Here is a summary of some of the stories making headlines this week:
Native Americans debate Indigenous land acknowledgements: ‘In one ear and out the other?’
Land acknowledgements are formal statements that recognize Indigenous custodianship of geographic areas on which institutions stand or events take place.
Evolving from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, land acknowledgments are becoming increasingly common at U.S. universities and sporting events.
But are they effective?
Cutcha Risling Baldy, a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe and an associate professor of Native American Studies at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, tells NPR they are a good start but believes institutions should go on to “assist Indigenous peoples in uplifting and upholding their sovereignty and self-determination.”
Kevin Gover, a citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma and undersecretary for museums and culture at the Smithsonian Institution, worries that if land acknowledgements become “routine, or worse yet... strictly performative,” they will lose their meaning.
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Lac du Flambeau tribe in Wisconsin lifts weekslong road blockades
The Lac du Flambeau Tribe has agreed with the town of Lac du Flambeau to reopen four roads on the northern Wisconsin reservation that it barricaded in late January. The deal is temporary as parties to the dispute have 90 days to work out a longer-term solution.
The roads were built in the 1960s on tribal land and are the only access route for non-Native residents in more than 60 households that are scattered among reservation land.
Easements to use the roads expired in 2013, and negotiations to extend them have so far failed. The Lac du Flambeau Tribal Council says it is owed $20 million for trespassing on its land since the easements expired.
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Cayuga Nation locked in power struggle
The New York Times this week reports on a leadership dispute inside the Cayuga Nation in New York, which one observer has called “one of the more volatile in Indian Country today.”
The feud pits Cayuga Chiefs and Clan Mothers, the traditional government of the Nation, against Clint Halftown, the Cayuga Nation representative federally recognized by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Traditionalists say Halftown has no authority under their system of governance outlined in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Great Law of Peace because they view his council as an entity of the federal government.
Halftown says more than 60% of Cayuga Nation citizens signed a statement of support affirming the current Nation Council and delegitimizing the “Unity Council.” He says Cayuga-owned buildings destroyed by National Council bulldozers were illegal.
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This circa 1925 photograph shows presumed archaeologists standing above an excavated grave in Pueblo Grande, Nevada.
NAGPRA compliance: Lots of promises but not enough follow-through
ProPublica reports that its ongoing “Repatriation Project” has sparked “waves” of promises by institutions to redouble efforts to repatriate thousands of Native American ancestral remains in their collections.
But seeing is believing, according to Shannon O’Loughlin, a Choctaw Nation citizen and chief executive of the Association on American Indian Affairs. She told ProPublica that museums and universities have interpreted the law in ways that have allowed them to resist returning remains and stay out of the limelight for years.
“But, hey, they’re saying it in the public, so we’re gonna hold them to it,” she said.
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Facebook post by Kayuk mother Sophie Neuner, March 11, 2023.
Portland Museum apologizes to Native mother
The Portland Art Museum in Oregon has apologized after one of its employees asked a Kayuk mother to remove the traditional woven basket in which she carried her baby.
Sophie Neuner posted about the March 11 incident on her Facebook page:
“According to the nice white lady, [my child’s] baby basket is a danger to the art and also my baby. … Racism is alive and well in these walls."
The museum issued an apology on Facebook and Twitter Monday and has since amended its policy to read: “We kindly request that bags, backpacks, or items larger than 11″ x 17″ x 6″ be left outside the Museum. Babies in carriers are permitted. Other bags should be carried at your side or in front, and not worn on one’s back.”
VOA checked visitors’ guides for several major art museums across the U.S. and found that bans on the wearing of backpacks are common because they can damage works on display. These include the Smithsonian Institutions in Washington, D.C. The National Museum of the American Indian, a Smithsonian entity, advises visitors, "Suitcases, large umbrellas, and large backpacks are not allowed in the galleries."