search of the story behind the story, Seattle Times reporter Lynda V. Mapes spent more than a year interviewing tribal members, archaeologists, historians, city and state officials, and local residents and business leaders. Her account begins with the history of Tse-whit-zen village, and the nineteenth- and twentieth-century impacts of contact, forced assimilation, and industrialization. She then engages all the voices involved in the dry dock controversy to explore how the site was chosen, and how the decisions were made first to proceed and then to abandon the project, as well as the aftermath and implications of those controversial choices.

 

This beautifully crafted and compassionate account, illustrated with nearly 100 photographs, illuminates the collective amnesia that led to the choice of the Port Angeles construction site. "You have to know your past in order to build your future," Charles says, recounting the words of tribal elders. Breaking Ground takes that teaching to heart, demonstrating that the lessons of Tse-whit-zen are teachings from which we all may benefit.

Supporting Our LBGTQ+ Community Members
Sequim_Pride

 Learning About the Lower Klallam Elwha Tribe in Port Angeles

Real Stories That May Open Your Heart and Mind

  • The Danger of A Single Story: Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
  • Pain, Passion, and Possibility: Learning from Difficult Subjects: How do we have difficult conversations on painful subjects such as gender, racial and sexual inequality, discrimination and oppression in ways that enable, connect and empower students, co-workers, community members and ourselves? Dr. Tricia Rose, Brown University Professor, will address this issue with particular attention to race and gender by drawing on her own scholarship, life and seventeen years of university teaching. 
  • Gem Droppin': White Savior vs Ally:A learning experience from Amanda Seales, American, comedian, actress, disc jockey, recording artist, and radio personality, as in: "You have given us a simple and effective method of explaining basic knowledge to the not-as-helpful-as-they-think white folks who suffer from Caucasius Dominatus."~ Barron Hall.
  • How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion: Peggy McIntosh, Wellesley College's Associate Director for the Center for Research addresses issues of equity and privilege as they relate to race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. Her TED Talk offers a shift in the traditional view of race, equity and privilege. McIntosh uses her own experience as a white woman to inform her own knowledge of racial experiences from a white perspective.
  • Feminist Friendship: Feminism is hard and complicated—doing good feminist work and doing work to be a good feminist is even harder, says Dr. Cori Wong, Feminist/Philosopher. White feminists have a long history of ignoring intersectionality within the women’s movement; rather than leveraging differences among women as strengths and a resource, they continue to be ignored. Dr. Cori Wong developed a model of Feminist Friendship to call attention to the skills we already utilize to maintain our closest relationships as well as allow us to better engage in social justice.
  • Your Privilege Is Showing: Lillian Medville, creator of the experience-based card game Your Privilege is Showing explains that whether we acknowledge it or not, race, sex, gender, class, and privilege are all part of our daily lives no matter who we are, what we look like, or where we’re from. But too often we don't talk about these issues for fear of saying the wrong thing, or that the conversations will be difficult, bitter, and even painful. 

 

Articles


Books

  • Breaking Ground: The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and the Unearthing of Tse-whit-zen Village, Lynda Mapes
  • Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, Mahzarin Banaji
  • Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell
  • Braving the Wilderness, Brené Brown
  • Everyday Bias, Howard Ross
  • The Hate You Give, Angie Thomas
  • Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions, Arielly, Daniel
  • Waking Up White, Debby Irving
  • The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson

 

Audio


Diversity in Clallam County

At first glance, ethnically-speaking, Clallam County is not a very diverse county. According to the *2020 U.S. Census, the county’s total population of 77,155 people (up from 71,404 in 2010) were:

By Race:

  • 86.30% White
  • 13.7% a combination of other races:
    • 7.0% Hispanic or Latino;

    • 5.7% American Indian and Alaska Native alone;

    • 4.60% of two or more races;

    • 2.10% Asian alone;

    • 1.10% Black alone; and

    • .20% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone.

By Age:
  • 3.80% persons under 5 years;
  • 15.90% persons under 18 years;
  • 33% persons 65 years and over; and
  • 50.80% female persons.
Living in Poverty:
  • 11.9% of Clallam residents live in poverty
Disabled:
  • 14.70% under age 65 have a disability

Other:

  •  4.5% foreign-born persons

Housing Stats:

  • Housing units, July 1, 2023: 38,876
  • Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2019-2023: $385,600
  • Median selected monthly owner costs - with a mortgage, 2019-2023: $1,811
  • Median selected monthly owner costs -without a mortgage, 2019-2023: $602
  • Median gross rent, 2019-2023: $1,110

Income Stats:

  • Per capita income in past 12 months (in 2023 dollars), 2019-2023: $40,133
  • Median households income (in 2023 dollars), 2019-2023: $67,999

Employment Stats: 

  • All employer firms, Reference year 2022 : 2,159

  • Total employment, 2022: 18,500

The National League’s goals, and our league's as well, is to encourage and welcome diverse members of our communities into the League - not only those identified above, but those with any other characteristics, as outlined in our DEI policy, that can be identified as recognizing or illustrating diversity – and to work to ensure that we are fair, impartial, and inclusive.

*2020 Clallam County Census Quick Facts Page


Clallam County, Washington is a beautiful, rural place to live, however it faces a number of challenges:

  • Housing shortages: The county is short about 1,200 housing units.
  • Lack of affordable housing: A pressing need, especially for people living in poverty or who are employed, but have limited assets and low income.
  • Access to health care: A key issue for the county.
  • Budget deficits: The county's main sources of funding are sales and property taxes, but inflation and other factors challenge the budget.
  • Employment: Job growth in Clallam County is seasonal, and the winter months impact nonfarm employment. There is also a lack of a sufficient and or skilled labor workforce.
  • Lack of childcare.
  • Alcohol and substance abuse, mental health issues, and homelessness.

On a local level, we strive to advocate for and support programs and resources that have a positive impact on our local community, such as access to health care, and wrap-around services for those trying to overcome opioid addiction. 

Email: info@lwvcla.org

LWV Clallam County

PO Box 1092

Carlsborg, WA 98324