Green candidate speaks out

[Guest guest]

As a Green Party candidate for Congress, and as a man who has fought for

the rights of animals, I was compelled to speak when I heard that the Green

Party Vice-Presidential candidate came out in favor of the Makah's right to

hunt and kill whales.

 

Since I made that statement, I have received a number of letters from those

who feel that the argument should be centered on the treaty rights of the

tribe. To this it is added that only one whale was killed, and further,

that this hunt will not lead to the extermination of the species.

 

Could my message have been so unclear? If so, then let these new words

form my motives and sculpt my meaning in sharp crystal.

 

The issue of hunting whales centers solely on the whales themselves

for they are the focus, the goal and the victims of it

This issue was solely defined when that first harpoon pierced that first

whales' flesh

She was a babe and she died by hands she would have rather stroked her skin

with gentle caresses

 

Her given name, given by a Makah elder, whose grief stole from her body and

became a word, is Yabis;

It is the Makah word for beloved

 

Who launched that harpoon, who rained razor death into Yabis' body, is a

blur;

It is a factor that can give no weight to the scale of justice, for the

scale has fallen and broken under the heavy burden of the soul that was, in

such an abused way, torn loose from its earth bound body

 

My voice too is feathered, light, and transparent when put parallel with

the final cry of this innocent child

For it is within that sound that this debate is bordered and judgment passed

 

The question of hunting whales is written with a broken quill, dipped in

blood spilled unnaturally

It is mourned by those who have opened their hearts to that great life, and

to the mother Yabis will never swim with, never sing too, never touch again

 

To this grieving soul do we ask forgiveness, even for those who do not seek

it

We will not forget that it is to her that the greatest loss has been given

We will not forget that a heart that beats within gray skin breaks as ours

would when memories of a child destroyed floats through it

 

The fight against the slaughter of animals is embraced in the name of honor

It is fought to give voice to the slain, and the yet to be slain

It is fought so that it never happens again

 

It is fought for one single whale

 

It is fought for Yabis

 

 

 

 

Stuart Chaifetz

 

 

 

 

Chaifetz for Congress

" Vote Your Conscience, Vote Green "

www.HonorandNonViolence.com