By Steve Shay

Sporting his trademark undercut hairdo and wearing a reflective wide smile, Seattle hip hop artist Ben Haggerty, 31, better known as Macklemore, appeared at the Duwamish Longhouse Museum in West Seattle Wednesday. He was there to celebrate the achievements of the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition's (DRCC) "River For All" campaign, launched last June.

A spokesman for the campaign, Macklemore is helping to focus attention on the environmental and health threats of toxic pollution in Seattle's Duwamish River. The campaign represents local residents, Tribal members, fishing families, waterfront workers, and recreational users.

Also in attendance was diver, environmentalist and photographer Laura James whose dramatic self-portrait her colleagues helped choreograph won first place in the "River For All" photo contest. The DRCC believed her image best illustrated their message of a dirty river with a hopeful future. In it she is clothed in found river rubbish, holding a sunflower. River-related slogans are drawn on her body. She was awarded a kayak trip on the Duwamish River with Macklemore.

See West Seattle Herald's article on Laura James here:
http://www.westseattleherald.com/2014/10/08/news/seattle-diver-laura-ja…

Also attending were DRCC staff and campaign spokespeople including South Park resident Peter Quenguyen, active in that neighborhood's senior center, Chris Wilke, Executive Director of the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, Yale Wong, Chairman and Founder of General Biodiesel located on the river. There was also a member of the Rat City Rollergirls as the sassy group also participated.

Macklemore gave a brief speech and said, "The pollution and injustice that has happened so long here, I understood it, but I didn't really 'get it' until I came here this summer and met with you guys who've put in so much work to right this wrong and to honor the (river.) I think it is is our responsibility.

"As a white male it is not my land," he continued. "My ancestors came here from Ireland and (other places in) Europe and we've treated it like its ours and haven't treated it justly… I felt a connection to the river when kayaking in it last June, and as a Seattleite I see it's our responsibility to honor this river and those whose cultural lineage is this river, those who fish and live here. I feel blessed to be a part of this campaign."

BJ Cummings, speaking for the DRCC added, "We're going to continue to work for a clean and healthy river for all… EPA is going to release its final cleanup order next month, and while we expect it to be a little bit better than the plan they proposed last year, we also suspect it will not still be enough, not enough to erase the risk of cancer to local fishing families, not enough to give the tribes back full use of their traditional resources…EPA's cleanup order will be a starting point, not the end game. We need our local leaders to represent us. And we need your help to continue this campaign."

Other useful links:

http://macklemore.com/post/90368818687/a-river-for-all

http://www.riverforall.org/