Olympia City Council on Tuesday celebrated three proclamations — one commemorating the 50th anniversary of the famous Budd Inlet Six orca capture that led to the end of live orca captures in Washington state, one re-declaring March as Disability Awareness Month, and one marking the 140th Anniversary of Olympia’s stand against anti-Chinese violence.
Budd Inlet Six 50th Anniversary
The City of Olympia has declared March 7, 2026, as Budd Inlet Six Commemoration day, and is celebrating the anniversary all year with educational and cultural events.
The declaration commemorates the capture of six Bigg’s orcas in Olympia’s Budd Inlet, which sparked public outcry and a scientific focus on orca welfare.
Karen Ellieck described the day of the orcas’ capture — March 7, 1976 — as “an unusually warm spring day in Olympia.”
She and her then-husband Ralph Munro were sailing near Budd Inlet when they saw a pod of orcas being chased by the SeaWorld capture crew. SeaWorld had already taken and sold 60 local orcas to marine parks at that point, Ellieck said.
Ellieck, Munro and her companions were dismayed at the actions of the SeaWorld crew, which included dropping explosives and deliberately frightening the animals.
She recalled Munro saying “We can’t stop them, but we have to watch and remember everything that they do. It may be important later.”
It was.
Ellieck and Munro contacted the press and then-Attorney General Slade Gordon the following day, sparking legal action, public protests, scientific input and civic engagement.
“I think this can be looked at as the old adage of ‘old acorns make mighty oaks,’” said Edward B. Mackie, former chief deputy attorney general for Washington.
Washington state attorneys challenged SeaWorld’s permits, with a mounting legal and public pressure ultimately leading SeaWorld to release the Budd Inlet captives and agree to not capture orcas in Washington state.
“In the 50 years that have gone by since, there’s a pretty strong consensus that these orcas are both smart and they have feelings, and that was something we didn’t really acknowledge at the time,” said Council Member Clark Gilman, connecting the Budd Inlet Six to recent calls from citizens asking the city to support the growing Rights of Nature movement.
“That’s one path I think to continue this work, because I think it’s important work, both in the interest of other creatures and in our own lives,” Gilman said.
Disability Awareness Month
The annual proclamation recognizes the contributions of people with disabilities and commits to breaking down barriers, promoting accessibility, and ensuring full inclusion within the City of Olympia.
Olympia School Board President Jess Tourtellotte-Palumbo commended the city council for issuing its Disability Awareness Month proclamation again this year.
“It goes a long way towards helping people with disabilities in Olympia feel seen, heard and respected,” Tourtellotte-Palumbo said. “Elevating the experiences of people with disabilities also elevates the work that needs to be done to promote effective access in every aspect of daily life.”
Tourtellotte-Palumbo added that she hopes the proclamation will encourage local leaders to take accessibility into account when making decisions.
Speaking from lived experience, Disability Justice Task Force Project Manager Joslyn Nelson said, “Disability is not experienced in isolation. It is shaped by the systems we move, through the identities we carry and the histories we carry.”
Barriers for those with disabilities often compound with other racial or class barriers, Nelson said, adding that many systems were not designed to be accessible for those with disabilities.
“This proclamation reflects that reality by naming barriers rather than blaming individuals,” Nelson said. “That framing matters because it places responsibility where it belongs: on systems, structures and collective choices.”
The city encourages community members to “take part in education, advocacy, and actions that support accessibility and inclusion. This includes recognizing the contributions of individuals with disabilities and working together to support the best quality of life for every member of
the community,” the proclamation reads.
140th Anniversary of Olympia’s Stand Against Anti-Chinese Violence
The proclamation commemorates the actions of Olympia’s leadership in February 1886, namely then-Mayor Andsworth Chambers, then-Sheriff William Billings, and then-City Marshal Fred Guyot, for their swift work in thwarting an organized attempt to expel Olympia’s Chinese residents and burn their homes and businesses.
The violent act echoed similar acts around the region as racial prejudice and economic scapegoating surged in the Pacific Northwest.
Among the groups enacting anti-Chinese violence was the Knights of Labor and the International Workingmen’s Association (IWA), which organized the harassment, expulsion, and murder of Chinese people throughout the West, leading to widespread destruction in many communities.
Olympia’s leaders were able to protect Olympia’s Chinese community from mob violence in February 1886 by maneuvering the mob, quickly deputizing residents to form a protective barrier, and arresting mob leaders and participating IWA members.
Federal courts secured convictions against some of those organizers, a move the city calls “a rare act of accountability during an era when racial violence often went unpunished.”
The proclamation also recognizes the contributions of Olympia’s Chinese population, including their work establishing the city’s infrastructure, developing railroads and sustaining the city’s economy through the oystering industry.
Discrimination did not “totally go away” after the February 1886 attack was quelled, said Ryan Locke, a representative of the Locke Foundation. He noted that many businesses left the city’s Chinatown by the 1940s, “but others did stick around.”
Mayor Pro Tem Yến Huỳnh, who helped draft the proclamation, said this proclamation had her “heart beating a little faster tonight.”
She said, “There’s nuance here, so we wanted to make sure we were lifting up the parts that were important to lift up, the positives, and then also not looking back with too much of a rosy picture.”
She additionally thanked one of the invited speakers, Ed Eckley, for his research into the 1886 incident as part of his capstone at Evergreen State College.
Huỳnh, who was born and raised in Olympia as a child of Vietnamese refugees, said “It is a weird thing to be from a place and feel like a minority most of the time, and your research that you decided to do for your capstone I think has impacted so many people.”
As part of the proclamation, the city “encourages all residents to remember both the courage shown and the injustice that made such courage necessary, to learn about and honor the contributions of Chinese community members past and present, and to reaffirm our commitment to equity and inclusion for all, and the importance of knowing our rights andprotecting our neighbors — then and now.”
