Championing justice: Peacemaker awards honor native leaders and youth activist

The Whatcom Peace and Justice Center (WPJC) is delighted to announce the winners of the 2024 Rosemary and Howard Harris Lifetime Peacemaker Award as well as the Dotty Dale Youth Peacemaker Award.

This year’s Lifetime Peacemaker Award goes to Michelle and Michael Vendiola; this year’s Youth Peacemaker Award goes to Raven Ott. The awardees will be honored Sunday, Sept. 22 during WPJC’s annual International Day of Peace event at Structures Brewing in Bellingham.

Michelle and Michael Vendiola have devoted their personal lives, professional work and activism to uplifting Native people, building more resilient communities, mentoring critically thinking student leaders and protecting Mother Earth. Their nominator called them “some of the most dedicated, generous, thoughtful, and committed organizers in the region.” The Harris Award is an opportunity to reflect on and celebrate their accomplishments.

Michelle and Michael first met at Sehome High School. Michelle moved to Bellingham in 1984 her senior year and Michael was a junior. Although they were friends, they became inseparable when they crossed paths again a few years later at a pow wow. Now together for 36 years, Michelle and Michael have embraced a commitment to activism and service by educating students and community and speaking out against injustice.

Both Michael and Michelle have masters degrees in education. Their focus has been on the empowerment of tribal youth and communities. Together they believe obtaining an education is a liberatory act and a treaty right obligation of the U.S. government and all trustees.

Michelle Vendiola is a member of the Walker River Paiute Tribe from Schurz, Nevada. Her Paiute/Numu name is Taba Toniga and her Lushootseed/Swinomish name is sɬukʷaɬ c’qaysəbu. Michelle is an educator, community organizer, mother and grandmother. She has worked at several local institutions coordinating service learning, developing cultural curriculum and teaching teachers how to implement the Since Time Immemorial curriculum. In her free time, she attends cultural events and operates the Indigenous handcrafted clothing and art shop Michelle Janine Designs.

(danisətən) Michael Vendiola, is an enrolled member of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. He also has close relations to the Lummi Nation and Visayan (Filipino) communities. His ancestral name is danisətən, a second-generation male version of donecia — one of the ancestral names his mother carries. He stresses the importance of recognizing these names, because “we do not own the name, we prepare them for the next person who will carry it by the way that we conduct ourselves.” Some of Michaels roles have been: Ethnic Student Center coordinator at WWU, State of Washington Director of Native Education for the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and Education Director for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community (at present). Michael is also an accomplished DJ and well known for his skill and humor on the microphone as an emcee for many important events.

Together, Michelle and Michael have been important critics of ongoing settler colonialism on Coast Salish land and mobilized local communities against this injustice. They were founders and leaders of the Bellingham No DAPL (Dakota Access Pipeline) Coalition and Red Line Salish Sea, which acted in solidarity with Indigenous land defenders in the Dakotas, while holding a line of defense against additional fossil fuel development in the Salish Sea region. The Vendiolas have been major leaders in the struggles for environmental and racial justice, always insisting on recognition of the ongoing impacts of colonialism and Indigenous people’s resistance to it.

The Vendiolas feel fortunate to work with many mentors and organizations in the fight for attaining a just society. Notably, when new opportunities to work together arise, whether in partnerships, community organizing, policy development, or direct action, Michael likes to ask, “what is the health of our relationship?”

The Rosemary and Howard Harris Lifetime Peacemaker Award was established in 2005 to honor local activists and organizers whose lives’ work embodies the spirit of the individuals who founded the Bellingham Peace Vigil in 1966. Recent honorees include Betsy Pernotto (2023), Tina McKim (2022), and Darrell Hillaire (2016).

Raven Ott, the winner of the 2024 Dotty Dale Youth Peacemaker Award, works for Northwest Youth Services and is an emerging leader in advocating for young people facing homelessness and housing insecurity in Bellingham. As an intern for the Whatcom Peace and Justice Center in 2023, Raven co-founded the Scream for Justice project that brought raw art by young people concerned with injustice into public spaces. As their nominator wrote, Raven is a dedicated “advocate for justice and to change the status quo” who is “excellent at building bridges between people who do not have obvious connections.” We look forward to seeing what Raven does next in pursuit of a better world.

The Dotty Dale Youth Peacemaker Award was established in 2022 through a generous donation by the family and friends of 2006 Harris Award winners Dotty and Al Dale. The award comes with a small cash prize to help support the ongoing work of the youth peacemaker. Previous award winners include Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez (2023) and Sadie Olsen, Kwastlmut (2022).