Public Citizen of the Year
Ramona Bennett Bill, Ph.D., M.E.D., B.A.
Ramona Bennett Bill has been involved in the battles waged by the Puyallup and other Northwest tribes around fishing rights, land rights, health, and education for over six decades. Ramona was a driving force during the takeover of Fort Lawton in Seattle, as well as other Red Power struggles, including Alcatraz, Wounded Knee and the Trail of Broken Treaties. She was on the front lines at the Puyallup fishing camp established during the fishing wars of the 1960’s and 1970’s, which led to the federal intervention that eventually resulted in the Boldt Decision. She spearheaded the 1976 occupation of a state-run child diagnostic and treatment facility on reservation land and the lobbying that led to the property’s return to the tribe. Ramona served for nearly a dozen years as a Puyallup Tribal Council member and ten as Chairwoman, organizing social welfare, education, and enrollment initiatives and championing Native religious freedom. Her advocacy for Native children, especially those who had adopted out of their community, helped pave the way for the Indian Child Welfare Act. Now in her late-eighties, she continues to organize for Native rights and environmental justice. Her testimony has been fearless in courtrooms and press conferences throughout the country on issues affecting Indian Country. She established the for-profit Little Red Hen, which did business as Rainbow Youth and Family Services, intended to primarily serve children of color stuck in cross-racial foster homes. She directed Rainbow for 23 years. On page 260 of her memoir, she says, “My professional work life was thirty-five years of Social Work.” And her work continues!