I brought in nourished the bodies and sustained the spirits of our fellow Makahs. It's been too long since there's been any whale meat in my refrigerator. My family and our tribe want more.
Reporters like to ask about how the whale tasted.
It tasted like a dream come true, but along with the whale meat, I got a taste of the politics, and I can tell you that part's no good. We've had only a handful of days open for hunting since that day when Indians from around the country and indigenous people from as far as Fiji and Africa came to help us celebrate the return of the whale to our people. Since then we've been tied up with these rich animal rights groups taking us to court and the United States government's delay in putting out a new environmental assessment and signing a new management agreement. I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of commodity foods in the cabinet, and I'm tired of 75 percent unemployment on the reservation.