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Richard Arlin Walker
Special to ICT
For the second time in U.S. history, a citizen of the Chinook Indian Nation will serve as a United States ambassador.
Roger Nyhus was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on a voice vote late Wednesday, Nov. 15, as U.S. ambassador to Barbados and six other Eastern Caribbean countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Nyhus was nominated by President Biden on Sept. 20, 2022, and is believed to be the third Indigenous person to serve as a U.S. ambassador. John Christopher Stevens, also Chinook, served as ambassador to Libya and was killed in the attack in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012. Keith Michael Harper, Cherokee, served from 2014-2017 as ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
“I’m incredibly honored to represent the United States and the American people in seven dynamic, independent democratic nations in the Caribbean,” Nyhus said in a statement posted on social media.
“I will be a strong and unwavering advocate for all Americans, American business and innovation, and our important diplomatic relationships,” he said. “I am eager to serve the American people and do some good.”
Nyhus outlined his priorities as ambassador in a May 4 hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations:
*Ensure the safety and security of Americans in the Eastern Caribbean. “This includes addressing the illegal trafficking of narcotics, people, and guns in the region,” he said. “Specifically, I will work to deepen our security and law enforcement partnerships with the Eastern Caribbean through the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative.”
*Ensure the U.S. remains the trade and diplomatic partner of choice in the Eastern Caribbean. “These seven countries are on the frontlines of Beijing’s global power projection through ever-expanding trade, investment ties and diplomatic presence, as well as the PRC’s ongoing push to limit Taiwan international engagement,” he said. “I will work to be a strong advocate for our positive U.S. agenda, and an active and visible countering force to the PRC’s efforts.”
*Work with the island nations on climate and energy solutions. “I am committed to working with each country on specific solutions employing American technology and innovation, and through U.S. initiatives such as the Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis,” he said. “It is in our national interest to help these nations become more resilient to the effects of climate change and support their transition to renewable fuels, including by increasing their access to finance.”
*Support U.S. business interests in the region and, he said, “help identify new and expanded opportunities for American innovation and investment.”
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Nyhus received an undergraduate degree in communications in 1990 from Washington State University, worked as a reporter for The Associated Press and then as a corporate communications specialist from 1991-1994.
In 1994, he founded Nyhus Communications, a communications and advocacy firm that would eventually become one of the largest Native-owned companies in the state. It counted among its clients Alaska Airlines, American Express, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Russell Investments, Swedish Hospital, and PATH, a nonprofit organization that advances health equity for women and girls in Africa.
Nyhus served under contract as communications director for Seattle Mayor Paul Schell, then took a hiatus from his company to serve as communications director for Washington Gov. Gary Locke, and, later, as senior advocacy officer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Nyhus, who now lives in Seattle, sold his company to a partner firm in June 2022.
‘Coastal communities are in my blood‘
Nyhus also spoke of his heritage in the Senate hearing in June – of growing up in the small coastal town of Westport, the son of a Norwegian-American father who fished and a Chinook mom who clerked in the municipal court.
He spoke of fishing with his family for salmon, crab, shrimp and tuna for days or weeks at a time, and of working at fishing derbies to help pay his college tuition.
“Oceans and coastal communities are in my blood,” he said.
Nyhus told the Senate that the name of his tribe means “strong fighter” and that he was committed to being “a strong fighter for the United States, the American people, our strategic interests and democratic values, as well as our shared priorities in the Eastern Caribbean.”
Chinook Nation Chairman Tony Johnson said the experiences that helped shape Nyhus have prepared him for the responsibilities he is taking on.
“Roger comes from a community and life experience that is very different than many folks who end up in the role of ambassador, who maybe had more resources or can’t say they came from a community that really struggled with poverty or historical trauma,” Johnson said. “Roger does have that in his background.”
In the Eastern Caribbean, “there is also a complex Indigenous history, and I want to think that Roger’s love for his community and ancestors, and his understanding or direct experience of a very complex relationship between the United States government and the Chinook Nation, will benefit his ability to navigate that,” Johnson said, “and, I hope, see that Indigenous communities have the right to flourish and thrive in the Caribbean as well.”
Nyhus’ grand-uncle, Adolph Sund, was chairman of the Chinook Nation in the mid-20th century, Johnson said, “and was involved in fighting the very same battle we’re still fighting today — for clarification of our status in our homelands, for acknowledgement of our community.”
Chinook ancestors signed the Treaty of Tansy Point in 1851, making land available for non-Natives. The U.S. terminated its relationship with the Chinook Nation and 108 other tribal nations beginning in 1953.
The Chinook Nation’s federal relationship was restored in 2001 by the Clinton administration, but was rescinded the following year by the George W. Bush administration – just days after Johnson’s father, who was chairman at the time, was invited by the administration to participate in a commemoration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
In the following years. the Chinook Nation acquired several acres of land, including the treaty grounds, at Tansy Point; signed an agreement with a watershed council that ensures the tribe’s involvement in restoration and community planning in the Necanicum River Basin; and became manager of a forested seaside county park adjacent to the tribe’s offices in Bay Center, on a peninsula that juts out into Willapa Bay.
‘Passion for advocacy’
Ambassadors are either career foreign service officers or political appointees. Nyhus, a political appointee, will succeed Linda S. Taglialatela, a career foreign service officer and former deputy assistant Secretary of State. Diplomatic assignments for career foreign service officers are generally for three years, according to the State Department. Taglialatela has been in Barbados since 2015.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell welcomed Nyhus’ confirmation, issuing a statement praising Nyhus the morning after the Senate vote.
“Throughout his successful career in our city and state, Mr. Nyhus has been an advisor to business, government, and nonprofit leaders and prioritized building meaningful relationships and trust with a diverse range of stakeholders,” Harrell said. “He participated in international trade missions that have strengthened partnerships and has been actively involved with local causes championing economic development, civil rights, and environmental conservation.”
He continued, “His experience with global engagement and passion for advocacy will serve him well as an ambassador representing the American people.”
*Updated: The story has been updated to include reaction to his Senate confirmation.
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