August 26, 2023. Elliot Bay, Seattle, WA. Native American tribes and Hawaiian outrigger canoe teams greet and honor the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa, which arrived with her crew in Seattle on August 26th on a truncated voyage around the Pacific Rim. The double-hulled blue water canoe (Hawaiian: wa’a kaulua) is a reconstruction, designed primarily from snippets of oral histories, since the art of these craft was rapidly lost after European and American colonization of Hawai'i. It is a powerful cultural icon for Hawaiians, who take pride in being the descendants of masters of astronomical navigation. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Polynesians who first arrived in Hawai'i did so from, most likely, Tahiti and the Marqueses Islands more than 1,000 years ago and Hōkūleʻa was built partly to test the the hypothesis that Hawai'i could have been colonized by Polynesians who sailed repeatedly between Pacific island chains, instead of the more ignoble theory that they haplessly drifted there. Consequently, Hōkūleʻa represents not just Hawaiian’s mastery of navigation, but also agency of exploration. As Pacific Northwest indigenous protocol dictates, the foreign party asked permission from the indigenous groups where they sought to moor and, once accepted, were under their protection. In these ceremonies, the Suquamish Tribe passed responsibility of Hōkūleʻa and her crew to the Muckleshoot Tribe.
June 17, 2021. Harbor Island, Seattle, WA. Pro-Palestinian protesters blocked the unloading of the Israeli-owned ship San Diego, opposing Israeli military action against occupied Palestinian territories. Police made at least 10 arrests at the port.