OLYMPIA, Wash. — Willie Frank III said it still has not quite sunk in.
“Just thinking about it gets me emotional,” said Frank.
Frank was just voted to chair a committee to design a new statue of his father, Billy Frank, Jr.
Under legislation passed last year, Frank, Jr.’s statue will replace a statue of pioneer Marcus Whitman in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Frank, Jr., who passed away in 2014, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously from then-President Barack Obama.
Frank, Jr., a member of the Nisqually Indian Community, was arrested dozens of times fighting for fishing rights that were supposed to be guaranteed by federal government treaties with tribes.
Courts later determined Frank Jr. was right.
The committee heading up design and fundraising for the statue includes tribal leaders, Republicans, and Democrats, including Gov. Jay Inslee.
”We know Billy’s extraordinaire leadership and the question is, how do we capture that spirit and share it with the rest of Americans?” Inslee said during the committee’s first meeting last week.
Hiring an artist and transporting the statue will cost at least $375,000, committee members said.
Frank, Jr.’s son hopes to unveil the statue in 3 years.
He also hopes the artist will be able to recreate what Frank III called that "Billy magic.”
“I see a picture, or a statue of my father, with his talking stick, with his skullcap on smiling, and got to get a salmon on there somewhere,” said Frank, III.
He hopes the statue will be a source of pride for future generations “for all Washingtonians and Indigenous people all over the world.”
The existing Whitman statue in Washington, D.C. will be moved to Walla Walla County.
The state’s second statue at the U.S. Capitol honors Mother Joseph, credited with establishing schools and hospitals across the Pacific Northwest.