Rick Williams, the older brother of the slain Nitinaht Indian John T. Williams, is helping to preserve his brother’s legacy through the John T. Williams Memorial Totem Pole Project.
Williams’ lawyers asked him to create a design for two totem poles in remembrance of his brother. The first totem pole will stay at the Seattle Center, where Williams, his cousin Dennis Underwood, and his students are currently carving it, and the second will be moved to Westlake. This is the first totem pole in 70 years built by the Nitinaht tribe. Williams’ Grandfather made the last one.
Rick Williams hopes this project will help restore his brother’s name after, as he says, it was dragged down by police and the press. He says that he knows the world is listening because people from all over the world have signed the guest book, which is set up next to the tent where they are currently carving, and have asked to help. A blind girl even stopped by to carve.
“After my brother was shot, I was angry, but then lights went on in my head and I thought, ‘oh, a challenge.’ This project was supposed to take a year but we’ve come really far in just 28 days.” Williams says the carving will be done in another 30 days, and at that time, they will start staining the wood and painting it using old-style colors.
Williams, Underwood, and their students are set up at the Seattle Center, in front of the Sky Church entrance to the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (EMP|SFM), for twelve hours a day, from about 7 a.m. to around 8:30 p.m.., seven days a week.
The Nitinaht tribe has been in Seattle since 1910, but it wasn’t until 1927 that they were actually given a name. Williams said his tribe has more than 100 years of experience in woodcarving.
All the carvings of the totem pole have deep meanings for Williams and his tribe. On the top of the totem pole rests a carving of a perched eagle, originally the design created by his father, who moved to Seattle from Canada in 1950. An eagle represents an elder, protector, and confidant; in other words, someone you would seek for advice. If an eagle is perched, it means it’s a guardian who is blessing the space. A perched eagle means it has just landed, whereas an eagle with open wings represents a journey that has just begun, because it’s currently in flight.
Below the eagle rests an ivory carver, which today has transformed into a woodcarver. The woodcarver is holding a miniature totem pole in his hands. The Williams family originally created this version of the woodcarver in 1926. Williams says this was his brother’s best design.
Below the woodcarver, at the bottom of the totem pole, is a baby raven with its mother. The Williams family first carved this design around 1969. In many native tales, the raven is the creator of all things, but it also serves as a warning for negative and bad energy. The second totem pole has the same designs, except instead of the raven at the bottom it will have a carving of a whale, which was originally Williams’ Grandfather’s design.
Williams says it’s important to calmly stand up for his brother and that he tries to stay peaceful.
“My kids keep me busy and keep my spirits up. In my family, I was the only one who stayed calm,” he said.
Williams wants his family’s work to stay alive. “I never wanted art to die, but a lot of carvers are no longer alive, and a lot of people don’t buy carvings anymore.”
He is selling pins and Tee-shirts and asking for donations to help fund the project.
“This totem pole shows you our heartbeat, what my brother was all about,” Williams said. “You have to understand where we come from; I’m a seventh-generation carver. I see pain, loss, auras above everything and everyone, fear, and struggles.”
Williams says he is the outspoken one in his family and that the other members of his family have always been shy. But he said some of the things that were written about his slain brother were not right. Williams says his brother “was a counselor.”
“He would give you his last dollar,” Williams said of his brother, John. “I wish they said that instead of what they wrote about him.”
Visit the John T. Williams Memorial Project on Facebook by searching for John T. Williams, and stop by the carving tent at the Seattle Center this spring.
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